‘It’s so frustrating’ – Dublin councillor campaigns against the 47 ‘ghost bus’
A Dublin councillor is campaigning against a “ghost bus” that has allegedly been skipping stops along his constituency in south Dublin.
“The 47 starts in the area that I represent, Belarmine in Stepaside – it is supposed to come every hour, but the issue is that it’s so unreliable, it often just doesn’t show up,” Green Party councillor Oisín O’Connor told the Irish Independent.
“People who use the first stop don’t get advance notice when it doesn’t show up. It’s so frustrating for them – parents have to go pick up their kids and drive them to school or leave work to come back and drive their kids.
“Some people have cancelled appointments they’ve had because the bus isn’t going to come, and they end up being very late.”
The bus 47 that operates between Belarmine and Poolbeg Street runs between 6:30am and 11:30pm on Monday to Friday, starts at 7:30am on Saturday and 9:30am on Sunday, according to a Dublin Bus timetable.
“It’s a ghost bus in a way, but people know it’s there,” said Cllr O’Connor.
“I’ve raised the issue with the National Transport Authority (NTA) – people have seen the bus waiting at the Belarmine stop, but it is switched into “Out of service” and it drives past people who would have been standing waiting for it for over 15 minutes.
“I dug into it a bit – what happens is a ‘partial cancellation.’ The bus is running late but in order to get back on schedule, it skips a bunch of stops and starts the route in the middle. So it gets marked down as only having missed a few stops, and they only get penalised for that.”
According to a letter distributed to residents by TD Neale Richmond, a Dublin Bus Data Analysis Unit determined that the existing timetable is “sufficient”.
“Following representations from a number of local residents, I met with the CEO of Dublin Bus, a key issue raised was the capacity of Route 47 during peak morning travel times, I also raised the issue of these buses not showing up,” the letter said.
“On foot of this meeting, the Dublin Bus Data Analysis Unit produced a report containing the passenger figures between November 2025 and February 2026. They determined that the existing timetable is sufficient for current passenger numbers based off the most recent data.”
However, Cllr O’Connor pointed out that people stopped using the service as it was “unreliable”.
“I challenge the points they are trying to make with this data – it’s trying to say there’s not enough passengers using this to warrant adding more services,” he said.
“What this misses is that people have lost confidence in the 47 because the bus service is so unreliable. A bus that is supposed to come every hour but always cancels last minute means you can’t rely on Dublin Bus to get you where you need to go on time.
“I hear from people all the time who are late for work, childcare pickups, medical appointments. So people stop using the bus. People come to me all the time saying they’ve bought a second car or learnt to drive because they’ve been let down too many times.
“It’s saying you can only have a better bus if you start using the bus that doesn’t show up.”
A spokesperson from Dublin Bus said traffic congestion had impacted the punctuality of Route 47.
“Dublin Bus continuously monitors the performance of all routes. Analysis of Route 47 led to the introduction of a new schedule for this route in November 2025. This included the addition of extra drivers and extra buses to improve the service,” said the spokesperson.
“The latest data on the first four periods of 2026 show that Dublin Bus have operated in excess of 98pc of contracted kilometres for this route. Worsening issues with traffic congestion throughout Dublin are the biggest barrier to delivery of efficient services.
“Despite introducing a new schedule in November 2025, the ongoing impact of traffic congestion has severely impacted punctuality on this route.”
Dublin Bus has urged the relevant authorities to implement planned bus lanes and enhance enforcement of existing bus lanes, according to its spokesperson.
“At present, we have not been advised of any plans for changes to be made to Route 47. While Dublin Bus provides input on performance statistics, design of the bus network is led and managed by the NTA,” they added
“Even though Dublin Bus has met its punctuality target in the latest period of 2026, a further reduction in average speeds of 1.5pc continues to hamper flow of our buses.
“A recent TomTom report placed Dublin as the third most congested city in the world. At peak hours in the morning, the average speed of a Dublin Bus service has dropped further to 13.5km/h.”
At a Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) meeting earlier this year, Cllr O’Connor raised a motion calling for a letter to be sent to the NTA and the Minister of Transport.
It called for the council to, “write to the CEO of Dublin Bus and the NTA to highlight the issue of the 47 bus skipping the first few stops, leaving people in Belarmine and on Kilgobbin Road stranded, just to make up time and meet punctuality targets later in the route”.
“To ask both CEOs to clearly commit to stopping this practice, where many people perceive that Dublin Bus are putting their targets above their bus users,” it added.
The councillor added that it was important to add more services at the Belarmine stop.
“It’s an area with a lot of housing, apartments and duplexes – it’s quite a lot of people living in a small space. The bus stop doesn’t even have a shelter so it’s very exposed for the people who wait,” he said.
“What we need is to change the way you penalise the bus companies, so this doesn't become the easiest option for them. They’re trying to minimise their fines.
“In this scenario, it should be minimising disruption to passengers. Making up for time is great for people who get on halfway through the route, but it’s a disaster for those earlier on in the route.”
The NTA have been contacted for comment.