The bus service will be overhauled by The National Transport Authority (NTA) who plan to revamp existing routes and implement new procedures which will include; cashless payments, simple fares, movement between different transport services without penalty and removing buses from general traffic on the busiest routes to and around the city.
Three Bus Rapid Transit routes will come into place with the addition of longer bus routes in order to "remove the current delays and uncertainties". The majority of bus lanes only cover one-third of the route. The bus corridors will have a lane in each direction and cyclists, for the most part, will have their own path. The NTA will need to widen roads or change parking arrangements in order to create more efficient bus corridors.
11 routes from the suburbs to the city centre will have an extensive bus corridor from Bray, Dún Laoghaire and Blackrock, Finglas, Ballymun, Cabra though Phibsborough, Lucan, Leixlip, Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Rathfarnham, and Ringsend. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes will run from Blanchardstown to UCD, Clongriffin to Tallaght, and Swords to City Centre.
The orbital routes, the routes that avoid the city centre, will run from Ranelagh to Drumcondra via Heuston Station; Dun Laoghaire to Baldoyle via Dundrum, Ballyfermot and Finglas; and UCD to Blanchardstown via Dundrum, Tallaght and Liffey Valley.
The NTA has commissioned consultants to evaluate the existing bus routes which are also expected to be revamped or removed.The initiative is expected to cost in the region of a €1 billion euro. The new routes will be introduced from next year and the new bus corridors could take over two years to come to fruition.
