The meeting with Dublin Bus and councillors was cancelled
Dublin Bus cancels meeting with councillors
“This is creating a serious crisis for people.”
Dublin Bus cancelled a meeting that was set to take place between themselves and the local authority on Monday.
The meeting was set to be held on Monday, but the public transport operator pulled out on Thursday and sent an email to councillors.
The meeting was cancelled days after the operator celebrated a record-breaking year, with passengers making approximately 164 million journeys via their services throughout 2025.
Councillor Helen Farrell stated her disappointment at the news and noted that her questions and feedback from constituents intended for the meeting were emailed to Dublin Bus.
A meeting between South Dublin councillors and the National Transport Authority, who awarded the contract of the services to Dublin Bus, is scheduled for February.
Cllr Farrell noted that “the meeting was already limited in scope” and was announced to the councillors on short notice, with questions expected to be provided to Dublin Bus prior to the meeting.
Cllr Farrell said: “The authority for scheduling routes, changing routes, etc., lies with the NTA. So, the meeting was already limited in scope.
“But my constituents in bulk got back to me. I had a huge deluge of emails, messages, etc., from people who are experiencing real serious issues with so many different aspects of public transport systems, everything from reliability problems, overcrowding, school transport failures…
“…So, the NTA really need to address this actively now to make this right.”
Public transport infrastructure in South Dublin has been criticised by councillors several times in recent years.
Councillors have described bus services in the region as inadequate and have also raised cancellation and route issues in council chambers.
In the last three months of 2025, several bus services operated by Dublin Bus and serving South Dublin were cancelled over one thousand times each.
The 27 service that runs from Jobstown to Clare Hall stands out as the most cancelled service across all of the Dublin Bus offerings in their catchment area.
The bus that also services Tallaght, Walkinstown and Drimnagh along its route was cancelled almost 4,000 times in
the three-month period.
Its 3,781 cancellations in this timeframe were over 800 more than any other route operated by Dublin Bus – almost one in four of all scheduled trips for the 27.
The 15 from Ballycullen Road to Clongriffin was third highest on the list and saw 2,332 cancellations, affecting residents of Firhouse, Knocklyon and Templeogue as a result.
The 13 from Grange Castle to Harristown was cancelled 1,612 times from the beginning of October until the end of December.
Overcrowding issues, such as the ones flagged on the C-Spine routes still affect commuters while connectivity gaps experienced by those from Palmerstown and other areas were hoped to be raised at the cancelled meeting.
Connectivity gaps, such as the loss of a direct link from places like Palmerstown to O’Connell Street and long travel times have been flagged by commuters.
Dublin Bus has not provided a new date for a meeting, and it is expected that the meeting councillors will have with the NTA in February will be their earliest chance to raise these issues in-person.
Cllr Farrell stated that the push for active travel and more housing is being jeopardised by the level of public transport infrastructure available to people.
On top of all this, Dublin drivers were delayed by an average of 95 hours in 2025 as it was found to be the 11th most congested city in the world.
“This is creating a serious crisis for people.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
