Dublin’s Little-Known, Fast-Growing Transit Network

1:32 I thought this was just standard for the Citadis X01?

I am counting the days until Dart+ comes out to maynooth and past my house. There was someone on a local facebook page complaining about how they would gave to build an electrical sub station for the dart line on some nice looking green and my only response is "seriously? you're ocmplaining about necessary infrastructure so you can enjoy a reliable affordable electric light rail?"
some people.

the bottom green part with the o'connell gpo station, seems kinda piaggio si ( nos katalysator ) exhaust. farvel kilmar g 2:17

Fun fact, ireland is the first in the world to have a commuter train

I'm coming here a year later after suffering all sort of incidents while commuting, I still can't get over the optimistic view of this video. Maybe for american people this look like a developed transit network but is not. When traffic is low it works, but at peak time is still a nightmare how much it takes to get to your destination if you are not lucky to have the Dart close. Luas speed in city center is terrible and 3 times I witnessed the service cut cause a bus broke down in to the tracks. City planning is outdated before the projects are even terminated: I have seen several newly built intersections already collapsed with traffic. 30 minutes to make 4 km in south dublin at peak hour. I can't understand how I experienced cities in southern europe with a quarter of the GDP and a half of the population with better infrastructure and planning than Dublin.

Mate I would not be expecting either the Dart or the Luas to be expanded in my whole lifetime and if it is expect numbers in the billions.

ahh the square and sagaret both in the same suber d24 all so what about a tram going around the m50

Do cork

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I don't understand the point about conversion of the green luas to metro requiring people to transfer to get to the city centre. They would be on a metro line which will bring them directly to Saint Stephen's Green, Tara Street, and O'Connell Street. And they will get to these places much faster than they would on the green luas, which crawls along in the city centre because of numerous turns and interactions with traffic.

I'd also point out that this line is often stiflingly overused at peak times, so conversion to metro is definitely desirable.

Metrolink will enter into belfast and other nations being eurolink

Connolly has a 4th platform for the dart jets

6:06 the name dart comes from what it is
(D)ublin
(A)rea
(R)apid
(T)ransit

The one thing Dublin needs is a railway/tram to the Airport. One day it'll happen. Won't it...? lol

I think the luas has been a big success for Dublin, but we do need those upgrades, I live by a luas, but people I know living in Lucan have to pay €60 home for a taxi if they want to go out in the city. Also with Dublin airport, there are never enough buses into the city centre. I feel when the port tunnel was built there should have been a train that connected on to dart line

Never happen

Dublin has a 3rd world transport system compared to even UK of similar size cities and their not great

Great video.
Can you visit ALL the Dart stations using A Leap Visitors Card. My wife and I are visiting Dublin soon, for the first time and are, of course very excited about the trip
Regards from Whitley Bay

Is a tiny city anyway

A great summary of Dublin's current and planned transport system.
I totally agree with you that converting the Green line to Metro would be a mistake. There are two huge problems with this proposal in my opinion. The southern part of the Green line was built on the trackbed of the old Harcourt line. However, the original line ran on an embankment. South of Ranelagh the embankment was removed to avoid having to put lifts in stations. This means that to turn it into Metro, all the road crossings would have to be closed, splitting communities in two. The second problem is that when the line was extended, it deviated off the Harcourt line, and the extension is not suitable for metro. So we would end up with two sections of Green line, and for certain journeys passengers would need to get on one end of the (former) Green line, change to a Metro, then change to a different Green line tram. It would also mean we'd end up with two bits of tram line that aren't nearly as useful as one connected one.
But I think it would be really good to plan a southern extension of the metro line. The southwestern quadrant of the city is not well served by public transport. I think it would make sense to extend the line through Rathmines, Rathfarnham, Terenure, Tempelogue, Firhouse, and meet the Red line at Tallaght. A lot of that could run as an elevated line through the Dodder valley, reducing costs. It would be a much faster connection from Tallaght to the city, and would encourage "densification" of the areas along the route.

I lived in Dublin, I am glad I had a bicycle and a light motorcycle to be honest (although be be fair both got stolen - normal in Dublin).

You can't hop on a DART like you might imagine, sometimes you wait 10 to 15 minutes, it's raised urban section is the slowest speed I've ever experienced on a train like vehicle. I clocked it at 30kmph top speed for more than 3 stations. It's useful as a connection for the suburbs it ends up at if you live there, but not useful for getting around closer to the city centre.

The Luas is slow but ok if you happen to live on it, but it is just 2 lines spearing into a pretty sprawling city and it's not like you can be too fussy about where you live so you probably won't end up nearby. Dublin city has a phobia about building up, because many want to preserve the beautiful lowrise red brick facades, former council houses, Apache pizza take away places and old man pubs. As a consequence many of the new developments end up being an hour or more on the Luas. A long way to travel to get into a pretty uninspiring overpriced city centre if you live there and a long way home. As mentioned, its not like it starts to pick up too much speed as you get further out.

The buses go everywhere as somebody mentioned, but if you think the DART and LUAS are slow, try taking a bus up the Liffy at rush hour. I was beaten for time, no joke, by a man on crutches (quite a common site along the Liffy) one time. You might also get a mob of teenagers dressed in the North Face getting on and raising hell if you are unlucky. My journey time through the city centre when I lived in D8 and worked in D1 was 28 minutes by bus, 35 minutes walking, 12 minute bicycle. So pretty much no good reason to take a bus with those stats. And that is typical. At night time you can wait 20 to 30 minutes for them. Often had to go get a tea in a McDonalds (and brave more the North Face jacket teenagers there too) at night time, trying to get home. Oh and of course some of the buses disappear. They are very famous for that in Dublin.

the Luas red line is also on an old railway in certain parts

btw, I'm pretty sure the Metro plan where it was to take over the Green Line Luas did include stations in the city centre. The big issue on conversion to Metro was it would require the line to close off several roads that currently cross over the Luas tracks so that it could become a Metro.
If Metro North gets built (it feels like they've been talking about it for 30 years!), something will have to be done about the Luas Green line from the south as with a direct line to the Airport, it will become incredibly popular.
And the Green Luas is already in high demand.

first video ive ever seen that has something good to say about our public transport

train to the airport would be really helpful

Oh, is this why when I visit other countries that seem really proud of their systems I'm mostly just surprised how awkward they made the walks to their stations?

A Porto Metro style system maybe the best option

Amazing documentary that, from experience, seems accurate and a massive kudos for pronouncing all the placenames better than some natives ; )

I've never heard somebody compliment Dublin's transport before. The biggest issue is severe lack of capacity during peak times and a lack of dedicated bus lanes

Have you looked into Dublin's old tram system? in 1920s (was one of the best in the world). all ripped up for brown envelopes to bring in the buses

So cool to see another perspective on our (relatively) little town! A note from a West Dubliner, a lot of conversation surrounding rail in Dublin is definitely… not full of praise. The Metrolink is spoken about in the same terms as the rapture, nobody really believes it’ll ever happen! And in parts of West Dublin, especially Lucan, the Luas is nice but generally the bus network is faster (if they show at all). Over recent years the bus network in particular has been gutted and reshaped in so many ways that haven’t left commuters happy (I still miss getting the 40, I’ve even gone as far as Charlestown just to revisit the old haunt) . A lot of that is to do with English + American private consultancy on the bus system, which is definitely a touchy subject . I’m definitely a daydreamer about what public transport could’ve been in Dublin, my grandfather is a Transport Historian and has told me many a tale of the potential rail infrastructure we could’ve developed at the start of the 20th century! Much of my memories as a young fella are hopping on the red line Luas to go to Chapters on Parnell Street and going out to Howth to see my grandad tour and restore the collection of historical Trams and buses out in the museum! So I definitely have a softer spot for Buses, Trams and Trains than most in the County, but I still have my massive gripes (Luas should’ve gone through Ballyfermot, only area with its own postcode, mup D10! So we’d have to deal with less of the rat run on the main road). The fact we’ve no connecting line straight to Dublin Airport is a travesty! I know my dad would’ve been grateful to not have to commute all the way Northside every morning by car! Anywes, great video! Would be great to see you look at our national rail, we’re only wee so there’s not too much to it! Or even the proposed “Cluas” for Cork City, which would be a godsend for me, I can’t deal with Bus Éireann anymore!

Dublin has an embarrassing public transport system in comparison to the world.

DART! - Dublin Area Rapid Transit!
Great video, I really hope the metro project especially gets out of planning permission purgatory.

Could you learn to speak clearly, or else hire someone who can?

Fast-growing? Really? Most of the Luas network was built 20 years ago. The only thing built since then is the northern extension of the green line. Other than that they've been making plans for 20 years. Similar for Metro North/ Metrolink. Planning for 25 years, not a spade has gone into the ground.
The battery trains seem like a nice solution, if you ignore the fact that Ireland is 30 years late with electrification...

Little tip !....make sure you bring your ear - buds. Don't ask - but you'll thank me for this advice 😊

The metro will never happen

Dublin,like Ireland is famous amoungst irish people for proposels and plans-a metro with 3 lines planned and mapped in 1969=and nothing done-latest is a single line rather than 3 in 1969 then 2 in the '90's-still zilch,Luas has ONLY 2 lines and not a single new line since 2014.What a joke-compare to Thessalonika,Oporto-both second cities and most East European capital cities not to mention Spain,Germany,france etc with multiple metroes and tramways.laughable here even this year more waffling and planned extensions.Comedy Show

Thank you for this video.
However, Metro is one of those pipe dreams (pun meant). We've dreamed of it for thirty years. With how badly the Irish state handles infrastructure construction these days, it's not likely to happen for another ten to thirty years.
I am looking forward to our new DART trains though. We should also probably do away with the stupid stop at Conolly now that we have the line to the Docklands.

Not so much "little-known" and definitely not fast enough growing transport network. The City will not cope with additional trams through the centre and the amount of mixed traffic running makes the speeds too slow. All of the future planning needs to go into the Metro project(s).

The plans are great, but they will never come to life. Not for lack of money, but rather political interest. The bus system in Dublin is one of the worst i've seen. Overall public transport system is a shame for a capital city.

I visited Dublin in November 2024. Didn’t get to ride Luas, but i did ride DART, the Drogheda/Dundalk ”Commuter” train, and Dublin Bus routes 4, 7, 7A, 33, 77A and 123.

Also my favorite station on DART is Killiney, because of the views around the station. A very long beach and views out on the open sea, and the train comes out on a tunnel and runds along the mountainside, a bit higher up from the beach. Looks really cool.

At present, some trains out of M3 Parkway run to Connolly, instead of going to Docklands. My solution would be to close the Docklands branch and run all services to Connolly via Drumcondra, instead.

Fast growing???? Fast???