Just silly?

Muchc of the talk in Ireland about public transport in recent years has talked about the need for more spending more interconnection etc etc. This is indeed true but sometimes just a bit of common sense is needed. Take for instance the BallyBrophy Limerick train line. It is an oldish line but still in use with a few trains going up and down the line. Going through the towns of Castleconnel, Neangh and Roscrea. All of which are increasingly coming commuter towns of Limerick. So here is a train line connecting these 3 places with Limerick, with trains running surely the very model of commuter transport. Alas the first train gets to Limerick at 12 O’Clock.

So why does the train get into Limerick at 12 O’Clock when it is of little use to anyone. It is to late for workers. Surely that train should be getting it at around 8.30. Giving people time to get into the office. The reason I guess it does not is that the train line is just a single track line and the morning use of the line is the train to Dublin, which gets into Dublin at 10. Now surely there is more use for a morning commuter train then a long distance train. Limerick-Dublin is already supplied on the Cork Dublin line via Limerick junction. So what is the need for a separate line in the morning via BallyBrophy. Sure people from Castleconnell Neangh and Roscrea need to get to Dublin. But is there a greater demand in the mornings to get to Dublin for 10 (yet again not much use for workers.) then to get into Limerick for 8.30? And if they were feeling particulary clever they could add a park and ride facility on the train line just off the Limerick by-pass. If the train got into Limerick for 8.30 then it could about turn and go back up to BallyBrophy. So suddenly we have a new commuter train line for workers, reducing the cars coming in the Dublin road and being all green. And all it takes is a change of train-time tables. But will that happen? No

Another thing is bus maps. If you go to Dublin the main public transport is the Bus, but unless you know it and know where you are going what use is it? And there is a simple soultion. I was in Porto , Portugal and at each bus stop was a map of the city, showing you where each bus stopped, so if you wanted to get somewhere you just looked at the map and got that number bus. And where is the clever bit, the buses had a display telling you the next stop. Now I haven’t been on Dublin bus for a few months but last time they didn’t tell you where you were. You simply had to know. But in Portugal you don’t need to know what your stop looks like. If you want to go to Foz you wait till it says next stop Foz and get off. Simple and effective and yet again something that will not be done in Ireland. It is the reason why Metro;s and trams work so well, people know where they are going, Buses are a black art.