New Route 40:
Conyngham Road's newly acquired, AV107 still with Clontarf fleet markings, is seen at Liffey Valley on new Route 40 to Finglas on the 3rd December 2011.
Well better late than never, though this 40 feature is very late when one considers that the changes occured on the 13th November 2011. However, last weekend saw my first few days in Dublin in over a month. The days are getting quite dark, with only 15 days till the shortest day of the year, so the lack of light does show somewhat on the photos included in this feature. Maybe I'm a perfectionist, but braving the cold for very few shots, that are never perfectly sharp, does take a lot of dedication.
Harristown's AV145 is seen at the infrastructurally improved Jamestown Road Finglas terminus of Route 40 on the 4th December 2011.
The 40 is a merger of Routes 40, 40A and 78A. From Liffey Valley the route follows the old route 78A to Westmoreland Street, then heads up O'Connell Street, Parnell Square West and Dorset Street before joining the old 40 route serving Withworth Road, Finglas Road. The 40 then turns left onto the Tolka Valley Road (which was previously served by Route 40D), before serving the entire length of St. Helena's Road, turning right onto Cardiffsbridge Road following the former 40/A through Plunkett Estate to Lidl on the St. Margaret's Road. It then heads right, back towards Finglas Village on McKee Avenue (the first route to serve this section since the rerouting of Route 83 back in August), turning right onto Seamus Ennis Road, left onto Finglas Main Street, and finally left again onto Jamestown Road to the terminus shown in the photo above.
Harristown's AX457 is seen operating Route 40 on McKee Avenue heading to Finglas Village on the 4th December 2011.
The earlier feature saying goodbye to routes 78A and 40A noted the planned terminus arrangements of the 40 as originally announced. The plan was to terminate at the old CitySwift 40 terminus at Finglas Place. However, at the final hour the terminus arrangements were changed, supposedly due to concerns of local residents in Finglas Place who didn't appreciate the plan. This came with a glorious announcement that "due to infrastructural improvements" Route 40 would instead terminate on the Jamestown Road. Being far away from home, I could only picture the most grand of infrastructural changes, maybe a canopy, some bus bays, a waiting area, and maybe even a coffee dock. That would have been truely infrastructural. However what we ended up with was a few extra lines painted on the road. Not even kessel kerbing at the new set down stop. I was very dissappointed, though I wonder how much infrastructual capital (half filled tins of paint) I have in my garden shed. Joking aside, this sort of spin from Dublin Bus usually covers over some service disimprovements. However in this case it actually works out better. The Finglas Place terminus is on a fairly busy street, where buses would have blocked the whole left lane forcing cars to overtake. Also it can take buses a seriously long time to exit from Finglas Main Street onto the N2. Such time is no longer wasted with the new terminus on Jamestown Road. The new terminus is also a busier stop which is also an advatage, with people in Finglas Village being visably able to tell if a bus will be departing soon.
Conyngham Road's AX520, well out of its former operating area, is seen having just departed its Finglas Village terminus heading for Liffey Valley on Route 40 on the 4th December 2011.
With the 40 no longer providing a direct service to the city from Finglas Village, the 40D has taken up the mantle of the direct service. Heading from Tyrellstown, the 40D had previously turned right onto Cardiffsbridge Road at the Church of the Annunciation, however this time it heads left onto Mellowes Road heading to Finglas Village. It then turns right onto Main Street, following the Finglas Road to the city as per the previous 40 service. South Finglas is then left solely to route 40. In the city the 40D's terminus, which is serves with the reintroduced 40B, is on the opposite side to previously. Buses now terminate at the 120 terminus, using O'Connell Street (set-down stop at Route 7's stop), Cathal Brugha Street, Marlborough Street and Parnell Street. The new terminus allows Routes 40B/D to share a common route out of the city with Route 40.
Harristown's AV276 is seen on the Seamus Ennis Road in Finglas about to turn right onto Finglas Main Street on the new alignment of Route 40D on the 4th December 2011.
Reintroduced is route 40B to Toburburr. Interestingly, this route serves Mellows Road, and Plunkett Estate and Charlestown on the way to Toburburr, as the limited extended departures on Route 40, which replaced Route 240, also did. It is now interworked with Route 40D, and appears to fit in with previous light workings to/from Harristown on Route 40D, at least on a Sunday where the 40D timetable has not been changed. AV276, shown above on the 1125 ex Tyrellstown, having reached the city then operated the 1230 40B to Toburburr. From there it operates special to Harristown. AX547, shown below, operated the 1215 service from Toburburr, before starting up on Route 40D.
Harristown's AX547 is seen on Route 40D on Parnell Square East on the 4th December 2011.
The last photo below shows AX610 on Route 40 on O'Connell Street. I certainly cannot recall a time when a 40 served O'Connell Street, save for the peak hour 40A services to St. Stephen's Green. I'm away from my notes at the moment, but the only time I can possitively say for certain that the 40 served O'Connell Street was during the 20s and 30s when it used a short section from Abbey Street to its Eden Quay terminus. If anyone can recall differently, I'd be most obliged if you'd sen an email in the contact us section.
Conyngham Road's AX610 on O'Connell Street operating Route 40 on the 4th December 2011.