Dublin commuters call for action as ghost buses remain an issue on S8 route

Irish Independent

23-04-2025

The S8, which connects Kingswood Avenue to Dún Laoghaire and passes through major employment zones like Sandyford and Leopardstown, has once again come under scrutiny.
Commuters on the route, operated by Go-Ahead Ireland, say it is 'failing to run according to schedule'.
One regular user said so-called 'ghost buses' are causing significant disruption for employees who rely on the service.
Another commuter recently had to get a taxi to the Luas station at Windy Arbour to get to work due to the unreliability of the S8 bus route.
'This isn't the first time I've had to take a taxi to cover a journey I should be able to make on a public bus,' the passenger wrote in a letter sent directly to Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien's office.
In February, the minister acknowledged rising public frustration over 'ghost buses' across several Go-Ahead-operated routes, including the S4, S6, N6, 114, and the S8.
At the time, he said the National Transport Authority (NTA) was taking the issue 'very seriously' and that additional resources were being allocated to bus operators.
However, passengers and local councillors say the problems persist.
The Knocklyon Network facebook group, which represents part of the community impacted by the reliability issues on the S8 route, has said the issue of ghost buses, sudden schedule changes and poor communication are a point of severe frustration.
'We are sure many of the people on this page have experienced ghost buses, time changes, buses out of service , etc. It is an ongoing situation and there does not appear to be anyone taking responsibility for it,' they said.
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'Surely, the Minister for Transport needs to take action with the various bodies that are failing us. NTA, Dublin Bus, Go Ahead, TII, TFI.'
They added that recent incidents are 'not isolated' and the removal of real-time app displays at bus stops in the area, coupled with frequent cancellations and unreliability of the S8 route, has made daily commutes 'highly unpredictable'.
The community group has asked for a 'thorough investigation' into the reliability of the S8 route, including accountability measures for consistent service cancellations.
Green party councillor Oisín O'Connor said the NTA should be publishing reliability figures by route number.
'At the moment, they publish the statistics on reliability and punctuality by bus operator, but they're not showing which bus routes are doing well and which bus routes are not doing well when it comes to reliability,' he said.
'The other thing is they're publishing these stats months and months after the day of reporting, so by the time there's an issue, the public, the media, politicians don't find out about it properly in terms of hard data until months after disruptions happen.
'The way data is reported at the moment, it's hard to see whether there's been improvements or issues,' he added.
A spokesperson for Go-Ahead Ireland said: 'Go-Ahead Ireland can confirm it has recently experienced occasional localised service disruption on the S8 route.
'This has been caused by heavy and unpredictable traffic and has on occasion been further exacerbated by roadworks.
'Overall, based on the most recently available monthly figures, the S8 is delivering on over 98pc of its total contracted kilometres.
'However, we do acknowledge and apologise for any service disruption that impacts passengers,' they added.
The Department of Transport has been contacted for comment.