Thousands are bracing for another 48-hour Dublin Bus strike that is due to start on Thursday at 9pm.
This will be the third two-day stoppage over the pay dispute and 13 further strike days have announced in the coming weeks.
Up to 400,000 Dublin Bus passengers must find alternative ways to get to work on each strike day, the exception being a weekend.
Fans going to see the Dublin versus Mayo All-Ireland football replay in Croke Park on Saturday, October 1st will also be affected.
The company estimates on average they would expect to carry an extra 8,000 customers on an All-Ireland final day.
Airlink services will not run Friday and Saturday and the Nitelink service will also not run over the weekend.
We have outlined a number of alternative travel options:
Walk
If you live at distance that can be walked, it might be a good idea to put on your runners and bring an umbrella. Give yourself plenty of time. Met Éireann forecasters predict Friday will be mainly dry but rain and drizzle will become more widespread in the evening. Saturday will be windy and mild with outbreaks of heavy showers. You could also wear an activity tracker to know all the extra steps you have added up for the day.
Cycling
Cycling to work is a popular option. If you are bringing your own bicycle make sure you have somewhere secure to leave it. People can now use their Leap card to avail of the Dublin Bikes rental scheme. New members should go to dublinbikes.ie before they travel. An annual card costs €20 and a three-day ticket €5. The good news is about 235 calories are burned on the average cycle commute, according to latest research by the Cycle to Work Day group.
Driving/carpooling
Remember there will be a lot more people driving and cycling than normal. If you fancy sharing a lift Transport for Ireland has the website www.carsharing.ie you could use. Volumes of traffic are expected to be higher than normal for both days. Gardaí have said motorists will not be allowed to use the bus lanes on days of strike action. During previous strikes, the hashtag #liftfairy on Twitter has been popular.
Taxi
Taxi services have warned they will be very busy around peak travelling times. Hailo has advised its customers to avoid travelling between between 8am to 9am and 5pm to 7pm if possible as the demand will be “sky high”.
Public transport
The Dart, commuter services and Luas will run services as normal. Expect the journeys to be a lot more crowded than normal and they will not be running extra services. A number of Luas stops offer park and ride facilities if you do not want to drive into the city. They can normally fill up quite early. www.luas.ie/park-and-ride/
Other buses
Bus Éireann, Aircoach and a number of private bus operators will run services as normal.
A new technology start-up CitySwifter.com is encouraging people to crowdsource their transport. People can enter their journey requests on the website and are matched with fellow passengers to book private buses to get them to and from their place of work.
