Sinn Féin and members of the campaign to save the 84 and 45 Dublin Bus
routes are to hold a protest outside the meeting of Bray Town Council
on Tuesday 1st May at 7pm. The protest is timed to coincide with a
presentation from Dublin Bus representatives outlining the cuts to the
public transport service in North Wicklow. Sinn Féin councillor John
Brady has described the cuts as a slashing of the service dressed up
as an improvement.
Speaking ahead of the protest Cllr Brady said "I am very disappointed
that after the massive pressure that has been exerted on Dublin Bus
they have simply gone ahead and decided to implement the cuts to the
45 and 84 routes. They have dressed the cuts up to look like the new
layout will lead to an improved service for people in North Wicklow,
however the cuts will hit the public transport users hard and will
simply act as a deterrent and force people away from using public
transport. The only purpose of the representatives of Dublin Bus
coming to Bray Town Council is to lay out the nature of the cuts which
have been signed off on, it is certainly not to consult Bray Town
Council"
Cllr Brady went onto say "The cuts which were announced on the 12th
April by Ray Coyne who is the Project Manager of Dublin Bus will see
the 45 and 84 routes amalgamated and the new service will run from
Newcastle/Kilcoole to Blackrock. The result of this is there will be a
huge reduction in buses from Wicklow linking us to the city centre,
anyone looking to do so will have to transfer over to the 145, it also
means vital services such as the National maternity Hospital in Holles
St. or St. Vincents Hospital have no direct Bus and this will
have a big impact on people reliant on public transport to get medical
treatment and it will get worse if the cuts to the A&E in
Loughlinstown go ahead"
Cllr Brady continued "Students in UCD will also be badly hit. The 84
which had been a hourly service from Kilcoole to UCD will now end and
the amalgamated 84/45 route will terminate in Blackrock. Dublin Bus
are saying they are going to increase the 84x by 33%, even this will
go nowhere near replacing the service of the 84, this is going to see
a huge reduction in the service to Belfield. The 45a in Bray will be
given a new route from Oldcourt to Dún Laoghaire, this means the
entire Killarney Rd area will have no link to Bray DART station, again
a huge disincentive for people using public transport"
"I had hoped that Dublin Bus might finally deliver a service for North
Wicklow that people wanted and might use in larger numbers. Sinn Féin
and the public of North Wicklow had put a huge amount of pressure on
Dublin Bus, we had presented them with a petition containing thousands
of signatures calling on them not to implement these drastic cuts and
to ensure that the network was fit for purpose and that point was hit
home with the public protest we had organised to meet them at the
Council meeting in Greystones. Rather than taking on-board any of the
views, proposals or concerns of the public, what Dublin Bus have done
is the complete opposite, they have cut the service to shreds and have
dressed it up as a positive move. Students, Hospital users, commuters
and ordinary members of the public who want to use public transport
are the real people who loose out here. This application is being
assessed by the National Transport Authority and i am urging Labour TD
Alan Kelly who is Minister of State, at the Department of Transport,
Tourism & Sport to intervene to stop the licence being issued. I also
calling on Wicklow's 5 TD to use their influence in Leinster House to
save our public transport service in North Wicklow"
Brady concluded "The protest on Tuesday 1st May will be the last
chance people have to get their message across to Dublin Bus as the
cuts to the routes will go ahead in the near future. I encourage as
many people as possible to show up to the protest which will be
starting at 7pm outside Bray Town Hall on Tuesday next"
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