Dublin Bus has claimed a 10 per cent increase in passenger numbers on the Stillorgan route since the Quality Bus Corridor was introduced last Monday, although the company does acknowledge that on average, buses remain half full.
The figures, which are provisional and taken from a "census" carried out by Dublin Bus over the past week, indicate a disappointing transfer from private cars to buses, especially given the publicity surrounding traffic delays.
The average loading per bus is 50 per cent which is a slight rise on the corresponding figure of just over 40 per cent, before the corridor was introduced. While the increase per bus is slight, there is a greater number of buses on the routes which use the corridor as the company put an additional 20. However, Dublin Bus says it is too soon to draw conclusions from the figures and has not disclosed actual passenger numbers. "It is no test really," commented Mr Joe Collins of the Dublin Bus Marketing Department. "The indications would be that there was a rise in the numbers of people taking the bus, of the order of 10 per cent, but we are really only gearing up for the real test in mid-September."
Mr Collins said the bus company was concentrating on getting the frequency, reliability and bus journey times right before the traditional back-to-school rush.
"We are very pleased with the speeds of the bus and their reliability as things stand, but it will be a few weeks yet before we are really tested," he said. Dublin Bus has an additional fleet of 10 buses which it is prepared to add on to the fleet using the Stillorgan QBC should the numbers rise dramatically.
Figures for the Malahide QBC show an annual growth rate of 15 per cent. In the week beginning August 9th, the route carried 15,623 passengers in the morning period inbound, an increase on the 13,540 of the previous year.
The Lucan QBC carried 16,382 passengers inbound in the morning rush, in the same week, compared to 13,938, the previous year, an increase of 18 per cent.
