A MAJOR alert has been issued to thousands of commuters as Dublin Bus has announced big changes to its services from Monday.
The bus company is set to expand its services between Heuston Station and UCD on March 3.
Dublin Bus has revealed 45 additional peak-time services will begin next week[/caption]
In partnership with the National Transport Authority, Dublin Bus has announced that 45 additional peak-time services will run daily between Heuston Station and University College Dublin.
The new services will operate across seven routes – X25, X26, X27, X28, X30, X31 and X32 – to offer students direct transport links between Heuston Station and UCD’s Belfield campus.
This includes 25 departures in the morning and 20 in the evening to ensure a more convenient commute for passengers travelling between the city centre and UCD.
The X services will start running at 6:40 am, with the return services from UCD beginning at 4:12 pm.
The specific routes are as follows:
• X25 and X26, which operate from the Maynooth area
• X27 and X28, which operate from the Celbridge area
• X30, which operates from Adamstown
• X31 and X32, which operate from the Leixlip area
From these routes, the X26, X31 and X32 routes are also being extended from the city centre to Belfield.
And these services will now also pick up passengers at Heuston Station.
Jeremy Ryan, Director of Public Transport Services at the NTA said this announcement means that there is now a more direct public transport connection to UCD than ever before.
He said: “When implementing Phase 6a of the BusConnects Network Redesign there was some feedback in relation to the loss of a direct connection between Heuston and UCD.
“We were happy to take another look at that and we asked Dublin Bus to amend the peak-time X routes serving Heuston station in response.
“This announcement means that there is now a direct public transport connection to UCD for more communities in parts of north Kildare and west Dublin than ever before.
“It also means that students from other areas, using peak-time rail services to and from Heuston can easily connect with Belfield.”
Spokesperson for Dublin Bus Blake Boland added they are delighted to announce the extensions.
He added: “Dublin Bus has been working closely with the NTA on Bus Connects Phase 6a.
“This is bringing increased connectivity to customers travelling in and around Dublin city.
“However, these changes caused a realignment of some routes.
“In order to increase direct connectivity with UCD, we have extended a number of routes at rush hour.
“We are delighted to announce that these extensions will begin on March 3.”
For passengers travelling between Heuston Station and UCD outside of peak times, several other routes are available.
Commuters can use routes 4, C1, C2, C3, C4, 52, or 60 to reach the O’Connell Bridge area and then interchange with southbound services E1 or E2.
Alternatively, the Red Line Luas from Heuston provides similar connectivity for those looking for a quick connection.
To find out more on the updated timetables, check out the Dublin Bus website at www.dublinbus.ie.
