The 02 arena and IEs lack of inititive
 

At Clonsilla station this evening one thing I spotted was a DART advertisement for the new 02 arena suggesting passengers to take the DART to Connolly and Tara Street and taking the 151 to the Point

Let alone the fact that at this stage passengers from Clonsilla cannot take the DART to Connolly IE have completely failed to grasp the potential that Docklands has in this case being close to the o2 arena.

This can work by running Maynooth and Pace trains and Kildare trains to Docklands. Of course any chance of running northside DARTs/commuters has diminished unless the interconnector but not looking good on that front!

Their lack of creativity and joined up thinking is not suprising but disappointing

Thats a really good point (no pun).

Why can't IE advertise late night services in conjunction with each major gig in the Point?

On Sunday evenings, you will have thousands of concert goers stranded in their cars due to a complete lack of will to provide an alternative.

Good point mark

About 5 years ago where there was a bad maynooth timetable IE advertised that drumcondra was 5 minutes from croke park and listed those Sunday (and Saturday) times. We know how that has worked out since then!

All I say is that in these troubled times for IE some forward thinking could work in their favour!

Indeed. I remember making quite a lot of haste towards Connolly after a concert at the old Point finished the wrong side of 11.

We have met Irish Rail and this issue did come up and there are two parties, the crew in MCD or whoever is the promoter and Irish Rail

It would appear that the promoters need manage their events better to ensure the end time of the concert is actually as expected. There are various other issues which would greatly help matters, most of which cost nothing and would take nothing more than a 10 minute phone call to explain

Intercity services don't seem to be much of a problem, certainly been a significant increase in the number of special services running over the last few years

the ad (at clonsilla station) states:

The ad is supported by DART

Now What's wrong with using docklands to it's maximum?

I do recall mentioning Docklands when discussing the whole issue of the provision of special services. It does make a lot of sense, but only for Maynooth

In the past there have been crazy situations where concerts have ended 20-30 minutes later than planned such that the extra services or indeed the normal scheduled services had already left

We have all experienced the random holding of trains causing serious delays to existing daily passengers who suddenly find they are forced to wait since the concert went on too long.

The intercity division has definitely got its business hat on, and we seeing a clear pattern of extra trains for concerts and big matches

Like I said there are two parties involved here, Irish Rail need to get the business hat on but for it to work they have to rely on the concert promoters to give commitments as to the end time of the concert and some other matters. I know of one thing Irish Rail tried which was an incredibly simple question the answer to which would make planning so much easier if they got the answer.

There are two sides here, probably going to have to go down the planning permission route to force certain things to work

Interesting to note that there is currently no parking at the O2 with a multi-story planned to open in late 2009 so looks like there will be a heavy reliance on public transport in the beginning.

The O2 website mentions using the 53 bus but they have very limited capacity.

I did some numbers last night on this

If a concert ends 22:30-22:45 allowing 25 minutes to get to Connolly, the following capacity is available without extra services

Maynooth 1240
Drogheda 1240
Malahide 1400
Howth 1400
Bray 1400
Greystones 1400

Total 8080

Allow 10% or so leaves you just over 7000 spaces, Luas can shift another 1500-2000 on top of that from Connolly or direct from the point in 2009.

Fully seated concert = 9500 people or 14500 for standing event

Finishing at 22:30-22:45 is essential, if the concert is to end at 23:30 there is still a great case for at least 1 train on each route. Problem arises here is past times there have been extra services with less than 50 people on board, a poster at a train station means nothing if you only travel once or twice a year

Curiously the concert promotors have the email address of a large proportion of the ticket holders, thats the disconnect the information needs to be got to the people going to the concert

Edit 53 route capacity is about 50 per hour.....

This is yet another example of the lip service that is paid to public transport in Dublin.

I presume the local authority, (DCC?) give the license for the gig to go ahead on the proviso that the promoters liaise with the relevant parties, IE, RPA, DB, Guards etc to ensure that punters can get to / from the gig.

All good on paper and high fives at the board room level.

What we have is a few token posters from the o2 arena saying use the bus which can barely handle 1/20th of the numbers going while IE and DB completely fail to even bother adjusting the schedule to run later or extra trains / buses.

Thats just on a weeknight when there is a token late night service, it doesn't even begin to take into account the shambolic Sunday evening services.

Nobody with the power to make changes to transport in Dublin cares because no one with the power to make changes uses public transport in Dublin.

Do your numbers, rehearse your speech, rant your rant. But remember the bottom line on this topic is quite simply later public transport. A concept that is still ignored by the railway. Blame the 02. Blame the event organisers. Look like wallies. But at least discuss the topic with some semblence of connection to the real world. Pandering to IEs ideas of providing a service is laughable. Demanding that events finish at a specified time is rediculous. Art is art. Anything can happen. Timing entertainment to fit in with existing public transport is retrograde. Timing public transport to fit in with entertainment is the future. Thats why the buses have done nightlink and nightrider. It needs to be expanded. All this talk of planning permission and strict finishing times is so 1950s its a joke.

It is clearly about the times but also the venue. Look at the nearest station to it, perfect, good location plenty of capacity etc. could have had Maynooth, Drogheda, pace and kildare all serving it but of course noone thinks outside the box!

CIE are in serious trouble they think cutbacks will save their bacon but their ideoligy is wrong and outdated. Their thinking is victorian their times their They failed to adapt to changing times in the country. They need fresh management wth fresh ideas otherwise it will be the end of the line resulting in the dreaded "p" word

Of course no christmas late night services this year as last year because noone used the late night DARTs they failed to try any other line

See what I mean useless!

Come to think of it don't Pace trains start running from Docklands from next year so thats a great advantage for dublin 15/pace/Maynooth line passengers!

They need to advertise it though!

No. Pace trains don't and will never exist. They were an illusion. :(

Nightrider is all but gone and all the Nitelink services are being reviewed in the new year - the flood of taxis have killed them.

I'm not sure if you can design a railway around occassional events, especially ones at a secondary location. Sure, specials can be laid on to move a chunk of the crowds, but holding scheduled services for 30 minutes (whatever about 10 minutes) destroys the service for regular users.

The GAA have copped on and laid on a bunch of park and ride services - from local GAA ground - for the main games in Croke Park last summer. Indeed there are a couple of operators that do concert specials to the main venues, but designing a service around "I want to stay in the pub all hours" isn't easy.

Now, all the operators do need to up their game, but they also need the cooperation of concert promoters and others. But concert promoters don't do socially responsible (perhaps a different day's argument).

Personally I'd love to see alcohol licences tied to the availibility of suitable public transport - let the pubs subsidise the buses and trains instead of the other way aorund.

Late night DART flopped due to a combination of factors, primary one being Dublin Bus had a better product in Nightlink which was more than able to cope, even that is seeing a very significant fall off in numbers.

Bus option tends to be favoured in many cities. Still there is a case for 12:30 on all routes Fri/Sat trivial for DART and Drogheda but hard to provide for Maynooth and Kildare. But let us not lose sight of the real daily problems, no train west of Maynooth after 7pm and so on

Knowing when the concert is going to end is essential to ensure a plan can be put in place. Clearly if the concert can end at such a time when public transport is still running it is much much easier to cope and the public already know the timetable and so on

Irish Rail are very eager to provide extra services if they can turn a profit on them. As I have posted they need information from the concert organisers to match the service to the expected demand. Getting that information can be a problem

Well they could argue there was no demand for DARTs specials after 11:30 on the basis that they tried it but I cant see how they can argue the case for special commuter services given they haven't.

Sorry, but some of you are still stuck in the mentality of "specials" and planning of extra services etc. Its 2008, not 1908. Lifestyles have changed, Dublin has changed. Regular late running should be the norm. As for taxis, well a cap is on the way and I predict a lot of drivers will quit the game anyway. The streets may be flooded with taxis, but struggling to make a living from it will inevitably lead to a fall off in provision. Public transport is still stuck in the past and its sad to see that it has created a culture of acceptance with some people. As for IE turning a profit, I suggest you go back through the various transport acts. They tell the tale of why IE/CIE has morphed into the dinosaur that it is from the top to the bottom. Its perhaps one of the most confused transport companies in the world.

And I get the feeling we may need these people to become extinct to stand any chance of fresh ideas to irish transport. These people haven't a clue whats really going on on the ground and i wouldn't be suprised if the top guns don't communicate with those on the ground (staff/passengers) even though they make it look as if they want to listen.

The issue of regular later services and the miss match to modern lifestyles is comprehensively addressed in the policy presentation available in the members area but thats not the topic of this thread.

Extra trains are now run as routine to Cork, Limerick and Galway for big concerts, no other way home bar the train, those trains are full, they make a profit. If any train is full it makes a profit. There has been a significant increase in these in recent years and indeed Irish Rail permit people to book at the reduced web fares to further encourage passengers, they are most certainly playing ball to make this work.

In the past due to a combination of poor advertising and late running concerts there have been special services with less than 50 people on board. Like I posted earlier a poster at a station isn't really going to work, if you only use the train once or twice a year, you won't see it

The first responsibility of Irish Rail is to operate the published timetable, it is utterly unacceptable to sacrifice or delay timetabled services to cover for concerts, equally it unacceptable for the daily passenger to subsidise an extra service if its loss making.

I've spoken directly to the people who actually make these decisions and they appear genuinely focused on providing extra services where possible. However the cooperation of the concert promoters is essential on several fronts. I do know Irish Rail are they party applying the pressure they want to carry more people remember the profit off extra trains is increasingly important to keep the daily service on the road.

Many will recall the rip off charter run by a concert promoter a few years back, compared that to Irish Rail offering discounted fares and students fares, the finger of blame is starting to point at someone other than Irish Rail.

Some thoughts on how to sort this out

The concert promoters need to email the transport arrangements to the ticket buyers in advance, thats a trivial matter
Knowing where the concert goers are coming from could help, with GAA it's obvious. Gives an idea of the numbers allowing better planning
Finishing at an agreed time, there are issues with working hours and so on, its illegal for train drivers to exceed certain working hour limits (and that is a legitimate problem for ad hoc specials), trains have to be in place for the morning and so on, need for maintenance and inspections overnight. Holding the train costs a heap of cash and it might not be possible

The real question is the social obligation of the venue and promoter in getting their patrons home, the ball is very much in their court to make things work better. Planning conditions would really sort this mess out by putting a legal onus on the venue and promoter to get the house in order.

Given Connolly is staffed 24 hours and there are empty trains there already, and getting trains and staffing Docklands is awkward to serve only one route its unlikely it will open

sure mark isn't docklands going to be operating a full pace service from 2010 in anyway?

I saw the poster that kicked off this thread on the train this morning.

It says "Get to the O2 using public transport".

Implicit in that is that you won't be going from the O2 by public transport.

Anyway, the issue of concerts and finishing times certainly happens in other jurisdictions, I don't think anyone here is seriously proposing they end at 10 pm, if anything above Mark's analysis of how early a gig must end if customers are to avail of public transport shows how prohibitive the current schedules are for people wishing to get home late at night.

EDIT: One other thing, is on street car parking free in Dublin after 7pm?

On most, but by no means all, streets. A minority have restrictions from 7am until midnight. And I've seen the clampers roaming an area with several of those streets last at night on many an occasion.

I don't know if you saw the map in this mornings Metro but there is a more detailed pdf format map here http://www.theo2.ie/assets/pdf/Trans...e_Download.pdf outlining all the bus routes etc

Its one of the better maps i have seen in a long time good job done.

For those coming from west dublin/maynooth/meath Docklands station will be very handy! Nice to see shuttle buses coming into play also!

The road map coming into Dublin seems a bit out though! No M1 marked, not even as far as the airport

also no mention of docklands station on the dart & luas section and reference to www.dart.ie? (slightly out of date) main map looks good though.

I was about to post that link.

I'm going to take a look at the planning application - it seems it has a mobility plan. The application was to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, not the city council.

On AA roadwatch on Drivetime this evening they mentioned the shuttle.
They only stated it as going from Green Line Luas, good to see it will serve other locations too.

It would seem a very easy plan to park a couple of 29Ks in Docklands, where they're out of the way of scheduled services, and have one depart 20 mins after the concert ends, and the second depart 20 mins after that, running all stops to Maynooth.

This would leave the bay platforms in Connolly for a couple of similar services to Drogheda.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, it's a matter of IE putting their commercial hat on. Why have combined concert and rail tickets never happened in this country?

Am I misreading this or are they claiming that Heuston is a 28 minute walk form the Point? Or from the edge of the map, which is a bit pointless. not sure I'd fancy walking to Clontarf Road either, and I think 14 minutes is a bit optimistic.

Closest stations to the 02:

DART: Grand Canal Dock (1.32km) Connolly (1.42km), Tara Street (1.52km), Pearse (1.57km), Lansdowne Road (2.07km)

Green Line: St. Stephens Green (2.8km), Charlemont (3.2km, but expect a lot of trams to be filled by people getting on at St. Stephens Green).

Red Line: Busáras (but expect a lot of trams to be filled by people getting on at Connolly).


This http://www.dto.ie/web2006/jp.htm gives 48 minutes to Heuston (4.082 km), but is overly-generous.

25 minutes (again generous), 2.117 km to Clontarf Road.

What about Grand Canal Dock?

Thats exactly what I was thinking, GCD was nearest.

Fixed already. There seems to be some glitches with the journey planner, e.g. it claims Charlemont (via South Lotts Road and the Grand Canal) is the closest Green Line stop - it might be the least hassle route, but is about 400m longer than via the city centre to St. Stephens Green.

All I can say, speaking from experience tonight is that the O2/The Point is back with a vengeance.

Brought Dublin traffic to a complete standstill. Worst I've ever seen on the Coast Road in Sandymount. A normal 40-60 min Blackrock to Clontarf Drive took 2 hrs after giving up on East Link after taking 1 hr to get just over 1/2 way along the Sandymount Coast Road. A complete farce.

Words just fail me. Why the hell where they given planning permission for this place, given the chaos that it used to cause before the renovations, when it was a much smaller venue.

There's no hope for planning in this city. The venue should not have been allowed to open until Luas extension and Shuttle Buses were in place and free for all concert goes (paid for in Concert ticket at least).

Thankfully I'll be back on the Dart next week.

Docklands station is according to the dto 5 minutes

But its the same story with Drumcondra with only 1 route calling at the station and that does well!

Hammer, Nail, Head. - "How prohibitive the current schedules are."

Once again the issue of profit and public service obligations starts to rise from its grave. Its an issue thats endemic throughout the state and semi state bodies. An Post, CIE etc etc. Subsidy, profit, service. Those words don't blend.

Im with you there Rob. Got caught in it tonight aswell. Im not lucking forward to its forthcoming schedule in 09. North Quays were heading to Galway.:D The promoters are not at fault. They just book the place. The owner, planners and transport companies are all to blame for this disaster.

Full house 4 carriage on the last train to maynooth tonight

Crowds seem to be arriving at connolly after 11