The demand for travel on Dublin's new LUAS trams on the Sandyford to St Stephen's Green has been so overwhelming that the frequency of the service is to be increased, the Minister for Transport has announced.
Mr Brennan said the frequency of trams on this line will increase from every 10 minutes to every five minutes from the start of August.
The minister said the average daily number of customers for the LUAS system in its first week of operation was 20,000. Some 140,000 people used the service in the week July 3rd to July 11th.
"The numbers travelling on LUAS have exceeded all expectations and all indications are that this trend will continue," said Mr Brennan.
Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan
"The increased frequency of trams willl further boost the customer numbers, as will the end of the traditional holiday and school break period in September. The positive way LUAS has been received is a strong endorsement of the decision to deliver a 21st century light rail system in Dublin."
Test running of the full system on the Tallaght to Connolly station line began today and will continue over the coming weeks. Mr Brennan said he will receive a full operational and safety evaluation of the line from the Railway Procurement Agency and LUAS's operators, Connex, prior to an official start-up date being agreed.
Mr Brennan was speaking today at a ceremony in Dundrum to name the cable-stayed bridge built specially for the LUAS system. The bridge will be called the William Dargan Bridge, in honour of the man regarded as "the greatest railway engineer Ireland ever had", the minister said.
Mr Dargan was born in Carlow in 1799 and lived most of his life close to the bridge's location at Mount Anville. In 1833 he undertook the building of Ireland's first railway from Dublin to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) and was the engineer for the Harcourt Street railway and many other systems built throughout Ireland.