A huge public meeting on the BusConnects Finglas routes organised by People Before Profit group leader on Dublin City Council, Councillor Conor Reddy, took place in the Shamrock Lodge tonight. The venue was filled to capacity and people were standing at the back and some had to be turned away at the door. This illustrates just how widespread the frustration has become with the new F-Spine services.
The meeting heard stories of daily cancellations, major cuts to frequency on the 23, 24 and F3 routes, and the loss of vital local connections including the removal of all bus services from Beneavin Road where three nursing homes and hundreds of residents have been badly affected. Members of the Beneavin Residents Group spoke passionately at the meeting and will be delivering their own petition alongside Cllr Reddy’s community petition tomorrow.
Information from bus drivers working on the affected routes were relayed to the meeting and highlighted serious structural issues such as driver shortages, routes that are too long to operate reliably, and operational systems that encourage cancellations rather than late running, which Bus unions balloted on for industrial action. These points confirmed what hundreds of local residents have been reporting since the new system began on 19 October.
Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Conor Reddy said:
"Finglas sent a message tonight that cannot be ignored. This room was packed to the rafters because the new routes are failing people every single day. They are failing workers, families, older people and even the drivers who are trying to keep the system going. People are missing hospital appointments, school children and students are stranded to and from their way to school and college, and older people and people with disabilities are either isolated or left waiting in the cold at bus stops. We need local links as well as connections to the parts of town that people want to get to, right now many people in Finglas have neither. People deserve a bus service that connects communities, not cuts them off."
Earlier the same day, Cllr Reddy had a detailed motion passed at the Dublin City Council North West Area Committee, calling for a full review of the F-Spine routes and direct engagement between the NTA and local communities. The motion was backed by every Councillor in the Ballymun–Finglas Local Electoral Area and a single joint letter will now be issued to the NTA on behalf of all Councillors.
"I am delighted to have brought Councillors in the area together to speak with one voice" Reddy said. "If we want to win changes for Finglas we need unity and we have that now."
The meeting unanimously agreed to found a new Finglas Bus Action Group which will coordinate further campaigning and community action. At 2pm on Wednesday 19 November a delegation of residents will travel to the NTA offices in Smithfield to hand-deliver hundreds of petition signatures and more than 700 individual complaints that have been submitted through Cllr Reddy’s public complaint form.
Cllr Reddy added:
"This is only the beginning. Last winter I worked to highlight the issue of “ghost buses” on the N2 and N6 routes and the same underlying issues are now hitting the F-Spine - staffing shortages, recruitment challenges and poor communication with passengers through the Realtime System. We will keep organising and escalating until Finglas gets the reliable, local, accessible transport system it deserves. Tonight we founded the Finglas Bus Action Group and in the coming weeks we will be planning larger public action, including the possibility of a mass protest or slow march along one of the affected routes. The NTA has not listened so far. They will have to listen now."
ENDS