Success of Luas puts paid to 48 bus route

The success of the Luas line to Sandyford in south Dublin has claimed its first commercial victim, with Dublin Bus set to abolish its competing 48/48A routes to Dundrum.

A spokeswoman for Dublin Bus told The Irish Times last night that it is to amalgamate the 48/48A routes with the 14/14A service following a dramatic drop in passenger numbers since the opening of the Luas service last summer.

"We have seen 25 per cent of our passengers migrate from these routes to Luas. And at certain times of the day the loss is around 50 per cent," she said.

"We have waited four to six months to see if this was just temporary, but things seem to have levelled out. We are matching supply with demand," she added.

Dublin Bus said that as a result of the reduction in passenger numbers and consequent financial losses it had decided to consolidate the routes to the Dundrum and Ballinteer areas of south Dublin.

As part of the amalgamation of routes the 14/14A service would be extended and would in future serve both Dundrum and Ballinteer.

The company said that neither the number of buses on the route nor the frequency of service for passengers - every 10 minutes - would be affected.

Dublin Bus is in discussion with its trade unions about the plans and is seeking to have the new amalgamated services in place within a few weeks.

It said the introduction of the second Luas line, to Tallaght, had not had the same impact on its passenger numbers.

The 56A route had seen a passenger migration to Luas of between 5 and 10 per cent.

For the 77 bus route the reduction in passenger numbers was around 2 per cent since the opening of the Luas line.