Towards the end of last year it was reported that Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead and the Luas Tram operator had been fined a total of €5m by Ireland’s National Transport Authority for late and cancelled journeys. My experience of Go-Ahead is limited to the 17 bus service which has been discontinued recently as the bus routes have been reorganised. I had to visit an old relative twice every week and she was located on Roebuck Road. I travelled there by getting the Tram to Windy Arbour and then the 17 to the Fosters Avenue end of Roebuck Road. However, the 17 service was so unreliable that I often gave up and walked to/from the tram stop. There was supposed to be a bus every twenty minutes but I frequently had to wait for close to sixty minutes (especially on Saturdays).
Towards the end of 2022 the Luas service received a penalty of €2.67m for the number of journeys not operated or which didn’t run to time. However, I have not found the tram service to be unreliable but I have noticed that many trams are too crowded for my liking and it is getting worse especially on the Red Line.
Today I decided to visit the Golden Bridge cemetery I was really surprised to discover that the tram was packed and it was only 2PM. When I got to the Drimnagh stop I was surprised by the frequency of the trams as there was one about every minute. It should be mentioned that if you wish to visit the Goldenbridge Cemetery you should get off the tram at the Drimnagh Stop rather than the Goldenbridge Stop.
The Point Luas stop is the easternmost terminus of the docklands extension of the Luas Red Line light rail system.
This Luas link to Tallaght connects the Point Village to other transport options, including the DART, suburban rail, Busáras, mainline rail, and the future Dublin Metro.
The Dublin Port Tunnel southern portal is located nearby.
There are a few entities, at the same location, called “The Point” in Dublin.
The most famous one is the Point Theatre, which was a concert and events venue that operated from 1988 to 2007. It was located on the North Wall Quay of the River Liffey, amongst the Dublin Docklands. The Point was closed in the middle of 2007 for a major redevelopment and underwent a rebranding as The O2 in July 2008. The O2 is now a world-class entertainment venue that hosts a wide variety of events, including concerts, sporting events, and conferences.
Another place called “The Point” in Dublin is Point Square. Point Square is a shopping mall and entertainment complex that is located next to the 3Arena. It is home to a number of stores, restaurants, and a cinema.
Point Square is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. Finally, there is also a tram stop called “The Point”.
I am still experimenting with my old Sigma DP1 Quattro and today, 24 April 2023, I photographed in manual mode and underexposed as the camera was inclined to over expose despite any settings that I make.
In the “Lotus-Eaters” episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses Bloom imagines that the couple leaving the Grosvenor Hotel are “Off to the country: Broadstone probably,” and in Wandering Rocks Mr. Dudley White stands on Array Quay “undecided whether he should arrive at Phibsborough more quickly by a triple change of tram or by hailing a car or on foot through Smithfield, Constitution hill and Broadstone terminus.” Both passages refer to a railway station in the northwest part of inner Dublin, at the top of Constitution Hill between Smithfield and Phibsborough. In 1904 it served as the terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway Company, whose trains went to the west of Ireland.
Broadstone railway station was the Dublin terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR), located in the Dublin suburb of Broadstone. The site also contained the MGWR railway works and a steam locomotive motive power depot. The Luas tram station opened at the front of the station in 2017.
It is currently the headquarters of Bus Éireann, housing most of their administration and one of their main garages. Nearby on the same property is a Dublin Bus Depot.
In June 2013, Luas Cross City – a construction project which extended the Luas Green Line North from St. Stephen’s Green to Broombridge – commenced. The line, which opened to passengers on 9 December 2017, traverses the city centre on street-running track and arrives at Broadstone. It then enters into the Broadstone cutting where it continues on its own right of way. Broadstone – DIT is a Luas stop on the line. Its name refers to the fact that it was intended to be the closest stop to Dublin Institute of Technology Grangegorman campus. However, the plans were changed at a late stage, adding Grangegorman stop, which is closer to the campus. Construction of the stop involved excavating a large amount of earth from the land in front of the station, and building a road bridge over the tracks which buses can use to access the depot. The Luas stop has two lateral platforms and is in front of the station building. It was built several metres below the station in order to make it level with Constitution Hill; and a curved, white wall separates the southbound platform from the garden in front of the building. Trams approach the stop from Dominick Street Upper and continues by passing under the new bridge and turning sharply to the right, where they traverse the edge of the bus depot and enter the cutting.
A few years ago i was offered a Sigma DP1 Quattro at a very good price and while I had a bad experience with all my previous Sigma cameras I decided to accept the offer especially as the camera could produce .dng images but, as you may have guessed, there were many problems that can be really annoying. The DP1 Quattro is a fixed lens camera aimed at enthusiasts who demand the best image quality in a reasonably portable form factor. Announced in September 2014, it’s a unique camera in many respects, employing an unusually-shaped body, a fixed focal length lens and a sensor unlike any outside of Sigma’s range. It also eschews modern features we take for granted on other new cameras such as Wifi or even a movie mode. The DP1 Quattro is all about still photo quality.
I first came across this park in 2011 when I got off the Luas tram at the wrong stop – Cabra instead of Phibsborough.
The main entrance to Mount Bernard Park is located at Liam Whelan Bridge, Connaught Street with another entrance at Shandon Park. The park was purchased by Dublin City Council in 1983 from the Dominican Nuns and it extends 1.8468 hectares.
Lands located north of Mount Bernard Park in Phibsborough will soon be developed to become an extension of the park, Dublin City Council has confirmed. The site, which was originally earmarked by the National Transport Authority for the Luas Cross City initiative, was acquired by the local authority after the NTA declared that the land was no longer needed for Luas operations. Under the Phibsborough Local Environmental Improvements Plan (LEIP) the council sought to extend Mount Bernard Park to these lands.
Cabra Luas stop is located at the northern end of the Broadstone railway cutting, immediately to the north of Connaught Street, which crosses the line on the Liam Whelan bridge, which was rebuilt as part of the construction of the stop. The main entrance is a long ramp leading from the eastern side of the bridge to the middle of the southbound platform (there are also stairs which lead from the middle of the ramp to the end of the platform). A second entrance consists of a pathway leading from the northern end of the stop to the nearby Mount Bernard Park.
The cutting is somewhat wider than the stop itself, meaning that there is some leftover space behind the northbound platform. Saplings have been planted in this area in an attempt to reduce the Luas’s carbon footprint. Saplings have also been planted on the southbound platform.