Dublin Bus Route 46A

46A
Phoenix Park to Dún Laoghaire Station
Overview
System Transport for Ireland
Operator Dublin Bus
Garage Donnybrook
Status Operating
Night-time 46n
Route
Start Phoenix Park
Via City Centre and Phibsboro
End Dún Laoghaire railway station
Length 13 km (8 mi)
Service
Level Daily
Frequency 15 minutes or less[1]
Journey time 61 minutes
Operates 06:09 - 23:40
Fare Standard fares apply
 43 102 

Dublin Bus Route 46A is a bus route in Dublin, Ireland, that runs from Phoenix Park, in Dublin city centre, to Mallin Station in Dun Laoghaire. It is operated by Dublin Bus (and previously, by Coras Iompair Éireann Dublin City Services). The 46A is probably the most famous bus route in Ireland, being frequently referred to in stand-up comedy, talk radio and other forms of media.

Route

It runs on the Stillorgan Quality Bus Corridor, via O'Connell Street, D'Olier Street, Nassau Street, St Stephen's Green, Leeson Street, and after exiting the city centre proper passes through the south Dublin suburbs of Donnybrook, Stillorgan. and Foxrock, using the N11 road for a large portion of its journey. After crossing the city centre it traverses the suburb of Phibsboro to reach its terminus on Infirmary Road. Dublin Bus states that the journey time should be 60–65 minutes, though this can vary widely depending on traffic volumes.

Although Dublin Bus' route numbering system might suggest that this route is a variant of a Dublin Bus Route 46, the 46A has long been the more important route. Since the introduction of the Stillorgan QBC in August 1999 the 46A has had a frequency of buses on average every 4 minutes or less during peak hours and approximately 8 minutes off-peak, and at weekends 10 minutes and 15 minutes off peak.[1] The success of the 46A led to the Route 46 being ended in October 2004.

The 46A is the busiest bus route in Ireland.

The route was branded as a CitySwift route in the mid-1990s, and, following the August 1999 launch of the QBC, began carrying Super CitySwift sector branding and Stillorgan Flyer sub-branding, in an attempt by Dublin bus to promote the QBC routes. This included the provision of on-board route maps. However the route's separate branding ended in 2006 with the decision by Dublin Bus to end most of its separate sub-brands.

In September 2010, the route was extended to serve Phoenix Park. The terminus is located on Infirmary Road, Dublin 8.

A 46A bus at a bus stop beside Dun Laoghaire DART station

Variants

Cultural references

The bus number is mentioned in the refrain of Bagatelle's, song Summer in Dublin:[3]

"I was singing a song I heard somewhere,
Called "Rock'n'Roll Never Forget",
When my humming was smothered by the 46A,
And the scream of a low flying jet.

Paul Howard, the writer of the satirical Ross O'Carroll-Kelly books (Sunday Tribune) and newspaper columns has claimed that his journeys on the 46A and (now defunct) number 10 are primary sources for the character and events.

The 46A is referred to frequently in Barry McCrea's novel 'The First Verse' (2005), and has a symbolic meaning in the book's last lines.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.