Survey shows that half of those asked use bus for work
Almost half the respondents of a recent survey regarding the Dublin Bus service in west Dublin said that they use the bus for going to work.
The “Bus Correct” survey, of over 2,700 bus users in west Dublin was carried out by Independent Councillor Paul Gogarty from November 2023 to September 2024.
Just over 47 per cent (1,291 people) said they use the bus for work, while just under 17 per cent (460 people) said they use it for socialising/visiting and 14 per cent (381 people) said they use the bus for leisure activities.
There were over 2,719 respondents who shared how they normally pay for their bus fare with over 60 per cent saying they use a standard leap card.
Of these respondents almost 23 per cent were 46-55 years old (623), just over 25 per cent 36-45 years old (699) while almost 17 per cent were 26-35 (461).
Meanwhile just over 36 per cent of respondents (992) use the bus 4-7 days a week, over 28 per cent (775) use it 2-3 days per week and over 5 per cent (149) rarely or never use it.
There were 149 bus driver responses to the survey regarding what they think the top three things they think need to be done to improve the bus service for users.
Unfortunately these responses are unedited and not categori-sed. Responses included driver conditions, poor life quality balance, ‘get rid of ghost buses’ and ‘not enough buses to cover services to Lucan/Leixlip areas’.
Other responses included ‘the use of debit and credit cards need to be implemented sooner than ASAP, this is a major issue in Dublin now’, ‘more input from Controllers and Drivers’, ‘tackle anti-social behaviour on public transport’ and ‘cashless buses to improve time spent loading passengers at bus stops’.
Respondents also had their say regarding how many times a bus passed them by full in the last two weeks. Just over 35 per cent (784) said it happened to them once or twice, just over 25 per cent said it did not happen to them at all while over 23 per cent (518) said that it had happened to them three to four times.
Just over 2,200 shared their experiences regarding how many times a scheduled bus had not turned up in the last two weeks.
Just over 40 per cent (900) said it happened to them once or twice, while just over 27 per cent (607) said it happened to them three or four times and 20 per cent (443) said it happened to them over five times.
While most of the survey respondents came from areas such as Lucan, Newcastle and Palmerstown, replies also came from other parts of South Dublin, North Kildare and Dublin city areas such as Ballyfermot and Chapelizod, according to Cllr Gogarty.