Luas timetables for St Patrick's Day and the new Bank Holiday on March 18th are "ludicrous and dangerous" Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond has said.
Mr Richmond said the decision to run trams to Sunday timetables over the two days amounted to a "direct dereliction of responsibility of duty by LUAS to the city and the people it serves".
Mr Richmond called for an “an urgent rethink” on the timetables with the expectation “tens of thousands of tourists and revellers will visit the city centre”.
While partial closures of the line for a period of time to facilitate the parade were “understandable” reducing the service the rest of the day was not he said.
"After almost two years of restrictions due to the Covid 19 pandemic, this year we will have a massive double Bank Holiday celebration. Tens of thousands of tourists and revellers will come to Dublin to enjoy the wonderful St Patrick's festival after two years of it being absent," he said.
“This decision is both ludicrous and dangerous. We will see so many people pack on to the few LUAS trams running while the lack of a late-night service will see many revellers stranded in the city centre late at night with very limited transport options. This is a direct dereliction of responsibility of duty by LUAS to the city and the people it serves.”
A spokeswoman for Luas operator Transdev said she rejected Mr Richmond's comments.
“Since the start of operations in 2004 Luas has always run a special time table on St Patrick’s day.”
This has involved operating a Sunday/ Bank Holiday start and end time, but with special services during the day to “accommodate predicted numbers travelling, naturally reflecting parade times and other events,” she said. “This year will be similar.”
On St Patrick’s Day trams will run every six minutes on the Red Line and every seven minutes on the Green Line at peak times, approximately every 10 minutes outside of peak times, moving to 15 minutes at the end of service.
On March 18th services will run to a Bank Holiday time table with “extra trams to accommodate festivities” she said.
“Passengers are advised to check the Luas website for precise detail from their location and to allow time to travel.”
