Routes 5,7/A/B/D/X,8:

Earliest Timetable I have for this is from the April 94 booklet.

Services departed from Burgh Quay but had at this stage just transferred from Eden Quay, moved when the Tallaght services were changed from Aston/Crampton Quay. Some interesting points to note were the fact the early services to and from Sallynoggin were only included in the 7A timetable going back to when the 7A terminated in Pearse Villas. The 7X operated two return journeys Monday to Friday. Though operating from the same Termini as the 7 it cut out a large portion of the route by continuing on up Rochestown Avenue and Stradbrook Road. These departures were also listed in the 7 timetable. (Route 5, Route 7, Route 7A, Route 7X, Route 8)

Between the Sept95 and Arp96 timetable booklets the 7X gained new pick up stops at Bakers Corner and St. Vincent’s Hospital and the morning departures changed from 0733 and 0749 to 0715 and 0733,the 0855 service to from Lough to Balsbridge was lost and the 0955 service from Lough now only went as far as Balsbridge (Route 7). The 8 also lost the 0830 outbound service to Balsbridge only.

By the Apr97 timetable, the 0600 7A service from Sallynoggin was shown as 0545 from Shankill. This was the 0525 departure from Dalkey which operated down to Shankill and then on to Sallynoggin before continuing to town via Donnybrook garage.

New timetables cam in on the 7/7A/X and 8 on the 29/9/97. For the 7 the changes were only minor rearrangements, the vast majority of departure times remaining the same. There was a new 0545 service from Burgh Quay returning at 0635 via Donnybrook. Also notable were the Sunday shorts between Loughlinstown and Dún Laoghaire. They were as follows

From Loughlinstown: 1358 and 1645
From Dún Laoghaire: 1420 and 1710

The 7A was reduced on Saturdays, the 7X was reduced to a 0715 inbound service and a 1740 outbound departure, and the 8 saw some minor changes losing a couple of departures most notably the 0600 outbound/0635 return service.

On the 5/7/99, minor timetable changes came into effect. The Monday to Friday 7 timetable was changed slightly, mainly centered around the evening peak. Notable also was the loss of the 2340 service from Loughlinstown to Ballsbridge on a M-F, and the loss of the 2315 Sunday inbound service. The 8 Monday-Friday timetable also changed as of this date though again only slightly. The previous 1755 outbound service was changed to 1800 returning at 1852 rather than 1850. Also the last journey inbound on the 8 to Ballsbridge only was now 2335 for all days.

The 7X was rebranded as Xpresso on the 27/9/99.

The 7X got a few new stops sometime between the 27/9/99 and Sept00. These were as follows:

Wyattville Road
Rochestown Avenue (Roundabout)
Rochestown Avenue (Hospital)
D’olier Street (Route 14 Stop) outbound only

The 7X also got a new stop between Sept00 and Jan01 at Seapoint Rugby Club.

The terminus of the 5/7/A/X/8 was moved from Burgh Quay to Eden Quay (its original Haunt) on the 06/05/01. No timetable changes occurred.

Next major change was on the 15/7/01 with the withdrawal of the 7X and 8 and the extension of services to O’Connell Street. The amount of 7 departures was increased slightly, however both the 5 and the 7A were reduced significantly, with the 7A now not having a Saturday service. Two new routes were introduced too, the 7B and the 7D. These two new services availed of the Stillorgan QBC.

The 7D had mainly one return journey departing Dalkey at 0735 and an evening return departing at 1742. The route was O’Connell Street, St. Stephen’s Green, Stillorgan QBC, Foxrock Church, Kill Lane, Kill Avenue, Glenageary Road Upper, Glenageary Road Lower, Summerhill Road, Sandycove Road, Breffni Road, Ulverton Road, Dalkey. Also included in the 7D timetable was an 0520 (M-F), 0545 (Sat) departure from Dalkey. This was the same workman duty that has been included in the original 8 timetable and bared no resemblance of either the 8 or the 7D.

The 7B operated the same route as the 7D to Kill Lane then Rochestown Avenue, (sometimes Pottery Road for via Mackintosh Park services), Churchview Road, Wyattville Road (Some services went to Cherrywood or Loughlinstown Park), Shanganagh Road, Shankill. Along with Shankill gaining a new 7B service a certain amount of 7 departures were extended to Shankill. These were not frequent.

On the 23/9/02 the 5 got a new routing around Sandyford Industrial Estate due to traffic congestion on Corrig Road and Carmanhall Road. The route was now Kilmacud Road Upper, Blackthron Drive, Blackthorn Road, Blackthorn Avenue, Kilmacud Road Upper.

On the 29/6/03 (well maybe the 27th or 28th), the routing taken by the 7/A was changed around Pearse Villas. Before the route had taken was:

Outbound: Pearse Street (continue past the school to junction with Pearse Park), left onto Pearse Villas, right onto Rochestown Park, left onto Rochestown Avenue.

Inbound: Rochestown Avenue, right onto Rochestown Park (continuing to junction with Glenageary Court/Park Road), left onto Pearse Villas, right onto Pearse Street.

The new routings were the opposite to the above:

Outbound: Pearse Street, left (just after School) onto Pearse Villas, right onto Rochestown Park, left onto Rochestown Avenue.

Inbound: Rochestown Avenue, right onto Rochestown Park, left onto Pearse Villas, right (at junction of Pearse Park) onto Pearse Street.

On the 20/06/04 roughly half of the 7 services were extended to Cherrywood with only a few timetable inclusions.

1. 0625 M-F service from Trinity College to Cherrywood
2. 0735 M-F service from O’Connell Street to Cherrywood via QBC
3. 2405 M-F service from Loughlinstown to Ballsbridge
4. 2400 Sat service from Cherrywood to Ballsbridge
5. 2400 Sun service from Cherrywood to Ballsbridge

Route 46 was withdrawn which saw an increase in the 7B timetable (04/10/04) as part of the N11 QBC changes. Notable was now all services operated to Shankill, one each way operating via Mackintosh Park and one via Sallynoggin in the morning peak.

The next change happened to the 7A on the 8/5/05 with the cancellation of the 1353 service from Mackintosh Park to the city.

(Route 5, Route 7, Route 7B, Route 7D - Re-issued to include Journey Times)

The most recent change was the reintroduction of Route 8 on the 12/12/05, though on a new routing not via Dún Laoghaire. This timetable also showed the new terminating point of Parnell Square for the 7 block of services, moved from outside old Eircom store due to roadworks.

From 09/03/07, the 7, until further notice, no longer serves Loughlinstown Park after 1900 due to anti-social behaviour. All services operate to Cherrywood.