Bus Éireann yesterday unveiled plans for a major "city-style" expansion of its network in the greater Dublin area, with buses running as frequently as one every 12 or 15 minutes from provincial towns.
The company also plans 12 new commuter routes and direct, hourly services to Dublin airport from Navan, Newbridge, Mullingar and Wicklow on a "dawn to dusk" basis.
The expansion follows the acquisition of 165 new buses - 32 of them luxury, double-decker, coach-style vehicles - funded by the Transport 21 Government strategy. The first of the new buses are expected to arrive this September, but most of the first tranche of 75 are to be delivered in 2008.
About 40 of that 75 are to be replacement buses, with just the remainder earmarked to create additional capacity.
The final tranche of 90 buses is due to be delivered in 2009.
Bus Éireann borrowed a double-decker coach from Northern Ireland bus company Translink yesterday, covering it with Bus Éireann stickers for the announcement of the expansion by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen.
Key elements of the enhanced network are "bus priority measures" and traffic management to ensure that buses avoid congestion which costs the company €24 million a year.
Non-Dublin services will include Portarlington to Portlaoise in Co Laois; and Newry, Co Down, via Carlingford, to Dundalk, Co Louth. Services will also operate from Blessington, Co Wicklow, via Citywest to Tallaght, Co Dublin.
A key aspect of new and enhanced services will be their integration with other forms of public transport such as rail, Luas or air services.
The new routes will link outlying areas, such as Wicklow town to the Sandyford Luas stop; Blessington to the Tallaght Luas stop, and Naas to the Tallaght Luas stop.
Services to Dublin will have "city-style" frequency, with a bus from Ashbourne every 12 minutes; from Navan every 15 minutes; and from Naas every 15 minutes, during the day.
The current frequencies on these routes are one bus every 20 minutes from Ashbourne; 15-30 minutes from Navan, and no set frequency or about one per hour at off-peak times from Naas.
Mr Cullen said that while substantial investment in the rail network was planned under Transport 21, the bus "will continue to be the workhorse" of public transport.
He said that last year Dublin Bus provided 146 million passenger journeys, while Bus Éireann provided 92 million.
On traffic congestion, Mr Cullen said work to install a bus corridor on the Naas Road in both directions was under way, providing interchange possibilities with Luas and four other bus corridors.
He said bus lanes were being built on the N3 outbound at Bracetown, at Dunshaughlin north and south of the village, and again on the N3 from the Meath county boundary to the Blanchardstown roundabout.
