AS CONCERT SEASON gets underway across the capital city, local politicians have bemoaned inadequate public transport services for punters.
June saw the beginning of the usual big-ticket events across a number of Dublin parks, with the likes of Nick Cave and Kinfishr playing Malahide Castle, David Byrne and CMAT playing in St Anne’s, and Kasabian in Fairview Park.
This weekend, Marlay Park’s summer line-up will also begin with tens of thousands of people set to travel there to see Olivia Dean across Saturday and Sunday, while similar numbers will flock to the Aviva to see Metallica.
But while Irish Rail and the National Transport Authority (NTA) have insisted they are doing the best they can with the heightened demand, Fine Gael TD Grace Boland said concert-goers are often left “stranded” after major events because of a lack of “reliable and cohesive” public transport.
She noted that for the CMAT and Snow Patrol concerts held at the end of May, Dart services only ran as far as Connolly Station due to scheduled line works taking place across the Bank Holiday weekend.
Writing in the Irish Times, columnist Emer McLysaght chronicled her disastrous journey home from the CMAT gig, which included a three-hour walk and a €40 taxi after waiting for a series of Dublin Buses that never arrived.
“This is absolutely ridiculous when fans travel from all over Dublin and the rest of the country to see their favourite artists, and they expect services to be running,” Boland said.
The Dublin Fingal West TD noted that ahead of the concert, Transport for Ireland advertised on their website that customers were advised to use public transport to access the park and said it is “unacceptable” that the public transport system can’t deal with an increase in demand when these concerts happen.
Speaking to The Journal, Boland made the point that in other European cities, public transport systems often run throughout the night to serve large events.
Pointing to the poor weather during the David Byrne concert in St Anne’s Park earlier this month, Boland said she heard from many soaked fans afterwards that there weren’t enough taxis to accommodate demand in the constant downpour.
“We need the NTA to ensure Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Luas work together to put additional services on and ensure there is coordination with the times of their service,” Boland said, adding that local authorities need to increase their consultation with the NTA so it can better plan ahead.
Boland said that in correspondence she has had with the NTA, it has said it is the role of event organisers and the licensing authority to ensure that adequate provisions are in place to get people to and from events.
“We cannot be passing the blame here, we need a cohesive response from event providers and public transport authorities,” she said.
Labour TD for Dublin Fingal East Duncan Smith raised similar frustrations and said there is generally a “deficit” with the big Dublin park concerts in terms of transport.
“Malahide, St Anne’s, Marlay Park, they’ve been around for a number of years now, but still the transport system hasn’t got to grips with what’s needed.
“And it’s very predictable, we know how many people are going to be there, we know when the concerts are going to end, and we know the route in and out,” Smith said.
He pointed to Slane Castle in Meath as a venue that has, over time, greatly improved its transport connectivity for concerts.
“There is knowledge there of how to do this property, but it seems to be lost now on Dublin park concerts… there needs to be a transport solution for them,” he said.
A spokesperson for the NTA told The Journal that it and Transport for Ireland (TFI) operators endeavour to meet additional demand for concerts and events but that this is subject to driver and funding availability.
“It is a requirement for operators of TFI services to prioritise scheduled services,” the spokesperson said.
They noted that, as well as other private bus operators, Dublin Bus’s ConcertExpress coaches offer direct return shuttles from areas like Swords, Ratoath, and Ashbourne.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Irish Rail said it operates an “extensive programme” of extra train services for major events, particularly concerts at locations directly served by train.
Pointing to Kingfishr’s gig in Malahide Castle last weekend as an example, the spokesperson said five extra Dart services were added for after the concert as well as two extra trains from Malahide to Drogheda and Dundalk as well as an extra service from Connolly to Maynooth.
“In total, over 12,000 concertgoers are estimated to have departed Malahide by rail with us in the hour after the event finished. Everyone who came to the station was catered for, and indeed with crowds cleared, the last couple of DARTs leaving Malahide had a lot of available space,” the spokesperson said.
“As an example of how well coordinated this now is, at our busiest we brought a DART onto Malahide platform on Saturday night after the concert, and had 1,200 people on board within 5 minutes, and on their way.”
On the funding issue, Boland said: “A huge amount of money is going on public transport, probably more than ever before, but we need to ensure that it is spent wisely.”
“I have no problem advocating for more money on public transport, but when I look at the NTA and Irish Rail and things like the amount of money we are paying for bus storage costs for electric buses that are three years old and have never been used by a single customer and the €50m write off for Irish Rail, it winds me up to be honest with you.
“Because yes, you want more money for public transport services, but you aren’t spending it well, and to me that’s a huge disconnect,” she said.