Dublin Bus Route 46A

Route 46A

Route
Start	Phoenix Park
Via	City centre
End	Dún Laoghaire railway station
Length	13 km (8 mi)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	Approx. every 6 minutes
Journey time	61 minutes
First bus	06:09 (from Dún Laoghaire)
Last bus	23:30 (from Dún Laoghaire)
Adult single fares
Cash fare	Standard fares apply
Dublin Bus • Dublin Bus route no. 46A

Dublin Bus Route 46A is a bus route in Dublin, Ireland, that runs from Phoenix Park, in Dublin city centre, to Mallin Station in Dun Laoghaire. It is operated by Dublin Bus (and previously, by Coras Iompair Éireann Dublin City Services).

Route

It runs on the Stillorgan Quality Bus Corridor, via O'Connell Street, D'Olier Street, Nassau Street, St Stephen's Green, Leeson Street, and after exiting the city centre proper passes through the south Dublin suburbs of Donnybrook, Stillorgan. and Foxrock, utillising the N11 road for a large portion of its journey. Dublin Bus states that the journey time should be 80–85 minutes, though this can vary widely depending on traffic volumes.

Although Dublin Bus' route numbering system might suggest that this route is a variant of a Dublin Bus Route 46, the 46A has long been the more important route. Since the introduction of the Stillorgan QBC in August 1999 the 46A has had a frequency of buses on average every 4 minutes or less during peak hours and approximately every 8 minutes off-peak. [1]. The success of the 46A led to the Route 46 being ended in October 2004 [2].

The 46A is the busiest bus route in Dublin or Ireland.

The route was branded as a CitySwift route in the mid-1990s, and, following the August 1999 launch of the QBC, began carrying Super CitySwift sector branding and Stillorgan Flyer sub-branding, in an attempt by Dublin bus to promote the QBC routes. This included the provision of on-board route maps. However the route's separate branding ended in 2006 with the decision by Dublin Bus to end most of its separate sub-brands.

In September 2010, the route was augmented to serve Phoenix Park

A 46A bus at a bus stop beside Dun Laoghaire DART station

Variants

• Route 46E serves Blackrock railway station. There are only two services a weekday on this route and none on weekends or public holidays.
• Route 46N is a Nitelink service on part of the 46A route at weekends, operating between D'Olier Street and Sandyford (via Kildare Street, Leeson Street, Donnybrook, UCD Belfield, Stillorgan, Galloping Green, Foxrock Church, Cornelscourt Hill, Ballyogan and Kilgobbin Road). It departs every 30 minutes between 00:00 at 04:00 on Friday nights/Saturday mornings and Saturday nights/Sunday mornings.

Cultural references

The bus number is mentioned in the refrain of Bagatelle's, song Summer in Dublin:^[1]

"I was singing a song I heard somewhere,
Called "Rock'n'Roll Never Forget",
When my humming was smothered by the 46A,
And the scream of a low flying jet.

Paul Howard, the writer of the satiricial Ross O'Carroll-Kelly books (Sunday Tribune) and newspaper columns has claimed that his journeys on the 46A and 10 are primary sources for the character and events.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "Summer in Dublin lyrics Bagatelle". LyricsBay. http://www.lyricsbay.com/summer_in_dublin_lyrics-bagatelle.html. Retrieved 2009-06-07. 

• Dublin Bus 46A timetable
• 46A Magazine

External links

• Dublin Bus Homepage
• 46A route map and timetables
• Busrage