A packed meeting in Bakers Corner Pub on Mon 9 August voted to campaign vigorously to maintain the current 46A, 4/4A and 746 bus services.

Residents from Monkstown Farm and Avenue, Stradbrook, Deansgrange and Abbey Rd attended a meeting, organised by People Before Profit, to discuss the proposed changes and cuts to local bus routes.

Dublin Bus are planning major cut backs to the 46A, 4/4A and 746 bus services. This is part of a long term plan to privatise many of the city’s bus routes.

They plan to change the 46a route so it runs down Kill Ave instead of through Monkstown Farm. They also plan to slash the number of buses on the 4 / 4a route serving Stradbrook and Blackrock and discontinue the 746 service altogether.

The 46a change will mean, in Monkstown Farm and Abbey Rd, that elderly and disabled residents and families with young children will have long walks to the new route. Estates with big student populations such as Windsor, Richmond and Ashton will no longer have a service from their homes to UCD.

The cuts affecting the 4 /4a will have a major impact on residents from Stradbrook to Deansgrange. The plan will cut more than a third of buses from the route Mon to Sat, and two-thirds on Sunday.

Resident after resident spoke furiously about the disgraceful proposed changes and cuts. One man from Richmond said “The change to the 46A route means 2 bus stops on Kill Ave rather than 7 stops through Monkstown Farm and Abbey Rd will be served. These cuts amount to a total abandonment of public transport users.”

A bus driver who attended the meeting said: “All of these changes are part of a major cut-back and “restructuring” plan, which will see Dublin Bus take 90 buses off the roads across the city. They already cut 120 buses last spring. Dublin Bus is claiming that their new “Network Direct” will be more efficient, direct and will provide a more frequent service. How can a service with 210 less buses provide a more frequent service?”

Cllr Richard Boyd Barrett from People Before Profit Alliance said “It is a disgrace that the government and Dublin Bus are cutting services at a time of recession, when many rely more on public transport and when the FF/Green government claim they want to encourage the use of public transport to reduce carbon emissions. These cut backs are yet another example of how this rotten government are making ordinary people and the less well-off pay for the economic crimes of the bankers and developers.”

The meeting agreed to launch a vigorous campaign to keep the much needed local bus services. They agreed to take up a petition and to hold a further meeting and invite all local councillors and TD’s and Dublin Bus Management.

This meeting will take place on Tues 24th Aug at 7.30 in Bakers Corner.