Bus journeys for commuters living in south Dublin will be reduced by up to 15 minutes from Monday, according to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, with the opening of a new bus lane on the Rock Road at Mount Merrion.
The new lane, which is part of the Blackrock/Merrion Road Quality Bus Corridor project, will operate in both directions, from Monday to Saturday between 7am and 7pm.
Dublin Bus has said the opening of the lane will allow it to increase the number of buses it runs during morning peak, daytime and evening by 23 per cent on weekdays. It also intends to immediately improve its Saturday services with increases in Sunday services to come into force later in August.
The routes that will immediately benefit from the bus lane are numbers 4, 5, 7, 8, and 45, with an additional 34 trips per day in each direction between Blackrock and O'Connell Street, which, the council said will provide a bus every three minutes on average along the Rock Road. The increase could result in an extra 50,000 journeys each year.
The opening of the Rock Road lane will result in a continuous bus lane from the start of the Rock Road at the junction with Mount Merrion Avenue to Trimleston Avenue, Mount Merrion.
Work is ongoing on the remaining sections of the corridor between the Tara Towers and Strand Road junction because of issues relating to the installation of high pressure gas mains, ESB, sewers, telecoms and water rehabilitation works.
The council has yet to finalise a date for the completion of these public works.
