Another relatively low-cost improvement would be to have the current 17:17 terminate at Maynooth, run it back into town and use that unit to provide a later service to Longford. This is currently effectively an empty stock movement as it is of little use to anyone going further than Maynooth.
Another big improvement would be to provide earlier services to Dublin on weekend mornings - again from Longford would be good enough to start. First arrivals into Dublin at 10 and 12 on Saturday and Sunday are really not good enough - particularly from Longford and Mullingar which are not that far from Dublin.
I agree with Jamie2K9, the current changes are pointless - adding an extra service each way at time of very low demand is just a waste. What customers need are more services when they can use them - not changes that the NTA can point to and say that now we have X services per day.
The NTA seem to have a real focus on increasing the numbers of services at all costs irrespective of whether or not these services are actually wanted - this is that same thinking brought us 10 minute DART at a cost of massive overcrowding, regular calculations and a virtual collapse of the timetable. There is no point in adding more services if the result of the extra service is ongoing disruption to what is there already.
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