Some bad news emerging for rail commuters. Some commuters got a leaflet yesterday stating that Dublin Bus planned to discontinue the 90 and 91 services from Heuston to the City Centre from next Monday. I spoke to Dublin Bus a couple of times during the day, and the position is that they are withdrawing both services as part of cost-cutting. There is a temporary delay in introducing this because of the ongoing talks with their drivers, but this won't affect the decision.
I think this is a disgrace. The services are used by thousands of commuters along the Kildare route, and they will now have to pile on to the already overcrowded red line Luas and the remaining 92 bus. This will greatly reduce flexibility, passenger comfort and access to the City Centre.
It's amazing that this busy route is being withdrawn to save cost. It seems pretty clear that the commuters are being squeezed out because Dublin Bus couldn't get enough out of Irish Rail to cover the cost of those using combined tickets.
It also comes on top of dropping passenger numbers, price rises and pay-parking - you'd swear they didn't want people using public transport.
I'm involved with the Kildare Rail Users Group, and I've been in touch with the other groups to see if we can find a co-ordinated repsonse. If you want to get involved, let me know.
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