Bus/Train Archives - Councillor Derek Mitchell

Apr 01 2022
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Mitchell criticises NTA cancelling the 133 bus service to Airport, thus encouraging cars

Posted by | Bus/Train, Local Work, Press Release, Transport | No Comments

Prior to the pandemic the 133 bus served much of Wicklow and went to Dublin centre and on to the airport. The airport part of the service was cancelled during the lockdown but the NTA has now decided that it will permanently end in Busarus. Passengers, with cases, will have to transfer to the infrequent 101 there. The journey time is listed as 98 minutes, from Willow Grove, which is far too long and uncertain compared to driving at 45 minutes. The Aircoach from Greystones takes 83 minutes. These bus…

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Sep 24 2020
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Mitchell against Plan to end direct trains from Wicklow

Posted by | Bus/Train, Transport, Wicklow | No Comments

The plans for DART+ to Maynooth involve stopping the peak hour diesel trains from Arklow, Rathdrum, Wicklow & Kilcoole in Greystones and making the passengers transfer to the 2 DARTs per hour there. This is being done to allow 13 DARTs from Maynooth onto the North South line in the peak. ‘I am totally opposed to this as it will mean more people will use their cars, clog up the N11and be bad for Climate Change ‘said Cllr Derek Mitchell who is Chair of the Wicklow Transport Committee. Now there…

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Sep 09 2020
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Dublin should not slow down Wicklow Buses

Posted by | Bus/Train, Transport, Wicklow | No Comments

Cllr Derek Mitchell has asked Dublin City Council not to halve the speed of Wicklow Buses in the City Centre as is proposed. The journey time of buses to the city centre is already too long and proposals to slow them to 30 kph on the main roads would be worse. Cllr Mitchell, who is Chair of the Wicklow Transport Committee, has written to Dublin Council asking that the route of the 84X, 133, Wexford bus and Aircoach to the airport & City Centre should not be reduced to 30…

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May 31 2020
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Greater priority needs to be given to buses from outer suburbs on city centre streets

Posted by | Bus/Train, Community Facilities, Local Work, Transport, Transport M50/N11 | No Comments

Buses should have priority on Dublin Streets. Greater priority needs to be given to buses from outer suburbs on city centre streets. The recently published Dublin Mobility Plan provides increased space on City Centre Streets for cycling and walking, especially around College Green. The significant population expansion of the Greater Dublin Area has mostly taken place in further out suburbs as the centre has not expanded much. Walking & cycling are only suitable for commuting short distances. The LUAS which has taken up much road space in Central Dublin, including…

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Apr 17 2020
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Irish Rail tender for Design of Drogheda DART & Greystones Capacity Improvements

Posted by | Bus/Train, Greystones, Transport | No Comments

On Thursday Irish Rail has gone to tender to do the detail design of the DART expansion on the Coastal line from Drogheda to Greystones. For the first time this includes ‘increases to the capacity of the Bray to Greystones section’ . ‘I am delighted that this is now included in the DART upgrade plan. Originally this was not included and I wrote a paper, launched by Minister Simon Harris, on how it could be done in 2018 by partially double tracking it’. The tender is to design the track,…

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Dec 20 2019
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N/M11 Road Public Transport study welcome

Posted by | Bus/Train, Transport, Transport M50/N11 | No Comments

I welcome the announcement that Public Transport improvements, including Bus Priority and Park n’ Ride are being considered. This will include an examination of interim options and hopefully will reduce the scale of the N11 works. This is being done by The National Transport Authority with the Council. Myself and many Councillors have been pushing for this to be done but I was not aware it was underway. It does not mention the rail line which is virtually empty at rush hour with the least number of trains of any…

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Aug 22 2019
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Minister directs Regional Authority to change Transport Plan. Welcome

Posted by | Bus/Train, Transport | No Comments

The Minister for Planning & Local Government has instructed the Eastern & Midland Regional Authority to amend its recently adopted Regional Plan to 2031 on transport matters. I welcome this direction as the changes to the Plan make it more likely that the DART as far South as Greystones will be improved and that the LUAS to Bray, Finglas, Lucan & Poolbeg will be properly planned & designed. I wrote to the Minister some months ago seeking this change. I voted against the changes which were proposed to the Transport Strategy but…

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May 08 2019
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Jacobs Engineering says Cllr Mitchells plan for extra Greystones DARTs is feasible

Posted by | Bus/Train, Greystones, Transport | No Comments

I wrote a paper in 2018 on how to increase the frequency on the single track from 30 to every 20 minutes. This was based on partially double tracking the line, without the need for an expensive tunnel through Bray Head. This was ignored by Irish Rail but the NTA asked Jacobs Engineering to study how to do this. I received their report in May and they consider the idea is feasible, as is a 20 minute service and a quicker journey time. This is subject to some further analysis…

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Mar 05 2019
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National Transport Agency outlines plans for Wicklow

Posted by | Bus/Train, Greystones, Wicklow | No Comments

NTA Chief Executive Ann Graham gave a good presentation to the Council meeting on 4th March outlining the problems and the NTAs solutions. On the railway the single line track around Bray Head is a major problem. I wrote a report in February 2018 suggesting partial double tracking as a way of providing 50% more DARTs to Greystones. This was ignored by Irish Rail but the NTA has got international rail experts involved, who will report by the end of March whether this is feasible. Looking forward to report. More trains…

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