Issues with the 37 & 39 bus routes.

Over the past few months’ residents have highlighted issues with the 37 & 39 bus routes.  Earlier this month I met with the NTA who over-see the Dublin Bus contract. They acknowledged the issues with the routes, noting that the problems were particularly severe at the end of 2022 and throughout 2023

There were a number of reasons for this; firstly, Dublin Bus experienced a shortage of drivers. Following a targeted recruitment campaign, driver numbers within Dublin Bus have increased from 2,774 in June 2022 to 3,127 in June 2024, a 13% increase.

Secondly, Dublin Bus were not cancelling services that weren't running, leading to misleading info on the real-time app. The NTA confirmed that Dublin Bus is now better at removing cancelled services, providing more reliable app information.

Finally, the NTA found that the 37 and 39 routes didn't have sufficient run time for their full journey, causing curtailments where buses missed stops to stay on schedule. A new schedule with increased run time has been created to address this.

Early data shows the new schedule has brought about improvements. The NTA will send me further data once the new schedule has been running for a while to show the impact of this measure. If you continue to experience problems, please get in touch so I can raise the issue with the NTA directly.