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Aircoach launching Belfast - Dublin Airport - Dublin City Express

  • 08-06-2012 11:02am
    #1
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Just saw on the Aircoach site that they now appear to be taking bookings for a new express service between Belfast (Glengall Street), Dublin Airport, and Dublin City Centre (O'Connell Street)

    Does anyone have any more details on this service as there does not appear to be any timetable on the site?


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Comments

  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,184 ✭✭✭✭Lapin


    Didn't Bus Éireann drop this route recently ?


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    I know Bus Eireann ran it summer only last year, with half a dozen services every day, but haven't heard if its coming back this year.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    Tried a test booking for tomorrow and returning a week later and got this message
    Sorry. Services on the Belfast Express route will not be introduced until 12th June 2012. Please adjust your journey details and try again.
    It appears to be an hourly service between O'Connell St and Belfast only serving the Airport. €17/£14 single and €24/£20 return.

    I havwe not seen any advertising or other indication of this service anywhere on the Aircoach site apart from the Travel-shop they have opened in Glengall street.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    devnull wrote: »
    I know Bus Eireann ran it summer only last year, with half a dozen services every day, but haven't heard if its coming back this year.

    Bus Eireann are running their X2 express service again
    FROM 17TH JUNE TO 15TH SEPTEMBER 2012
    but it leaves from the Airport instead of the City Centre

    http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1306337595-1.pdf


  • Registered Users Posts: 25,292 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    I'm intrigued by the thread title, do the passengers have to toss their bags out and leap from the bus while it's passing Dublin airport if the coach is 'non-stop' to Dublin city?


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  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    It'll be interesting to see if this works then, personally I think it's going to be very hard to make work, even more so than the Cork route, but we'll see what happens.

    There is nothing to stop Bus Eireann and Ulsterbus upping their services, as I believe you do not need a license to start a cross border service so if they do this they could pretty much kill such service before it even starts.
    coylemj wrote: »
    I'm intrigued by the thread title, do the passengers have to toss their bags out and leap from the bus while it's passing Dublin airport if the coach is 'non-stop' to Dublin city?

    Yeah, it's a bit confusing alright, fixed it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 217 ✭✭J_Dublin15


    devnull wrote: »
    Just saw on the Aircoach site that they now appear to be taking bookings for a new express service between Belfast (Glengall Street), Dublin Airport, and Dublin City Centre (O'Connell Street)

    Does anyone have any more details on this service as there does not appear to be any timetable on the site?

    If you play with the online booking engine you can get a rough idea of frequency and fares and the timetable, I managed to extract this by playing around.

    TIMETABLE:
    From Belfast (Gengall Street)
    Hourly from 00:30 to 20:30 then 22:30

    From Dublin (O'Connell Street)
    01:30 Hourly from 03:30 to 23:30

    From Dublin Airport
    00:00 02:00 04:00 then hourly for rest of day.

    FARES:
    To/From Dublin City
    Dublin City to/from Belfast Adult Single: 17 Euro / 14 Sterling
    Dublin City to/from Belfast Adult Return: 24 Euro / 20 Sterling
    Dublin City to/from Belfast Child Single: 10 Euro / 09 Sterling
    Dublin City to/from Belfast Child Single: 15 Euro / 12 Sterling

    To/From Dublin Airport
    Dublin Airport to/from Belfast Adult Single: 16 Euro / 13 Sterling
    Dublin Airport to/from Belfast Adult Return: 23 Euro / 19 Sterling
    Dublin Airport to/from Belfast Child Single: 09 Euro / 08 Sterling
    Dublin Airport to/from Belfast Child Return: 14 Euro / 11 Sterling

    It is strange they do not have the full timetable up, or journey time however.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    So basically same old failings really with regards to information, marketing and the website, I'm not really surprised to be honest, it seems they will never resolve this issues. If they were not ready to publicly announce the service why allow tickets to be booked?

    If the service is launching on the 12th June, it's very poor form that:
    1) There is such short notice before the service starts.
    2) You can book tickets, but you have no idea when the bus will arrive as there is no full timetable.
    3) Because of the above, there is no clear details of exactly where the bus stops in the three locations are.
    4) There is absolutely no mention of the service anywhere on the site.

    All in all it's pretty much typical of what we've seen in the past. I read the commuter Cork services finish tomorrow, what is the bets that come this day they'll still be listing the services on the website even though they don't run anymore.

    I was thinking they'd learn from their mistakes, it seems not, unless they prove me wrong in the next couple of days.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 450 ✭✭SandyfordGuy


    The service does not exist at present as it has not been officially announced. No doubt IT have jumped the gun and allowed tickets to be booked when they should not have so if anyone books a ticket then they could set themselves up for disappointment.

    However unfortunately I've seen one person moaning that the Cork commuter service they went to get was not running. Even though it's clearly stated on the news page, the whole Aircoach site still lists such services even though they have now finished.

    All of the site should have been updated yesterday, it's unforgivable it still has not been done. I presume the person who is going to do this is not available for whatever reason but still it's no excuse, it gives off a very poor impression and whilst I defended them for the last few months this is not defend-able.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 450 ✭✭SandyfordGuy


    The service will start on the 11th of May:
    http://www.aircoach.ie/news.article.php?ID=358
    Aircoach is very pleased to announce that, on Monday 11th June 2012, it will be launching a new Express service linking Belfast, Dublin Airport and Dublin City Centre, 24 hours a day. The first service will depart from Belfast at 15:30 on Monday 11th June, and the first service will depart from Dublin at 18:30 (City) and 19:00 (Airport).

    With 22 daily trips each way, the service will depart from Glengall Street, Belfast, and will call at both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport before reaching O'Connell Street, in the heart of Dublin City Centre.

    The journey time from Belfast to Dublin Airport is scheduled to be 1 hr 50 minutes, with the journey time from Belfast to Dublin City Centre scheduled to be just 2 hrs 10 mins. (Services from Dublin City Centre to Belfast are scheduled to be 2hr 20 mins).

    Tickets are now available for booking on our website for journeys from Tuesday 12th June 2012 onwards, and you can pay in advance or onboard the coach in either Euro or Sterling. (Please note that Tickets purchased from our Customer Service Staff at Dublin Airport Terminal 1 or 2 can only be purchased in Euro).

    The timetable page will soon be available on www.aircoach.ie and www.goaircoach.co.uk, however the departures will be as follows:

    Depart Belfast to Dublin Airport / Dublin City Centre:
    00:30, 01:30, 02:30, 03:30, 04:30, 05:30, 06:30, 07:30, 08:30, 09:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:30, 17:30, 18:30, 19:30, 20:30 and 22:30.

    Depart Dublin City Centre to Belfast:
    01:30, 03:30, 04:30, 05:30, 06:30, 07:30, 08:30, 09:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:30, 17:30, 18:30, 19:30, 20:30, 21:30, 22:30 and 23:30.

    Depart Dublin Airport Terminal 1 to Belfast:
    02:00, 04:00, 05:00, 06:00, 07:00, 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00, 19:00, 20:00, 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and 23:59.

    (please note the service will depart from Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport 5 minutes before the departure time for Terminal 1).

    If would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service Team on +353 (0) 1 844 7118 or +44 (0) 28 9033 0655 between 09:00 and 17:30, 7 days a week, or by email at info@aircoach.ie / info@goaircoach.co.uk


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  • Registered Users Posts: 340 ✭✭RadioCity


    This re-start of the Belfast Dublin is interesting. I've heard that First in Britain is not in a good way finacially (like many bus companies).

    If First breaks up in any shape in the future, the Belfast-Dublin route will be seen as something of an asset in any sell off. Maybe more value is attached to this cross border route by the company than a route in Cork.

    Also Glengall Street is a very congested spot at the best of times, not sure where they have negotiated a parking spot. Rooney's, local company in Co Down operate a Warrenpoint-Newry-Belfast Express in competition with Ulsterbus and recently secured a departure bay in the Europa Buscentre. Maybe this is on Aircoach's to-do list also?


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    First are having some problems and their share price has took a dive, but all of their units are overall still profitable so it's not the crisis that some people make it out to be. But of course there are challenges to overcome.

    There are problems with the UK bus division in certain areas, but it's not an issue that plights the whole of the bus business. The American businesses are still pretty strong as are the rail businesses i nthe UK. there needs to be some restructuring in UK bus and asset disposals perhaps but no major break-up required, just disposal of some assets which are heavily loss making.

    There are lots of politics regarding access to the Europa Bus Centre, especially on routes which compete with Translink/Ulsterbus services, which has resulted in some fun and games down the years. I know Aircoach took them to the UK Office of fare trading years ago but no idea what came of it other than it was a very long, very dragged out affair.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 450 ✭✭SandyfordGuy


    RadioCity - Not sure what your source is but you're way wide of the mark here.

    Glengall Street is considered part of the Europa Bus Centre believe it or not, even though you wouldn't think it location wise. Aircoach apparently won a court case against Translink in relation to fair and equal access to the Europa so therefore Translink were forced to give them access to the Bus Station which of course they were none to happy to actually do for many years in the past, as the previous poster pointed out.

    With a court order though, if that was the case, Translink had no choice but to do that, so they're going to give them the worst positioned stop stop on Glengall Street, as it's legally part of the bus station, and therefore they are fulfilling what the court asked them to. Of course some may say that is them trying to do as little as possible to fulfill the order, but fulfill it non the less, but it shows there is a long way to go before we have anything like proper fair access to the Europa.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    Will this new service take many passengers from the Enterprise trains?


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    Probably not because people have to actually know about the service to use it, and I would expect the Ulsterbus/Bus Eireann and NIR/IE partnerships will do whatever they can to stop it.

    There's still no timetable on the Aircoach site, that speaks volumes.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,797 ✭✭✭munchkin_utd


    foggy_lad wrote: »
    Will this new service take many passengers from the Enterprise trains?
    funny you mention that.

    When the rail line was closed due to the bridge near skerries being repaired it was found that the Belfast rail passengers switched to travelling by car rather than bus.
    (dont have a source for that but im sure a search engine would throw up the relevant info!)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    funny you mention that.

    When the rail line was closed due to the bridge near skerries being repaired it was found that the Belfast rail passengers switched to travelling by car rather than bus.
    (dont have a source for that but im sure a search engine would throw up the relevant info!)
    Possibly because they saw it as a temporary closure of the line, or they are just enterprise snobs? some people are still of the opinion that travelling on a slower less frequent noisier train is better than boarding a clean comfortable bus and getting to your destination on time without the risk of security alerts, leaf fall slippage or other rail related delays. the enterprise is so unreliable there is a serious delay almost daily!

    Many travel on the train because they have two or more of those large shopping trollies loaded up with cheap beer and wine from newry/belfast, they couldn't really be expected to risk loading them into the luggage bay of a bus but if asked they would probably say while they like the train and having the toilets they would prefer if it was half the price like the bus is!


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    Still nothing on the site with the full timetable.

    Everyone will stay in their cars for sure at this rate.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 450 ✭✭SandyfordGuy


    It is there, you need to look under quick links in the top right:
    http://www.aircoach.ie/table.routes.belfast.php

    A flyer can be found here:
    http://www.aircoach.ie/media/Belfast%20120612.pdf

    The fares can be found here:
    http://www.aircoach.ie/aircoach.fares.php


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    Yeah, I forgot this was Aircoach we were talking about, it would make far too much sense for them to place the link to the timetable on the page marked "Timetables" or at the bottom of the page next to the word "Timetables" when they could bury it somewhere illogical. that nobody could find it.

    The flyer is another huge own goal. It references a UK telephone number, a UK Website address, and seems to target people in Belfast travelling to Dublin. It even lists all of the prices in sterling only and no mentions in Euro. I can imagine that going down well with the Pro Ireland brigade. I'd hope they've done another version which is going to be distributed within Ireland to target people going to Belfast.

    Also appears someone has forgotten what day it is today, seeing as they believe it is a Saturday when in fact it is a Tuesday. Once again, lacking attention to detail, no care taken and nobody looking at it from a customers point of view. One thing is for sure, the people who update the website simply don't use it because if they did they wouldn't have such problems.


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  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,350 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    And what in gods name does "Catch Yourself On." mean?

    Can't they just replace these stupid, non English sub titles with something meaningful like "Just 2 hours 10 minutes".

    Yes the flyer should also have the Euro prices and the Irish numbers and website, etc.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    bk wrote: »
    And what in gods name does "Catch Yourself On." mean?

    Can't they just replace these stupid, non English sub titles with something meaningful like "Just 2 hours 10 minutes".

    Yes the flyer should also have the Euro prices and the Irish numbers and website, etc.
    Read the flyer with an accent and it should mean you'd be mad to get the train:D


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 11,565 Mod ✭✭✭✭devnull


    bk wrote: »
    And what in gods name does "Catch Yourself On." mean?

    Can't they just replace these stupid, non English sub titles with something meaningful like "Just 2 hours 10 minutes".

    Yes the flyer should also have the Euro prices and the Irish numbers and website, etc.

    They're a lost cause really, they seem to be targeting just passengers in Belfast when they need to be targeting both ends. Just like on the Cork route they seem to be targeting only Cork people and little to no promotion in Dublin.

    Has anyone actually pointed out to them where they are going wrong and did they get anything back? I wouldn't be surprised if even if you did, they didn't really take any of it on board. They certainly ignore any tweets to them on twitter.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,350 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    devnull wrote: »
    They're a lost cause really, they seem to be targeting just passengers in Belfast when they need to be targeting both ends. Just like on the Cork route they seem to be targeting only Cork people and little to no promotion in Dublin.

    Well just targeting people on the Cork end isn't a bad idea. Much cheaper to advertise in Cork then Dublin. Plus the main passengers tend to be students and ex-corkonians living in Dublin. If they don't hear about it directly, their family back in Cork will tell them about it.

    Citylink/GoBus do the same on the Galway route with almost all of the advertising in Galway and it seems to have worked well for them.

    So not a bad strategy. However I agree that Belfast - Dublni is different, many people in Dublin interested in going North for shopping and tourism, so you want to do at least some advertising in Dublin.
    devnull wrote: »
    Has anyone actually pointed out to them where they are going wrong and did they get anything back? I wouldn't be surprised if even if you did, they didn't really take any of it on board. They certainly ignore any tweets to them on twitter.

    I'd be very surprised if they aren't reading this thread. They certainly seem to making some changes (i.e. getting more strict on the toilet stop, etc.) based on feedback on this thread.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,315 ✭✭✭ballooba


    foggy_lad wrote: »
    Many travel on the train because they have two or more of those large shopping trollies loaded up with cheap beer and wine from newry/belfast, they couldn't really be expected to risk loading them into the luggage bay of a bus but if asked they would probably say while they like the train and having the toilets they would prefer if it was half the price like the bus is!
    I'm making a trip up to Belfast by Enterprise in two weeks. It's my first time by train and my first time visiting in a number of years. My ticket was EUR 10 each way from Connolly. It seemed to me that it would be more comfortable to have the space of the train. It's cheaper too if you get it at that price?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    ballooba wrote: »
    I'm making a trip up to Belfast by Enterprise in two weeks. It's my first time by train and my first time visiting in a number of years. My ticket was EUR 10 each way from Connolly. It seemed to me that it would be more comfortable to have the space of the train. It's cheaper too if you get it at that price?
    Well done on booking in advance to take advantage of limited time offers with conditions including a €10 surcharge to change the time of your train.

    Can you walk into connolly station and get a standard ticket at that price? Seems strange also that they dont list the prices for the Dublin-Belfast service on their website.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,315 ✭✭✭ballooba


    foggy_lad wrote: »
    Well done on booking in advance to take advantage of limited time offers with conditions including a €10 surcharge to change the time of your train.
    I'm unlikely to need to change the time of my train, and if I do I'll take consequences. I don't have an agenda, and I'm not trying to make a point. But it seems to me that I got a good deal, even if I did have to book early.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,465 ✭✭✭highlydebased


    ballooba wrote: »
    I'm making a trip up to Belfast by Enterprise in two weeks. It's my first time by train and my first time visiting in a number of years. My ticket was EUR 10 each way from Connolly. It seemed to me that it would be more comfortable to have the space of the train. It's cheaper too if you get it at that price?

    And it is more comfortable- I used the Enterprise for the first time 2 weeks ago after a long time of using the bus, after they brought in the 10 euro offer for the Enterprise. I'll continue to use the enterprise too. I generally plan my trip to the second so save for unforeseen circumstances I'll have no need to change train times either


  • Registered Users Posts: 217 ✭✭J_Dublin15


    bk wrote: »
    I'd be very surprised if they aren't reading this thread. They certainly seem to making some changes (i.e. getting more strict on the toilet stop, etc.) based on feedback on this thread.

    Well my experience with them in this regard is very poor, I can't say they are the most customer focused when it comes to interacting with their customers, they completely ignore questions via Twitter, and often ignore emails. Their services are good but they let themselves down by the customer services aspect.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,681 ✭✭✭Vahevala


    J_Dublin15 wrote: »
    Well my experience with them in this regard is very poor, I can't say they are the most customer focused when it comes to interacting with their customers, they completely ignore questions via Twitter, and often ignore emails. Their services are good but they let themselves down by the customer services aspect.

    I have to agree with you, as an avid user of twitter, I used to follow aircoach on there but seeing as they follow zero people and they update maybe a couple of times a month (if that), I unfollowed them and I suspect many others will as well.


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