“We are here to show them they picked a fight with the wrong community,” said Seán Hewitt to a crowd of about 300 people in Chapelizod village in Dublin.
They gathered there on Saturday morning to protest against the National Transport Authority’s (NTA) decision to replace the 26 bus service with a new route as part of the BusConnects network.
The new 80 service implemented in October has doubled commutes, and resulted in frequent cancellations and delays, they say.
Protesters carrying placards which read: “All I want for Christmas is a bus on time”, “BusConnects DisConnects” and “Give us back the 26” marched to the local Anna Livia Bridge.
RM Block
They subsequently filled the bridge for about ten minutes, blocking traffic from both directions.
“We are disrupting traffic because our lives have been disrupted by the NTA,” Mr Hewitt told the crowd.
“One bus is all we’re asking for,” he added.
The 26 route typically brought locals to the city centre within 20 minutes, they say, with the majority of commuters disembarking at Bachelors Walk or Nassau Street for work.
However, the new route diverts from the city centre quays away from bus lanes and on to Bridge Street, where it meets significant congestion resulting in knock on delays throughout the route, they say.
As part of the BusConnects network, commuters travelling to the city centre can switch buses at Arran Quay and complete their journey through the C-Spine.
However, protesters remarked that consecutive buses at Arran Quay during the morning rush to work are full and pass them by “in the lashing rain”.
“The other day I tried to get on four different buses to get me the rest of the way and they were all full, so it’s not connecting. The buses are there, you just can’t get on them,” says Siobhán Tracy, who works in the city centre.
Ms Tracy’s mother, Joan, who is aged in her 70s, said the community has been “cut off from the city, the city that I love”.
“I find now that I’m nervous going in trying to get buses,” she said, adding that she previously used the 26 service to meet friends.
“I’d be very nervous at night-time because Usher’s Quay, where we have to get the bus [home], if we can connect to it, it’s not the safest place, particularly as I’m getting older. I feel very sad that this could be done to us,” she said.
The 26 route previously served Westmoreland Street, where the majority of locals embarked on their journey home.
Several marching on Saturday said children and young adults have been put under additional pressure to get to school and college on time and are facing long waits to get home.
“My son went to town one Saturday and he was an hour waiting on George’s Street trying to get home and it was absolutely gridlocked,” said Colette Brady.
On Friday, the NTA announced plans to amend the route which will see the bus continue along the north quays to Eden Quay, rather than diverting to Bridge Street. It will see the 80 service merged with the existing 130 route that serves Clontarf.
This is expected to come into effect in the second quarter of 2026, the NTA said, while a temporary measure from “early 2026” will see the 80 route amended to continue down the quays and cross at O’Connell Bridge.
Local Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins, however, said the 130 is “not as reliable as it should be”, describing the merger as “challenging”.
“They want to have the 26 reinstated and I don’t think they’re going to stop until that happens,” she said.
“The people coming from far away are doing really well and getting into town much quicker but it’s the communities that are being cut off from where they need to go, that’s the problem,” she said.
