Malahide QBC and Environs Level of Service Analysis

This study undertakes a Public Transport Service Level Survey and Analysis at designated stops on bus routes within or serving the Northside Partnership (NSP) “Healthy Community” study area [1]. The survey collected data relating to bus frequency, boarding / alighting figures, distance travelled to the stop, travel mode to the stop and onward travel mode. Survey locations were identified to assess varying levels of service on offer within the study area, including arterial, orbital and local feeder services. For each stop location, a catchment distribution map was prepared identifying the street of trip origin for each surveyed trip. The results suggest that High Level of Service bus stops have walking catchment thresholds of 1000m plus. This equates to a catchment area traditionally associated in the literature with quality rail services. Orbital stops, over a smaller sample and with a lower level of service, appear to have a similarly high (1,000m+) catchment. Local feeder services appear to have a catchment consistent with conventional thinking (i.e. up to 500m). Approximately 1 in 3 of all passengers surveyed transferred either from or to another public transport service. This appears very significant in an urban transport market traditionally associated with low or negligible levels of transferability. The study indicates that bus corridors with sufficiently high levels of service can have comparable catchment areas as with light and metropolitan rail corridors and that level of service is a key concern in determining the attractiveness of a particular service. The survey was taken over a restricted study area in a distinct part of Dublin city. While corroborated by results from other parts of the city [5], it is hoped that a larger sample in further studies can add robustness to the findings.