Transports of delight? Luas and DART

— Published October 1st, 2003  |  by David Moore

Luas and DART Given the furore in the press recently over Dublin's overstretched transport infrastructure, subscribers outside the Pale will forgive us if this month's audit looks at two sites related to the capital.

The Luas presence [http://www.luas.ie] aims to give a range of information on the ongoing light rail construction project. Maps and nice graphics paint a desirable picture of the scheme, and the Construction Update section promises the latest news.

In that section, however, we're told that progress on all the different sections of the development work (12 across the three lines) is at exactly the same stage: 'We are pleased to advise that LUAS Construction works are now at a very advanced stage. All Track, on both lines, will be in place by Christmas.'

This is great news, but it's not clear from the site when the trains will actually be running. The Recent Announcements section announces 'There have been no recent announcements', and the lack of a search feature also hampers information gathering.

The Red Cow roundabout, for example, has attracted much media attention recently, but any potential traveller (or journalist for that matter) looking for the official line on stilts on the line will be disappointed.

It's a similar story in relation to breaking news over at the DART site [http://www.dart.ie]. The basics of the closure of the DART at weekends are present, but there's a lack of supporting information - who do I contact if I have a question? Are there any FAQs on the issue?

The order of the information on the homepage is telling. The first paragraph puts the company's case for the disruption, and it's not until the second sentence of the second paragraph that we get the details of the line closures. The spin comes before the facts, which is not a good way of ensuring good customer service.

This is a shame, because elsewhere the site offers useful timetabling, mapping and real-time train information. On September 18th CIE registered a new domain name, dartupgrade.com, suggesting belated attempts to offer a wider range of information on the planned works. But currently, the URL redirects to the main site and its thin fare. A symbol of their handling of this announcement over all - too little and too late.

Related Links:

• Luas site - [http://www.luas.ie]
• DART site - [http://www.dart.ie]