Kildare commuters and students to get new bus service to Dublin

An alternative bus service has been secured for users of the old 145 Heuston Station to UCD bus route which is being discontinued.

Kildare North TD and newly-appointed Cabinet minister James Lawless said he met the heads of the National Transport Authority to outline Kildare constituents’ concerns over the 145’s demise.

As a result, commuters getting off at Heuston can now get a new ‘X’ service from the side of the train station on St John’s Road after the TD pressed the case.

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This service will continue to serve areas in South Dublin, including UCD, which was a popular and convenient route for students and workers alighting at Heuston.

The 145 route has been changed as part of the wider Bus Connects transformation of bus services across Dublin city and beyond.

The Bus Connects programme aims to streamline bus services, making them more efficient, improving timetables and reliability.

But the changeover in progress has not been without its teething problems.

One of the changes meant that commuters coming from places like Kildare and other areas served by Heuston Station trains could no longer go direct to places in South Dublin, including UCD, without changing bus at O’Connell Street.

Minister Lawless, who was Minister of State at the Department of Transport up to last week, worked with the NTA to find a compromise that would see 145 users accommodated.

The NTA have confirmed that an ‘X’ service has now been added to the schedule from the side of Heuston, with extra services and capacity coming online from March.

Minister Lawless said: “I listened to the concerns of constituents after receiving a considerable number of representations on this issue.

“I am pleased to say that the NTA has accommodated these concerns with changes to their existing services.

“The new X services that leave from the side of Heuston station, just 30 yards from where the old 145 used to leave from at the front, will bring student commuters and others to UCD and beyond with no need to get off the bus.

“I’d like to thank acting chief executive at the NTA, Hugh Cregan, and his staff for their assistance in helping sort out this problem and listening to the concerns of their customers.

Minister Lawless was last week promoted to Cabinet and is now the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.