The NTA need to fix the 114 bus. I’ve written the NTA public transport team a detailed letter on what I feel they should do to improve the service. For your info, you can download the letter I’ve written to them or you can see it below.
If you have any other public transport issues you would like me to raise on your behalf, please do let me know. In recent times, I’ve been asking for bus shelters for Ballyogan, improvements to the reliability of new Bus Connects routes, a Dublin Mountains bus service and sharing info on the new Bus Connects routes that affect Ballinteer and Sandyford.
114 bus issues
January 2024
Dear NTA public transport team,
You might remember that I wrote to you in November 2022 regarding issues with the 114 bus between Ticknock and Blackrock and thank you for your reply at that time. I continue to have queries raised with me by constituents who rely on the 114 bus. Or to be more accurate, those who would like to rely on the 114 bus. I have spoken to some people who have simply given up on the bus for their commutes.
The issues raised are:
- The early morning services from Ticknock are frequently full.
- The last bus from Ticknock is at 20:30 which is far too early for anyone relying on public transport for late shifts or socialising.
- For the approximately 1,000 residents of the Simonsridge developments, this is the only bus serving the area directly so if it can’t be relied upon, people’s next option is usually the car.
- For most of the day the bus only runs every 60 minutes
- There are frequent “no shows” of the bus at commuting times, leading people back into their cars for themselves and to drop school children who might otherwise take the bus independently. The figures you shared at the end of 2022 showed that this began happening more frequently.
- Given traffic congestion in Sandyford Business District in the mornings it can take some time between passing the new S8 stop opposite the Beacon Hotel and the next stop outside Zaytoon on Blackthorn Road.
- there are 65 apartments soon to be completed on Sandyford Road which will have a 114 bus stop right outside, immediately increasing demand for this infrequent service.
- the 114 gets stuck in bad traffic due to the unavailability of bus lanes/the layout of existing bus lanes and lack of bus priority at junctions.
As per published Bus Connects frequency tables the 86 is due, at some stage, to replace the 114 and run from Ticknock every 30 mins all day and start at an earlier time so this would be a big improvement for my constituents who genuinely want to switch their commute/school trip to public transport.
As I highlighted in my submission to the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy public consultation, the areas around Sandyford appear to be forgotten about for public transport improvements because of the existence of the Luas.As I have highlighted to the CEO Ms Graham and Deputy CEO Mr Creegan when they have visited our council meetings, Glencullen-Sandyford is the fastest growing area for new residential development in the entire country (per CSO housing completion statistics). It should go without saying that the NTA needs to significantly improve the public transport offering in the area with the fastest growing residential population in the country.
I am asking for the following information/making the following requests for service improvements:
- Could you please share the expected date for rollout of the 86? I would strongly urge you to bring forward the implementation of the new Bus Connects route 86, for all the reasons given above.
- In the meantime, could you please share the statistics on the 114 for the past 12 months such as how many didn’t run, how punctual the service was, passenger numbers? Please break out the stats between peak and off-peak. If 95% of buses are running, but the 5% not running are all at 7am that’s not much use to people.
- I understand that bus “no shows” are due to driver unavailability. Could I ask why the 114 is not prioritised when there are driver shortages given the critical importance of this one bus for the people that rely on it? I am requesting that you instruct Go Ahead Ireland to maintain 100% service levels for the 114 at all times rather than shifting 114 drivers to other routes when convenient.
- Could I ask that the NTA do a review of current bottlenecks that the 114 experiences and to look for ways to make the journey more efficient through bus lanes, bus priority lights etc. Saving 3 minutes at 5 junctions could make a massive difference to do many people’s commutes including helping them to catch connecting services.
- Can the new bus stop 7969 on Blackthorn Drive also be added to the 114 route? It already drives past and would be a big help for local workers if they could hop on/off there.
Thank you for considering these requests on behalf of the people in Ticknock, Sandyford and along the 114 route.
Kind regards,
Councillor Oisín O’Connor
Glencullen-Sandyford area
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
