Luas Docklands (Line C1)|Opening Before Christmas 2009
 

New docklands spur is apparently to open late this year, not early next! That's some good news anyway.

http://www.rpa.ie/en/news/Pages/LuasDocklands(LineC1)OpeningBeforeChristmas2009.as px

Watch out for Luas!
 

http://www.luas.ie/page.php?name=Watch_out_for_Luas
http://www.luas.ie/ul/WATCH%20OUT%20...2013_11_09.pdf

[08/12/2009] Luas to The Point opening 3pm Tuesday 8 December 2009
 

So it looks like the service pattern will be:

Eastbound
2 trams continue to the Point (without stopping at Connolly)
1 tram terminates at Connolly.

Westbound
2 trams start from the Point (but don't stop at Connolly)
1 tram starts at Connolly

One problem with this is that it appears it is not possible to travel from Connolly to Docklands, or the other way round. Passengers would have to know to use the nearby Busaras stop.

Could this be changed as follows:

Eastbound
1 through service to Point
1 service to the Point stopping at Connolly
1 service terminating at Connolly

Westbound
1 service starts at Point (without stopping at Connolly)
1 service starts at Point (stops at Connolly) - given 2 minutes extra headway since it loses this at Connolly
1 service starts at Connolly

Or is that asking too much.

I'm not sure the drivers would like to be changing ends at Connolly.

But they already have to do this. Plus it's a 40m tram for heavens sake. I would be glad of the walk if I had to sit all day. It's even covered for them.

What you're proposing would add 4-6 minutes per trip with no real advantage over asking people to walk from busaras. It would introduce a lot of tram-tram and tram-car conflicts at an already busy junction.

Fair enough, it may take 4-6 minutes, I'm not sure.

My basic point is this though. We were promised that Connolly and Docklands station would be well connected by the Luas. This will become even more important when the interconnector is built. As it stands, there will be no direct trams between these two stations.

It doesn't matter that Busaras is close - on a schematic map it doesn't look close and adds a level of confusion that the average Irish commuter (nevermind tourist) could be put off by.

Further, the walking route from Connolly - Busaras Luas is absolutely dire. I am not entirely sure where pedestrians are supposed to cross that road. An improvement here is the very least that is needed.

Another possibility is running a single tram back and forwards between the Point and Connolly. This doesn't have time disadvantages for through passengers, and there should be enough capacity at Connolly given so few trams will serve it from the Tallaght direction.

There is no connection of any kind to Docklands station, Spencer Dock station when built will have excellent Luas connectivity outside its front door

Rail 'city centre supplement' not valid to The Point
 

Shame that the rail supplement for onward city centre connections (as used on bus routes 90/92 and Luas between Heuston and Connolly) is only valid on the new Docklands Luas extension as far as George's Dock. Anyone wanting to go to Spencer Dock or beyond will have to buy two tickets or risk being fined.

Thats cheeky and not on

What happens at the moment if you want to go on the Luas in the direction of Tallaght? Can you get a supplement to a normal rail ticket?

Any time I am travelling up to Dub (City Center) I think the option is not there when you want to travel on one of the trains with the special one-way offer, otherwise the price of the train ticket goes to its maximum web fare? ...so I never get the supplement.

Should the extension be covered by the City Center area zone?

No, the existing supplement is not valid west of Heuston. But at least this means you know have to buy a Luas ticket before you get on. Travelling the other direction on a tram from Heuston to The Point, the supplement will be valid but not to the end of the line, so you have to get off and buy another ticket, get off and walk, try and pre-pay the for extra couple of stops (and there is no BIK tax saver product for this) or, as said earlier, risk being fined.

The Dublin City Centre fare should be available in conjunction with the €10/€15/€20 web fares. If not, please let us have the details of the journey you're trying to book (although not in this thread).

Not sure this is completely offside. IE/CIE are basically facilitating Heuston/Connolly transfers, not commuter traffic in general.

And Heuston-Docklands? :) You know that alleged connection from Docklands to Spencer Dock?

that was only Dick Fearn having ye on :D

There's the 151 bus...:rolleyes:

But that does a Docklands-Adamstown connection. :p And route 90 finishes at 10am.