Aircoach Dublin-Cork express

devnull · 23-12-2013 7:02pm

lxflyer wrote: »

If a service isn't working, it can be necessary to change it - that's the same with any transport operator. Frankly if the passenger numbers aren't there on certain services, and at the same time people are asking for more services at peak times on the peak days, then perhaps then they do need to reconfigure the schedule to maximise return.

And I agree with that, but I think this is a little bit to the other extreme, and I'm not so sure it will work out for them long term. A regular timetable is what people want and past experience has shown that good frequency will drive demand and customer loyalty. I'm not saying they shouldn't cut any services, but this looks like they decided to pick the easy option rather than actually trying to offer a viable alternative to Aircoach or take them on, which is completely different to what has occured with GoBus on the Galway route where a completely different strategy is taking place. I still remain to be convinced that GoBE are in any way committed to the route long term.

It's a more appropriate use of the assets. I'm not sure you can dictate to a company when they should operate a service when they are funding the entire operation themselves without state subsidy. That is not how business works.

I don't agree on the use of the assets, since I would expect the new timetable to require the use of more coaches on the Friday and the Sunday than the current ones. I doubt the cut from 6 to 9 services a day on other days would decrease the number of coaches required either, since it'll mean just less work for existing coaches that will cover less timetabled services a day. Running an hourly service for six hours a day on Friday and Sunday is certainly going to need more coaches than the current timetable though. There might be better use of staff and rosters and salary related costs however.

I'm not saying that I should be able to, my point is that this is the same kind of practice people on here have said many times is everything that is wrong with a non publicly owned public transport companies, how many times do we see people trot out on here the fact that such timetables are typical of what we can expect from operators, how many times do we hear the phrase cherry picking? I'm not saying I'm agreeing with that opinion, but I'm just repeating what has been described by others when they were talking about such kind of changes in the past, most of which was scaremongering yes.

It does suggest to me that the market on the route is a bit tighter than certain contributors to this board may think.

I think there is the market for two operators there, that goes without saying, I don't think there was ever enough for 15 services a day from GoBE and 18 from Aircoach and that level was never going to be able to be kept up, there just isn't demand for 33 services a day. But I think there is demand for more than 24 a day on your average day, since from what I was seeing the early departures to Dublin Airport were far from empty.

It disappoints me as a consumer since I honestly don't think having a situation where one operator is operating six services a day and another is operating 18 is good for competition. I'd like to see the smaller operator challenge the bigger one more to keep them on their toes, at the end of the day the customer loses out in the long run.

LXFlyer · 23-12-2013 7:36pm

There's definitely peak demand, that's for sure, but whether the off-peak demand is there to the extent that you seem to think, I'm not convinced. Clearly GoBE don't believe it is and are focussing on the peak demand times. The cost of maintaining the existing schedule may not have been worth it.

As I said above, people are hardly abandoned. Apart from Aircoach, the 15 Irish Rail journeys have to be added to that equation, along with the 6 Bus Eireann X8 services. That's a lot of capacity.

bk · 24-12-2013 12:05am

I have to agree I'm disappointed with GoBE's new schedule.

At the moment I use GoBe and Aircoach roughly 50/50, but I'll try and use Aircoach more often now. As soon as Aircoach allows same day online bookings I'll be 100% supporting Aircoach.

Ironically when GoBE originally cut their service from hourly to every two hours, I said I was surprised they didn't keep some of the peak hourly services, for instance 5:30 on a Friday. There is clearly the demand for it and I would have no problem with them just adding these back. But these changes in conjunction with all the other changes does smack too much of cherry picking.

lxflyer wrote: »

It does suggest to me that the market on the route is a bit tighter than certain contributors to this board may think.

I assume you mean me.

Go stand on Westmoreland St on a Friday evening and watch the crowds and Aircoach put on at least two coaches, sometimes three coaches per hour and come back and tell me about the lack of demand!

Or the fact that Aircoach has 10 brand spanking new toilet equipped coaches coming for the Cork route at a cost of €3.5 million, in the middle of a recession!

To me the GoBE service has been shackled by BE's involvement. On the one hand you have GoBus in Glaway going head to head challenging Citylink, with matching departures every hour and also competitive pricing.

But then you have this much inferior and more expensive GoBE service.

So what is the differentiator between GoBus in Cork and Galway, It is BE's involvement on the Cork route. It makes me suspicious what BE's influence is maybe hobbling this service.

Maybe that is too paranoid, maybe BE aren't going out of their way to hobble the service, however maybe it is just a case that BE's involvement is costing GoBus too much. Obviously GoBus have to pay for the use of BE's bus stations and facilities (ticketing machines, advertising on BE website, etc.) and I asssume BE get a cut of the ticket price too.

Maybe all of these costs, just end up costing GoBus too much to be competitive.

I think GoBus made some very bad strategic mistakes in partnering with BE. I assume they thought partnering with BE would be a great idea. That they would waltz into the BE stations and easily take the BE x8 passengers. The problem was they entered the market far too late. Most people had already abandoned the x8 for the new Aircoach service and it turned out people didn't care about the BE stations, that they were actually a bad and inconvenient location.

Add to that GoBE being €4 per way more expensive and you can easily see what GoBE hasn't been successful.

Which is a real pity as I believe there is enough demand there for two strong operators.

lxflyer wrote: »

As I said above, people are hardly abandoned. Apart from Aircoach, the 15 Irish Rail journeys have to be added to that equation, along with the 6 Bus Eireann X8 services. That's a lot of capacity.

The problem is, with the exception of Aircoach, non of them are interested in offering a service after 8pm between the two largest cities in Ireland!

It just goes to show how deficient and non customer focused CIE companies are and yes, I'm including GoBE amongst CIE companies now.

Isn't it ironic that it takes a private company to deliver a 24 hour service, at potentially very off peak times, delivering a socially needed service. While the CIE companies cherry pick peak services.

LXFlyer · 24-12-2013 10:02am

bk wrote: »

I have to agree I'm disappointed with GoBE's new schedule.

At the moment I use GoBe and Aircoach roughly 50/50, but I'll try and use Aircoach more often now. As soon as Aircoach allows same day online bookings I'll be 100% supporting Aircoach.

Ironically when GoBE originally cut their service from hourly to every two hours, I said I was surprised they didn't keep some of the peak hourly services, for instance 5:30 on a Friday. There is clearly the demand for it and I would have no problem with them just adding these back. But these changes in conjunction with all the other changes does smack too much of cherry picking.

I assume you mean me.

Go stand on Westmoreland St on a Friday evening and watch the crowds and Aircoach put on at least two coaches, sometimes three coaches per hour and come back and tell me about the lack of demand!

Or the fact that Aircoach has 10 brand spanking new toilet equipped coaches coming for the Cork route at a cost of €3.5 million, in the middle of a recession!

To me the GoBE service has been shackled by BE's involvement. On the one hand you have GoBus in Glaway going head to head challenging Citylink, with matching departures every hour and also competitive pricing.

But then you have this much inferior and more expensive GoBE service.

So what is the differentiator between GoBus in Cork and Galway, It is BE's involvement on the Cork route. It makes me suspicious what BE's influence is maybe hobbling this service.

Maybe that is too paranoid, maybe BE aren't going out of their way to hobble the service, however maybe it is just a case that BE's involvement is costing GoBus too much. Obviously GoBus have to pay for the use of BE's bus stations and facilities (ticketing machines, advertising on BE website, etc.) and I asssume BE get a cut of the ticket price too.

Maybe all of these costs, just end up costing GoBus too much to be competitive.

I think GoBus made some very bad strategic mistakes in partnering with BE. I assume they thought partnering with BE would be a great idea. That they would waltz into the BE stations and easily take the BE x8 passengers. The problem was they entered the market far too late. Most people had already abandoned the x8 for the new Aircoach service and it turned out people didn't care about the BE stations, that they were actually a bad and inconvenient location.

Add to that GoBE being €4 per way more expensive and you can easily see what GoBE hasn't been successful.

Which is a real pity as I believe there is enough demand there for two strong operators.

The problem is, with the exception of Aircoach, non of them are interested in offering a service after 8pm between the two largest cities in Ireland!

It just goes to show how deficient and non customer focused CIE companies are and yes, I'm including GoBE amongst CIE companies now.

Isn't it ironic that it takes a private company to deliver a 24 hour service, at potentially very off peak times, delivering a socially needed service. While the CIE companies cherry pick peak services.

For the record, I wasn't referring to anyone in particular.

In relation to demand - clearly on Fridays and Sundays there is demand - that's when GoBE are focussing the extra services, and if you had read my posts above then you would have seen that I was differentiating between off-peak and peak times. It's pretty obvious that the off-peak demand isn't as high - otherwise the company would not be dropping the services.

There is one big difference between Cork (and for that matter Limerick) and Galway, and that's the fact that both Cork and Limerick have international airports beside them, Galway doesn't. That's the main reason that the off-peak non-stop services on the Galway route are successful - they have two traffic generators - people travelling to/from Dublin city and Dublin Airport. Cork would not generate the same number of passengers to/from the Airport as it has its own.

As for a 24 hour service being "socially needed" - if it were socially needed, there would be a PSO subsidy for it. There isn't. It's a nice to have service, but it's not essential.

I don't take any pleasure in seeing companies cut back services, but presumably the numbers don't add up for the extra buses.

bk · 24-12-2013 10:45am

lxflyer wrote: »

There is one big difference between Cork (and for that matter Limerick) and Galway, and that's the fact that both Cork and Limerick have international airports beside them, Galway doesn't. That's the main reason that the off-peak non-stop services on the Galway route are successful - they have two traffic generators - people travelling to/from Dublin city and Dublin Airport. Cork would not generate the same number of passengers to/from the Airport as it has its own.

As a Corkonian, I can assure you that Dublin Airport is used by a very large number of people from Cork. Most people in Cork now look at Dublin Airport and Cork Airport almost interchangeably thanks to the new motorway.

However I admit that demand for the airport from Cork mightn't be quiet as strong as Galway, per capita.

But you have to balance that with the fact that the population of Cork city is much big then Galway. Corks Metro population is 400,000 versus 100,000 in Galway.

So I see no reason why in the long term there wouldn't be enough demand for just as many, if not significantly more, services from Cork then from Galway.

I think there are a few reasons why the Galway services are currently doing better then the Cork services:

- The Galway services started a good few years ago, so have had longer to mature and for people to become aware of them.
- The Galway services started during the celtic tiger, so both companies used very nice, brand new toilet equipped coaches from the start.
- GoBus/Citylink had a price war when their services started, with €1 fares and a massive amounts of advertising, that really helped get people aware of the services.

Meanwhile in Cork:
- The services are much newer and less well known.
- They started in the middle of a recession, with Aircoach throwing any old coach they had at the route and no toilets.
- Meanwhile, GoBE floundered around the place, chopping and changing their schedule, increasing ticket prices, being stupid about how to buy tickets (online only first, then added TVM's and then added on the coach!). Not good for convincing people that the service is reliable.
- GoBE has a bad location in Busaras.
- Because they started in the middle of a recession, there was no €1 price war between them and little in the way of advertising, so they aren't as well known.

I feel the Cork route still hasn't matured yet. With Aircoach getting 10 brand new toilet equipped coaches, new website and hopefully soon same day online bookings, I think the route might finally be getting there.

Having said all that, I think the Cork route may already be outperforming Galway. While Galway has more scheduled departures, Aircoach is now regularly putting two or three coaches on per hour at peak times, something that I think happens less in Galway, so it is possible that the actual number of coaches running to Cork is higher then Galway.

In Galway, the market is pretty much 50/50 GoBus/Citylink, where on the Cork route it is more like 70/30 Aircoach/GoBE. Basically GoBE have failed to compete effectively with Aircoach, like they do with Citylink in Galway. Which would again lead me to question why?

And would again have me looking at BE's involvement for the cause of this.

lxflyer wrote: »

As for a 24 hour service being "socially needed" - if it were socially needed, there would be a PSO subsidy for it. There isn't. It's a nice to have service, but it's not essential.

I agree strongly with you on this point.

I think it is mad that there was no public transport between the two largest cities in Ireland after 8pm. Frankly there should be 24 hour services running between all our cities in the modern society that we live in.

I would argue that there are many socially needed services that currently aren't being funded by government, another example is Dublin Bus operating a regular 24 hour service, like most other European cities.

CIE and the civil servants seem to be stuck in the mindset of the 1960's thinking that we should be all tucked up in bed by 11pm. It really is madness.

Again, it takes private companies to prove that there is demand and to operate 24 hour intercity services and 24 hour services to the airport.

I think it is a massive failing in thinking of our administrators.

BTW I notice that the new peak GoBE services won't be running to Dublin Airport, only the city! That is strange, you would think there would be little disadvantage in continuing onto the airport and thus benefiting from potentially more passengers and their higher ticket price.

I wonder why this is. I wonder if it is a scheduling issue or perhaps a NTA licensing issue?

bk · 09-01-2014 2:21pm

Aircoachs 10 new toilet equipped coaches for the Cork route:

They look very well, but we will have to wait and see how they are when actually using.

It is a slight concern that they went with shorter dual axle bus rather then a longer tri-axle like their current Joncks and most intercity coaches used by most operators. Also these are Plaxton Panther 3's, which are a small bit of a step down from the Joncks, the Plaxton Elite range would be more of an equivalent to the Joncks.

Still a very good step in the right direction. GoBE better watch out!

KCAccidental · 09-01-2014 2:23pm

just hope they have better leg room than their other toilet equipped coaches!

SandyfordGuy · 09-01-2014 2:25pm

They will seat 49 and have 141 registrations

bk · 09-01-2014 2:27pm

SandyfordGuy wrote: »

They will seat 49 and have 141 registrations

Actually the reg numbers are pretty awesome:

141D24
141D25
141D26
141D27
141D28
141D29
141D30
141D31
141D32
141D34

Pity they skipped 141D33!

BTW list and pictures above from a thread on another forum.

bk · 09-01-2014 2:38pm

KCAccidental wrote: »

just hope they have better leg room than their other toilet equipped coaches!

Yes, this is a concern.

These new coaches are the same length and have the same number of seats as the Levantes * (the old toilet equipped coaches, Aircoach actually have a few different model of toilet equipped coach, 4 Levantes, 2 Panther, 1 Setra, but it is the Levantes that have the space issues.).

However while they are the same length, the old Levantes wasted loads of space for the wheelchair position up front, so all the other seats were more squashed. From the rumours I've heard, this new coach uses far less space for the wheelchair position, so all the other seats should have more space.

I wouldn't expect it to have as much space as the Joncks, which had oceans of leg room, but I believe these new coaches should be more then adequate. We will just have to wait and see.

* BTW I'd expect that we will continue to see the Levantes and other older toilet equipped coaches on the Cork route. 10 new coaches should be enough to cover all scheduled services, but not enough to cover relief coaches that are often put on at peak times. I'm hoping that Aircoach will only ever use toilet equipped coaches from now on.

KCAccidental · 09-01-2014 2:51pm

yeah, I learned my lesson with the Levantes, as a 6fter I had a very uncomfortable journey last year in one of those. Always try to get the seats in front of the wheelchair space as they have a little bit more legroom.

devnull · 11-01-2014 8:32pm

Actually they are not the same length, out of all of the two axle coaches have, the Levantes are the longest being just over 12.5m, with the others under that - they are however, the only two axle coaches that are wheelchair accessible.

devnull · 30-01-2014 7:57pm

The new coaches have today entered service and will feature plug sockets as well as USB charging ports.

Thursday, 30th January, 2014: Aircoach, Ireland’s leading private bus and coach operator, and a wholly owned subsidiary of FirstGroup plc, today confirmed a 3 million euro investment in ten state of the art new coaches which will enter service from 30th January, 2014. The coaches will operate daily on the successful Cork – Dublin City – Dublin Airport non-stop express service. This service operates 36 departures per day, seven days per week and runs via the motorway giving a city centre to city centre journey time of just three hours.

In the current year, passenger volumes on the route have already grown by more than 50%. Today’s announcement is further good news for customers and underlines the company’s commitment and confidence in being able to attract more passengers to public transport by investing in its vehicles and providing innovative, high quality services.

Minister Alan Kelly, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport attended today’s launch and said that he would like to “congratulate Aircoach on their continued success. They have been in Ireland for over 14 years and this significant investment of €3m underlines their commitment to delivering high standards in public transport today. I look forward to further growth in customers using public transport as a result of these types of investments.”

Speaking at the launch Allen Parker, Aircoach MD, said: “We are delighted to launch this fleet of new coaches. It shows our continued investment in Ireland and reflects our commitment to continue to deliver high quality services aimed at attracting more customers to public transport. These fuel efficient, low emission state of the art vehicles will provide our customers with a first class comfortable service. ”

The fleet of vehicles costing 3 million euro are the latest model Volvo B11R chassis with a Plaxton Panther 3 body. These low emission fuel efficient vehicles are built to Euro 5 standard. They feature wheelchair access, comfortable leather seating, on board toilet facilities, full air conditioning and climate control for complete passenger comfort. Additionally plug and USB charging points can be found at every seat. Aircoach also offers free Wi-Fi on all its coaches, to cater to all traveling needs. CCTV is fitted on the coaches for added safety and security.

Allen Parker, Aircoach MD, Minister Alan Kelly TD and Jeroen Weimar, chief operating officer at First Bus UK

bk · 31-01-2014 1:07am

Great news on the new coaches and I look forward to trying one out tomorrow.

On the down side, ticket prices have gone up quiet a bit, from €9 at all times, to €10 at most times and either €11 or €12 at peak times.

I don't mind this so much but I do have two complaints about it:

1) You still can't book online on the same day, you most book before 5pm the prior day. A really silly requirement IMO.

2) You only see the price when you select the day and time. There is no way to see the prices of all departures on the same day (like how the Irish Rail site does very well). So there is no opportunity to select a different, cheaper departure time if your schedule is flexible.

devnull · 31-01-2014 7:05am

Type "Aircoach" into google now and you see an advert for GoBE like the case a few months back - clearly trying to tap in to popularity of the service and the announcement from yesterday.

BK - If you could report back that would be great since I'm curious if they are as tight on space as I feared.

Jamie2k9 · 31-01-2014 2:01pm

devnull wrote: »

Type "Aircoach" into google now and you see an advert for GoBE like the case a few months back - clearly trying to tap in to popularity of the service and the announcement from yesterday.

BK - If you could report back that would be great since I'm curious if they are as tight on space as I feared.

Think your over thinking the add thing and drawing your own conclusion.

I have done it and there is no GoBe add. Don't Google filter your account for your recent search's and pop up similar adds?

bk · 01-02-2014 1:38pm

Ohh.... new bus smell!

So I was on the new Aircoach coach to Cork yesterday and here is a bit of a mini review.

First of all I should point out that I'm not an expert on coaches, so this is just my view as a normal passenger.

Leg room, I'm probably not the best person to ask about this as I'm not the tallest of people. But I think it is somewhere between the Jonckheeres and the Levantes, probably roughly equal to the GoBE Volvo coaches.

Looking around it looks like taller people seem to be relatively comfortable. If you are very tall, then there are two seats you should go for, the second row on the right hand side (when entering the coach) by the front is a wheelchair position and has lots of extra legroom. Also the second last row at the back on the left hand side has plenty of extra legroom as the emergency exit door is there. Also the 4 seats right at the front of the coach look more roomy too.

The seating is flat going all the way back, rather then theatre style like you find on the GoBE coaches, so no problems with headroom further back.

The seats are very similar to those on the Jonckheeres, they are full leather, recline and have a pull up arm rest in the middle. The seat belt remains comfortably out of the way when not in use. The seats are very comfortable with a good headrest that bends outwards so you can lie against it. It is notable that a lot of people are sleeping on the coach.

Unfortunately there is no mesh or table at the back of the seats, which I think is a great pity. There is a handle and coat hook and also a pull down leg rest.

The toilet is right at the back on the right hand side and it is at the same level as the seating, so much easier to use for elderly people. This has to be the best toilet I've ever seen on a coach. It is relatively large (definitely larger then an Airplane toilet), nice white colour, very brightly lit with white lights and even natural light from a large frosted window.

Unfortunately it was let down slightly by there being soap in the dispenser, but no water, so now my hands stink of soap!

But vastly better toilet then the ones on the GoBE (have to go down steps, very small and dark).

There is a single plug, with a USB port on the window side of every seat (so one plug per two seats). Unfortunately, it seems the USB charging port at my seat isn't working!! I don't know if the plug is as I don't have a plug with me. Nice touch if they actually work.

The wifi isn't working either on this coach. You can see the Aircoach wifi point, but I haven't been able to connect to it from any of my three devices. Using 3G to send this.

I'm hoping these two issues are just minor teething issues and will be resolved.

There are two large emergency exit sunlights which leave in a lot of natural light which is nice. However I noticed there was a massive rain storm just as we were coming into Cork and one of them started leaking water onto the floor and some passengers!

The coach has low key, blue LED's along the top of the baggage rack, which is also nicely large. When the stop arrives at is't destination, much brighter white LEDs are turned on to let people disembark.

The steps up to the entrance of the coach and area by the driver is very nice and roomy, much nicer then old coaches, making it comfortable while showing your ticket to the driver.

There is a LCD screen at the front of the coach by the driver which shows a view of the front facing camera. Handy for checking what the traffic looks like when you are sitting further back in the coach.

The ride of the coach seems to be very quiet, smooth and comfortable. Again, lots of people are sleeping, which I think is a testament to the comfort of the coach IMO.

I've also heard two passengers comment positively on the new coach and the comfort of it.

So on the whole, I think this is a fine new coach. Not necessarily the best coach I've ever taken, that award goes to Citylinks new Vanhool. There are definitely some compromises and trade offs here, but on the whole a very goo coach, with a good balance of features. I think it is definitely better then the GoBE Volvos, more suited to intercity work.

I'll definitely will be happy to take this coach again in future. But there issues that need to be resolved.

bk · 02-02-2014 11:05am

On the 10am coach to Dublin and unfortunately it is a Jonckheere

So looks like they aren't going 100% toilet equipped on the route yet!

At least the wifi is working. Being on the Jonckheere, I'd say that it has about a half inch more legroom.

devnull · 02-02-2014 11:39am

There is believed to be one or two new coaches pulled out of service of the route to address some teething problems, which is relatively common when a new fleet is introduced, especially when it's one of the first vehicles of a new model to be produced.

Patrickheg · 02-02-2014 11:52am

bk wrote: »

Ohh.... new bus smell!

So I was on the new Aircoach coach to Cork yesterday and here is a bit of a mini review.

First of all I should point out that I'm not an expert on coaches, so this is just my view as a normal passenger.

Leg room, I'm probably not the best person to ask about this as I'm not the tallest of people. But I think it is somewhere between the Jonckheeres and the Levantes, probably roughly equal to the GoBE Volvo coaches.

Looking around it looks like taller people seem to be relatively comfortable. If you are very tall, then there are two seats you should go for, the second row on the right hand side (when entering the coach) by the front is a wheelchair position and has lots of extra legroom. Also the second last row at the back on the left hand side has plenty of extra legroom as the emergency exit door is there. Also the 4 seats right at the front of the coach look more roomy too.

The seating is flat going all the way back, rather then theatre style like you find on the GoBE coaches, so no problems with headroom further back.

The seats are very similar to those on the Jonckheeres, they are full leather, recline and have a pull up arm rest in the middle. The seat belt remains comfortably out of the way when not in use. The seats are very comfortable with a good headrest that bends outwards so you can lie against it. It is notable that a lot of people are sleeping on the coach.

Unfortunately there is no mesh or table at the back of the seats, which I think is a great pity. There is a handle and coat hook and also a pull down leg rest.

The toilet is right at the back on the right hand side and it is at the same level as the seating, so much easier to use for elderly people. This has to be the best toilet I've ever seen on a coach. It is relatively large (definitely larger then an Airplane toilet), nice white colour, very brightly lit with white lights and even natural light from a large frosted window.

Unfortunately it was let down slightly by there being soap in the dispenser, but no water, so now my hands stink of soap!

But vastly better toilet then the ones on the GoBE (have to go down steps, very small and dark).

There is a single plug, with a USB port on the window side of every seat (so one plug per two seats). Unfortunately, it seems the USB charging port at my seat isn't working!! I don't know if the plug is as I don't have a plug with me. Nice touch if they actually work.

The wifi isn't working either on this coach. You can see the Aircoach wifi point, but I haven't been able to connect to it from any of my three devices. Using 3G to send this.

I'm hoping these two issues are just minor teething issues and will be resolved.

There are two large emergency exit sunlights which leave in a lot of natural light which is nice. However I noticed there was a massive rain storm just as we were coming into Cork and one of them started leaking water onto the floor and some passengers!

The coach has low key, blue LED's along the top of the baggage rack, which is also nicely large. When the stop arrives at is't destination, much brighter white LEDs are turned on to let people disembark.

The steps up to the entrance of the coach and area by the driver is very nice and roomy, much nicer then old coaches, making it comfortable while showing your ticket to the driver.

There is a LCD screen at the front of the coach by the driver which shows a view of the front facing camera. Handy for checking what the traffic looks like when you are sitting further back in the coach.

The ride of the coach seems to be very quiet, smooth and comfortable. Again, lots of people are sleeping, which I think is a testament to the comfort of the coach IMO.

I've also heard two passengers comment positively on the new coach and the comfort of it.

So on the whole, I think this is a fine new coach. Not necessarily the best coach I've ever taken, that award goes to Citylinks new Vanhool. There are definitely some compromises and trade offs here, but on the whole a very goo coach, with a good balance of features. I think it is definitely better then the GoBE Volvos, more suited to intercity work.

I'll definitely will be happy to take this coach again in future. But there issues that need to be resolved.

Above post along with most of this thread should be in the bus enthusiasts sub section.

bk · 02-02-2014 12:17pm

devnull wrote: »

There is believed to be one or two new coaches pulled out of service of the route to address some teething problems, which is relatively common when a new fleet is introduced, especially when it's one of the first vehicles of a new model to be produced.

Yes, like leaking skylights!

Though I was hoping that they would swap in an Levante when this happens.

bk · 02-02-2014 12:20pm

Patrickheg wrote: »

Above post along with most of this thread should be in the bus enthusiasts sub section.

Really, no it shouldn't. This information is of interest to anyone taking or considering taking this service to Cork.

To be honest, I've no idea why a separate forum was even created. Sure we are always talking about Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Irish Rail too, you could argue that 90% of the posts on this forum should be in a sub forum!

horseburger · 04-02-2014 3:19pm

Aircoach have an offer of 10% Off All Routes Booked By Midnight Tomorrow

"NEW YEAR NEW FLEET - get 10% off on our non stop express service between Dublin and Cork"

it applies to booking online

discount code: NEWFLEET

‏

Vinta81 · 05-02-2014 3:20pm

I have a flight at 8am on Friday morning and am travelling up from Cork, the 1am aircoach gets in at 4:20am and the 3am gets in at 6:20am, would I have enough time in Dublin airport to go through security if I get the 3am? I've no checked luggage and I've checked in online already! I'm panicking about which one to book.

Kumsheen · 05-02-2014 3:51pm

If it was me i would get the 1am one, not that the 3am wouldn't get you in time, but rather getting up in the middle of the night for a 3am bus.
Personally i'd go for the earlier one and find somewhere comfortable to relax in the airport when you get here.
Sure you might end up not sleeping anyway worrying about the 3am bus being late.

serfboard · 06-02-2014 3:08pm

Vinta81 wrote: »

I have a flight at 8am on Friday morning and am travelling up from Cork, the 1am aircoach gets in at 4:20am and the 3am gets in at 6:20am, would I have enough time in Dublin airport to go through security if I get the 3am? I've no checked luggage and I've checked in online already! I'm panicking about which one to book.

I get the (overnight) bus for flights at 6ish. For a flight at 8ish I'd be looking to crash with a friend or book the cheapest hostel/B&B/hotel I could find. You could then get up @ 6 and travel to the airport in time.

bk · 12-02-2014 2:22pm

So, I've taken the new Aircoach coaches three times over the last two weeks, since my review, so here are some more thoughts.

First off all, you can find a bunch of pictures from the interior here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95924853@N06/sets/72157640827064794/

I've been totally blow away by how punctual these new coaches are.

- 3pm ex Cork got into Dublin at 5:55pm (yes during Dublin rush hour!)
- 2pm ex Cork yesterday, driving through a snow blizzard for 30 minutes got into Dublin at 4:52pm !!!!!
- 5pm ex-Dublin on a Friday got into Cork at 8:10pm

Absolutely fantastic times, they are definitely saving at least 15 minutes without the Urlingford stop and seem to be able to do sub 3 hours on most trips. Definitely faster then GoBE now.

I've found the wifi working on every trip now since the first one.

However it seems to be a toss up if you will find a working plug or not. Two plugs I used on one trip weren't working. But the plug did work on yesterdays trip. They could do with giving a simple plug tester to their engineers and testing all the plugs.

For tall people I found that the three seats in the back row also have a little extra leg space, equivalent to the Jonckheere. The trade off however is that these seats don't recline.

So for tall people the seats you should be aiming for are:
- Four seats in the front row (they are marked as for older people).
- Two seats on the right hand side of the second row (wheelchair seat)
- Two seats on the left hand side, second last row (by the emergency exit door).
- Three seats in the back row.

BTW One disadvantage I found of the seats on the second last row by the emergency door, is that there are no heaters there and might be a slight draft from the door, so they can be a cold seat.

There is a screen just left to the driver, high up, which shows the forward facing camera while travelling, which is nice so passengers can see the traffic ahead. This screen also shows a view from the camera over looking the luggage bay when stopped, a very useful security feature.

There is also a clock above the screen, which I'm very happy to say has always been correct (a very simple thing, but always bugs me when I see that the clock is the wrong time, it makes me wonder about the quality of the servicing of the coach). Also there is a toilet in use indicator next to the clock, very handy.

The toilet is certainly being used, I was sitting on the back row of a quiet off peak run (20 people) and I say it was used about 12 times.

Yesterday on my trip, I was disappointed to find no toilet paper in the toilet! They need to be more proactive about this and maybe have the driver check before each departure.

The luggage bay doors seem to be automatic, controlled by a simple press of a red button.

In summary, I'd prefer if they had spaced the seats out a bit better and that all seats had a back of the seat table and mess. Also they definitely need to make sure there is always toilet paper and that all the plugs are working.

However on the whole a very nice improvement, not quiet the best coach in Ireland (probably Citylinks Vanhools) but a very welcome improvement to the Cork route.

Copyerselveson · 12-02-2014 2:29pm

Very useful post bk but it's a bit of a love letter!

Adds: Actually that's a bit unfair of me. I can really feel your excitement at getting on that bus in your review. It reminds me of when I was just six years old and stepped onto a train for the first time to go to Thurles from Heuston. From memory the carriage I sat in must have been a Craven, and to be honest I still have great affection for the old Cravens. Luckily some have been preserved by the RPSI.

bk · 12-02-2014 3:07pm

Yes Copyerselveson, I think that is quiet unfair and perhaps even quiet a childish comment.

I think my post above is pretty even handed and objective, giving both the pros and cons of the new coach. If it comes off sounding like a love letter, perhaps that is because on the whole the pros far outweigh the cons and Cork now has an excellent new quality public transport service.

Copyerselveson · 12-02-2014 3:11pm

bk wrote: »

Yes Copyerselveson, I think that is quiet unfair and perhaps even quiet a childish comment.

I think my post above is pretty even handed and objective, giving both the pros and cons of the new coach. If it comes off sounding like a love letter, perhaps that is because on the whole the pros far outweigh the cons and Cork now has an excellent new quality public transport service.

Certainly not meant to be childish, I was simply commenting positively on your enthusiasm. I'm sorry you took it the wrong way.

Aircoach Dublin-Cork express

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