DART - Is it as frequent as you'd like?

[Yorkshire Mark]

Looking at the DART timetable I was expecting it to run at least every 10 minutes.

For those of you who live in the Dublin area, is it as frequent as you need it to be?

[Colm Moore]

People are generally unhappy with the frequency and as of late, the reduced size of trains, with 2-car trains being used as early as 7pm.

One of the big problems is that not only is the frequency poorer than desired, it also suffers from erratic spacing, e.g. the 30 minute gap at 9am from Howth, partially due to DART having to leave gaps for longer distance services. The only section that can be considered to have a decent frequency is Connolly to Grand Canal Dock.

Luas generally provides a much better frequency.

[Jamie2k9]

Can you compare Luas to DART, both are very different and serve people in different ways.

[markpb]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

Can you compare Luas to DART, both are very different and serve people in different ways.

Luas serves its customers well and Dart doesn't?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

People are generally unhappy with the frequency and as of late, the reduced size of trains, with 2-car trains being used as early as 7pm.

One of the big problems is that not only is the frequency poorer than desired, it also suffers from erratic spacing, e.g. the 30 minute gap at 9am from Howth, partially due to DART having to leave gaps for longer distance services. The only section that can be considered to have a decent frequency is Connolly to Grand Canal Dock.

Luas generally provides a much better frequency.

To be fair Colm, the core frequency on DART is 15 minutes between Howth Junction and Bray, and that is maintained throughout the day, with extra peak hour services.

The issue of erratic spacing only occurs north of Howth Junction (either to Howth or Malahide) and that arises due to the fact that the Northern line services are not integrated into a standard clockface pattern with the DART. This could be addressed with a Howth/Howth Junction shuttle off-peak, but people don't seem to like that idea!

There are two main problems with the weekday service - the 22:15 on Saturdays from Howth that is curtailed to Connolly, meaning a 30 minute gap south of Connolly, and no 09:55 service from Bray on Saturday mornings, meaning a similar 30 minute gap. This sort of situation just simply shouldn't be allowed to happen.

Similarly, Sundays needs a complete overhaul.

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by markpb

Luas serves its customers well and Dart doesn't?

Comparing both is like comparing apples and oranges. Both are very different in how they work, DART couldn't support the frequency that Luas does and the population centres access to Luas is far greater than DART.