Dublin at a Glance

Transportation in Dublin

With Dublin's public transport system, you'll reach every part of town with ease.

Living in Dublin rewards you with a rich cultural life that attracts visitors and expats from around the world. Life in Dublin is modern, vibrant and convenient, offering a variety of amenities. The InterNations guide on living in Dublin provides insights into culture, health care, and transport.

Public Transport

We have previously mentioned the relatively small area the city proper is crammed into. This makes Dublin perfect to explore on foot or by bike. Walking around town, you can reach most points in the city center within minutes. Bikes are hugely popular in Dublin, which gave many a resourceful businessperson the idea of opening bike rental shops. You should have no problem locating one fairly quickly.

It is a rare sight in our modern world that people are able to live life completely independent of motorization. Since it is not absolutely vital to own a car in Dublin (in fact, the chronically congested streets make it somewhat of a bad idea), many expats and locals living in suburbia rely on public transportation to stay mobile in their daily life.

Buses

The most important vehicle in Dublin’s public transportation network is by far the bus. Approximately 200 bus lines serve every part of Dublin and its metropolitan area. 17 night lines keep every part of town accessible into the small hours. Half a million customers make use of the bus system on a regular weekday. 70% of all peak time users of public transportation ride the bus – a clear statement of its importance for daily life in Dublin.

Somewhat unusual for a system this intricate and much to the dismay of anyone new to town, there is no all-encompassing network map available online. If you know the starting point and destination of your trip, you should be able to find the information you need by using this online journey planner, courtesy of hittheroad.ie.

Railways

At the time of writing, Dublin did not have a subway system. There are plans to alleviate this, though: The extension measures dubbed “Transport 21” are expected to come into fruition in the years to come. What Dublin does have are tram and suburban train services: the Luas and DART, respectively. While these two are exclusive to Dublin, there is an additional suburban rail service of the Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) called Commuter, which is also available in similar form in other important cities.

The Luas is a light-rail tram system that was introduced in 2004, relaxing the crowded situation on the busy bus system. The two lines serve stops in the west/east direction (red line) and through most of the city’s Southside in the north/south direction (green line). A somewhat unusual detail is the fact that the two lines do not interconnect: There is a 15-minute walk between the closest stops. There are plans to rectify this, though.

The DART and Commuter railways serve dozens of stops in the Greater Dublin area on a total of five lines. Services are most frequent during the morning and evening rush hours. Some of the outer stops are serviced as infrequently as once every hour, so please plan ahead to avoid unnecessary waiting times.