Take the Ongar express
by Peter Goulding

There was some good news for residents of the outlying community of Ongar recently when Dublin Bus announced that plans were afoot to introduce a dedicated bus route into the city centre.

The pronouncement was made by Gareth Quinn, North West area manager, at a meeting with the Ongar Residents Association Committee (ORAC.) Not surprisingly, certain members of the committee had previously expressed displeasure at the length of time that the 39 currently takes in its scenic meanderings towards An Lár.

“Yes we intend to introduce a faster, more direct service from Ongar to the city centre,” Mr. Quinn confirmed. “The service is likely to be during or after the summer. By and large the whole of the bus services in Dublin 15 are being rescheduled. This is a major undertaking but I expect to see significant improvements for our customers in the Dublin 15 area, not just with the introduction of the Xpress service but throughout all the existing services as well.

“With regard to the new route starting in Ongar, without doubt our customers there have suffered due to the chronic traffic congestion that has overtaken our roads and the distance that they must travel on the bus. However, though this service starts in Ongar, our customers all along the new Ongar Road and in the vicinity of Blanchardstown Road South will also be able to use it.

“The new service we will be maximising the use of all the bus lanes provided by Fingal County Council and the quality bus network team who have undertaken Trojan work in the area to help keep public transport moving,” he concluded.

“This is great news for Ongarians,” said Samantha Dooley of ORAC, who recently helped to organise a highly publicised protest against unfinished work in the estate. “We have been pushing for an express bus route to pick up at Ongar, then straight onto the N3 and into the city. The current bus takes between 80 - 100 minutes and is generally full by the time it leaves the area.

“This new bus route, would take around 45 minutes because of the bus lane. The general understanding is the N3 will be updated to accommodate a bus lane, which will benefit many local areas.”

It is understood that a service will still be provided for commuters who wish to take the snail-mail version of the service and prospective passengers along the route will stand a better chance of actually watching it stop, rather than the current practice of seeing it sailing by stuffed to the gills.

The announcement comes as another feather in the cap for ORAC. The introduction of an express link to the city comes hot on the heels of the provision of a post box in the village and the replacement of the Lucan gardaí with the Blanchardstown gardaí, who will officially take over responsibility for the policing of Ongar with effect from April 9th.

 

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