Swords-Dublin Express Bus Service

Heart wrote: »

If you take the 41X (not thru the tunnel) its 2.30, so 3euro probably isn't too steep for a direct route.

€1.70 will suffice for a single trip on the 41X as long as you don't insist on paying cash.


I have no doubt that €3 is a reasonable fare for Swordsexpress to make a profit and if you happen to be someone who is close enough at both ends of the route for it alone to be convenient then €30 for a weeks commute will be acceptable if it cuts your travelling time in half.

Unfortunately for the majority of people that travel Swords-City daily that start from farther afield this is not the case and to avail of this express service they will need to shell out another €30 as well as their current commuting fares.


To put the €30 per week into context, if Dublin Bus were operating this service by using the annual bus only taxsaver the weekly commute could be as little as €7.90 and that would include any extra bus travel around the city including Nitelink or just regular bus services in the evenings after Swordsexpress are finished.

The simple truth is that the expansion of more unconnected and unregulated bus operations gives a bad deal and worse service for the overwhwelming majority of public transport users in Dublin.

We need a governing authority with the power to enforce service levels, fare parity, universal acceptance of commuter and leisure tickets, standards of bus equipment and information provision.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

There are 21 departures to the city centre between 12 midnight and 6am (between the Ballsbridge and Leopardstown routes) - hardly what could be called 'rubbish'.

Fine then midnight to 4am. :rolleyes:

The POINT is that after 11.45 when the last DB service has gone there can be hundreds of people at the Airport from late arrivals all trying to cram on one 45 seat Aircoach bus every 1/2 hour. On busy nights most end up having to get taxis or wait for multiple Aircoach services to come.

Mind you at that time of night 4 people in a taxi would be much cheaper than Aircoach anyway.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

That may happen occasionally but demand is usually minimal in the early hours.

From 2am to 6am yes but there are always a bunch of arriving flights (scheduled and late arrivals) 23.00-00.30 that are too late for the last DB departures for the city and this is when there is always a mad scramble for the inadequate Aircoach offering.

I have been at the airport past midnight dozens of times over the last few years and this is a regular occourence.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

And so have I!

If you are one of the people I have knocked over running down that endless bloody portakabin over the last year or so then I do apologise profusely.

I see RTE News gave the website for this service a plug, but no mention of the websites of Dublin Bus or Aer Lingus in their transport news section and not a dickiebird about the 24 hour Belfast-Dublin service Bus Eireann starting.

Am I just being a bit cynical?:)

Thanks for the review wayne2107. It certainly did go to 40 minutes at one stage but most of the day we were less than that (and sometimes a good bit less). The return to Swords takes less time than the leg towards the city. Thanks for wishing me luck OTK!

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Not legally!

Legally, a bus may not be driven on the rightmost lane of a motorway.

The bus must legally remain on the left lane of the M1. Near the approach to the Port Tunnel, the left lane becomes the centre lane and then the centre-right lane which becomes the left lane again at the tunnel entrance.

The Port Tunnel is a motorway and the bus must remain on the left while in it.

Not according to the rules of the road (page 122 of the pdf):

ROTR wrote:

You must not use the lane nearest the central median (lane 2 or lane 3, depending on the motorway width) if you are driving:

• a goods vehicle with a design gross vehicle weight of more than 3,500 kilograms,
• a passenger vehicle with seating for more than 8 passengers (aside from the driver), or
• a vehicle towing a trailer, horsebox or caravan.

You may use it, however, in exceptional circumstances when you cannot proceed in the inner lane because of a blockage ahead. You may also use it if you are at a location on a motorway where a speed limit of 80km/h or less applies.

Rules of the Road overridden by the Tunnel Byelaws.

http://www.dublinporttunnel.ie/hauliers/bye_laws.pdf [ s17 1 & 2 ]

jahalpin wrote: »

In order for that to work all the money from sales of tickets would have to go straight to the new governing authority and the money would have to be split equitably between the different providers.

Yes and no.

It would be no doubt be the best situation for there to be a single farebox and a single identity for all bus services so that intending passengers need only concern themselves with which service is most convenient and not what name is printed on the side.

Chances of that happening under the current administration is non-existent though. Before it disappeared into the mire the DTA bill had been stripped of all powers to control non-cie bus operations so their intent not to regulate the bus market for the benefit of the user was clear as day.



It would also be possible for the operators to keep their single/return fare takings and have integrated tickets that are valid on all operators with each recieving a proportional share. This is done in many cities in the UK with each operator setting their own fares (single/return and multiple) and also participating in multi-operator and multi-mode tickets usually provided by the local authorities.

Under our CURRENT laws the government could force a single fare structure on all operators without the need for a central farebox. The next logical step would be to work out an equitable formula for distributing integrated fares and then make it a condition of operation that all bus operators accept a range of bus, bus-rail-tram tickets.

jahalpin wrote: »

If the private operators were forced to accept the thousands of free travel passes issued by the state they would have be adequately compensated for this as well

They already can get payments for accepting free travel passes and many operators do. I am sure that they also get much better and more accurate compensation than CIE do. Under the current scheme CIE get a lump sum that has no relation to the actual fare revenue lost by accepting the passes. I doubt many private operators would have signed up unless they could have gotten a fair recompense for hauling around all the OAPs, disabled, dole scroungers, junkies and various others who have fake, stolen or fraudulently obtained passes.

Not for one second would I criticise any operator for making sure they had fair recompense for accepting these passes, if senior CIE management were not puppets of goverment and the civil service they would have done the same years ago.

Maybe Antoin can enlighten us on what exactly is offered for accepting these passes?