The art of bus timetables and bus lanes

Late for work today, thanks to a combination of heavy traffic, red lights and a bus driver who made odd decisions.

Living in Dublin 15, I take the 39b. Normally it's a schedule of bus at 07:30 - the journey to town is fairly direct and usually takes 40 minutes - hit town 08:07, get next bus at 08:15. Not always an exact science but fairly standard. Not so today.

I've resigned myself to not getting stressed about these things any more - why bother, there's not much I can do about it - but it doesn't stop me questioning it. Or taking photos.

Today, from the Navan Road right down to the quays traffic was heavy. When at 8.05 we were nowhere near even the North Circular Road, I knew there wasn't a chance of me getting the (free) bus to work. Those are the Luas mornings.

It's when we got to the quays that "bemused" (for want of a better word) me.

Traffic is usually heavy but moving well anyways. Gotta keep an eye on the time.


And of course you have that great bus corridor the whole way practically from Heuston to O' Connell Bridge, right?

You know the one? The one that's EMPTY in the photos above and below:


That's just before the Ha'penny Bridge. A 5 minute walk to O' Connell Bridge. Less if you're a bus driver with a big empty bus lane to fly up. With people who time their timetables and busses exactly. People like me.

But our bus driver? He chose to sit in traffic.


And there we sat while Dublin traffic did its thing.


We got to O' Connell Street 5 minutes later


Eventually getting to Trinity College at quarter to.


Is there any point in complaining? I don't know.

But of course, getting off the bus I said "Thanks" and nothing else. No complaints, questions or anything. Of course I did.