Ghost buses ‘simply not acceptable’, Minister for Transport says

The “phenomenon” of ghost buses on certain routes is “simply not acceptable”, the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has told the Dáil.

Mr O’Brien said a “great frustration” of his was “unreliability” in public transport.

“From time to time, things happen, drivers can be sick. That can happen, people will understand now and again if this happens but the increased prevalence [of ghost buses] on certain routes is of grave concern,” he said.

“Ghost” or “disappearing” buses refer to services listed by on-street screens and the Transport for Ireland phone app as being due to arrive at a set time, only for them to then vanish from the screen or app or suddenly appear as having been cancelled.

The phenomenon has been a persistent passenger complaint on routes all across the city, with previous reports covering commuting difficulties for people in the city’s suburbs.

The Minister was responding to Fianna Fáil TD Naoise Ó Cearúil on Tuesday, who said the N4 and N7 national roads are “essentially like car parks at the moment”.

The Kildare North TD said he believed part of the problem was due to the unreliability of certain bus routes, such as the C4 and W6, despite “huge investment” as a result of the BusConnects project.

Mr Ó Cearúil said there were “persistent cancellations and ghost buses and severe overcrowding” on the C4 route, which travels between Maynooth and Ringsend.

He also said the removal of evening services on the W6 route, which travels between Maynooth and Tallaght, was impacting students and commuters along with “repeated delays and cancellations”.

The TD proposed two solutions − staggering the timetable of both routes, which he said currently “run in convoy”. Mr Ó Cearúil also said the frequency of the C4 route should be increased from every half hour to every 20 minutes, particularly in areas where “we have huge population growth and huge populations”.

Mr O’Brien said he would speak directly with the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland on the TD’s behalf and put forward his suggestions.