{"id":206822,"date":"2025-11-29T17:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/206822\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T17:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T17:21:12","slug":"protest-over-new-busconnects-route-in-chapelizod-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/206822\/","title":{"rendered":"Protest over new BusConnects route in Chapelizod, Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are here to show them they picked a fight with the wrong community,\u201d said Se\u00e1n Hewitt to a crowd of about 300 people in Chapelizod<\/a> village in Dublin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They gathered there on Saturday morning to protest against the National Transport Authority\u2019s<\/a> (NTA) decision to replace the 26 bus service with a new route as part of the BusConnects<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

The new 80 service implemented in October has doubled commutes, and resulted in frequent cancellations and delays, they say.<\/p>\n

Protesters carrying placards which read: \u201cAll I want for Christmas is a bus on time\u201d, \u201cBusConnects DisConnects\u201d and \u201cGive us back the 26\u201d marched to the local Anna Livia Bridge.<\/p>\n

They subsequently filled the bridge for about ten minutes, blocking traffic from both directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are disrupting traffic because our lives have been disrupted by the NTA,\u201d Mr Hewitt told the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne bus is all we\u2019re asking for,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The 26 route typically brought locals to the city centre within 20 minutes, they say, with the majority of commuters disembarking at Bachelors Walk or Nassau Street for work.<\/p>\n

However, the new route diverts from the city centre quays away from bus lanes and on to Bridge Street, where it meets significant congestion resulting in knock on delays throughout the route, they say.<\/p>\n

As part of the BusConnects network, commuters travelling to the city centre can switch buses at Arran Quay and complete their journey through the C-Spine.<\/p>\n

However, protesters remarked that consecutive buses at Arran Quay during the morning rush to work are full and pass them by \u201cin the lashing rain\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other day I tried to get on four different buses to get me the rest of the way and they were all full, so it\u2019s not connecting. The buses are there, you just can\u2019t get on them,\u201d says Siobh\u00e1n Tracy, who works in the city centre.<\/p>\n

\"SeveralSeveral marching on Saturday said they are facing long waits to get home. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

Ms Tracy\u2019s mother, Joan, who is aged in her 70s, said the community has been \u201ccut off from the city, the city that I love\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find now that I\u2019m nervous going in trying to get buses,\u201d she said, adding that she previously used the 26 service to meet friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be very nervous at night-time because Usher\u2019s Quay, where we have to get the bus [home], if we can connect to it, it\u2019s not the safest place, particularly as I\u2019m getting older. I feel very sad that this could be done to us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The 26 route previously served Westmoreland Street, where the majority of locals embarked on their journey home.<\/p>\n

Several marching on Saturday said children and young adults have been put under additional pressure to get to school and college on time and are facing long waits to get home.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son went to town one Saturday and he was an hour waiting on George\u2019s Street trying to get home and it was absolutely gridlocked,\u201d said Colette Brady.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the NTA announced plans to amend the route<\/a> which will see the bus continue along the north quays to Eden Quay, rather than diverting to Bridge Street. It will see the 80 service merged with the existing 130 route that serves Clontarf.<\/p>\n

This is expected to come into effect in the second quarter of 2026, the NTA said, while a temporary measure from \u201cearly 2026\u201d will see the 80 route amended to continue down the quays and cross at O\u2019Connell Bridge.<\/p>\n

Local Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins, however, said the 130 is \u201cnot as reliable as it should be\u201d, describing the merger as \u201cchallenging\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to have the 26 reinstated and I don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to stop until that happens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"ChapelizodChapelizod residents at the protest on Saturday. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

\u201cThe people coming from far away are doing really well and getting into town much quicker but it\u2019s the communities that are being cut off from where they need to go, that\u2019s the problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are here to show them they picked a fight with the wrong community,\u201d said Se\u00e1n Hewitt to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,53920,10474,52,11802,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,13456,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-206822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-busconnects","11":"tag-chapelizod","12":"tag-dublin","13":"tag-dublin-bus","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-featured-news","16":"tag-featurednews","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-national-transport-authority","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115634142300819904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}