Off The Beaten Track

At long last a Clontarf bus route has been covered for 2015. The 27A is a route I knew nothing about. The current route started in 2011 after Network Direct changes on the Malahide Road, and it is one I see most days, but I never travelled on it until now. I only found its terminus on Blunden Drive when the route 15 was covered on this website as the 27A uses a roundabout on the Malahide Road to reverse direction. 

Having travelled on the 27A now, I can probably say it is one of my favourite routes as it is so bizarre. Once it leaves the Malahide Road it starts to serve many smaller roads. For example, outbound it serves two sides of McAuley Park, and each side has a bus stop. Inbound it serves the other two sides but there is only one stop between them. Later it joins Springdale Road before diverting off to serve Edenmore, and then returns back to Springdale Road. To reach Tonlegee Avenue from Springdale Road it uses Tonlegee Drive outbound but Glenwood Road inbound. Both roads are narrow residential streets. The area around Tonlegee Avenue is where the buses to Edenmore used to terminate. The buses now though terminate on Blunden Drive.

The 27 family is a bit unusual, like most families. The 27 runs from Clare Hall to Jobstown and is operated by both Clontarf and Ringsend garages. The 27A is operated solely by Clontarf Garage. The 27B is operated by Harristown Garage from there to the City Centre via Santry and Kilmore. All three routes combine/divide at the roundabout on the Malahide Road at Ardlea Road/Brookwood Avenue and run together to the city centre. Considering other routes run for longer with the 27 than these two, one wonders why there numbered as derivatives of the 27? It is just one of those peculiarities of Dublin Bus.

On the day I travelled on AV 285.