Using the Aircoach to get from town to Bray

lazlo

Is it possible to get an aircoach from town to bray from somewhere like the point depot? There are no nitelinks on a sunday and I'm not keen on paying a cab the 40 odd euro it would cost.

Would the aircoach pick me up or have they got hard and fast set down only rules for passengers not bound for/coming from the actual airport?

LXFlyer

Aircoach can only pick up at the airport southbound - nowhere else is permitted.

lazlo

that stinks, it would be really handy if it did. the limited nightlink services in this city are a disgrace

I guess I'll just have to drink drive instead :rolleyes:

**Timbuk2**

lazlo wrote: »

I guess I'll just have to drink drive instead :rolleyes:

Or not drinking, and driving

Is there anyone else you know, going some of the way, that you might be able to split taxi costs with?

amacachi

Try getting from Dublin to Dundalk late night and getting turned away.

lazlo

I'm kidding I don't even have a car - so fret not

Nah there's no-one really. It is a huge pain though. One bus at 2 or 2.30 would make things so much better in this city. If you go to town on a Sunday or a weekday you have to get your arse moving to a DART or bus at around 1045(depending on where you are). I'm sure I'm not the only person who'd like to see additional services.

I know that Finnegans run a service on bank holidays and thursdays but its still not enough.

amacachi

If you're heading home that early it must've been a **** night. :pac:


But really, a route at 1, 2 and 3 leaving from around D'Olier St. would surely be packed.

lazlo

it wouldnt be packed, the 4am service on Fri/Sat is rarely packed these days. Ones at 2ish usually are so I don't see why they don't extend it to other nigths of the week

**Timbuk2**

amacachi wrote: »

Try getting from Dublin to Dundalk late night and getting turned away.

The Route 1 bus goes from Dublin-Belfast at 2-hour intervals throughout the night, stopping in Dundalk. I'm sure you know this though!

mgmt

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

The Route 1 bus goes from Dublin-Belfast at 2-hour intervals throughout the night, stopping in Dundalk. I'm sure you know this though!

Do they allow drop-off in Dundalk on the Belfast bus?

Losty Dublin

lazlo wrote: »

it wouldnt be packed, the 4am service on Fri/Sat is rarely packed these days. Ones at 2ish usually are so I don't see why they don't extend it to other nigths of the week

Mid week Nitelinks ran until a few years ago; it was dropped due to it having very low passenger numbers.

foggy_lad

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

The Route 1 bus goes from Dublin-Belfast at 2-hour intervals throughout the night, stopping in Dundalk. I'm sure you know this though!

Route 1 is pick up only in Drogheda and Dundalk and the airport for all services from Dublin including the 1am and 3am coaches. But if you paid the fare to Newry you could claim to be sick in Dundalk or Drogheda and leave the bus.

superLeetive

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Mid week Nitelinks ran until a few years ago; it was dropped due to it having very low passenger numbers.

Yeah but that was 'cause they had a couple every night on each route - if they just had one on each route - say at half 2 or 3 on even on the most popular routes then they might be full enough.

Or even if they combined some of the routes of the weekend nitelinks for week nights so say have one heading west bound taking in Inchicore, Ballyfermot, Palmerstown, Clondalkin, Lucan, Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth then another heading out the Blanch direction taking in Cabra, Clonsilla, Castleknock etc. then maybe three others - Bray, Tallaght and Malahide taking in places on the way... one stop in each town and no traffic on the roads at that hour so wouldn't be too long a journey - that might work out more economic that having one a night on each route - probably not economic having a driver work for one journey.

SandyfordGuy

You could get an Aircoach from the point depot to the Airport and another one back out to Bray, would cost you 19 euro though, but still would be cheaper than a taxi I guess.

Both the Dalkey routes and Greystones route serve Point Depot to Dublin Airport.

reggaeman

lazlo wrote: »

Is it possible to get an aircoach from town to bray from somewhere like the point depot? There are no nitelinks on a sunday and I'm not keen on paying a cab the 40 odd euro it would cost.

Would the aircoach pick me up or have they got hard and fast set down only rules for passengers not bound for/coming from the actual airport?

If you walk up to Bus Eireann station you could get the 03.30 to Kilmac, and if you talked nice to the driver he might let you off at the the top of the Dargle Rd.

Losty Dublin

superLeetive wrote: »

Yeah but that was 'cause they had a couple every night on each route - if they just had one on each route - say at half 2 or 3 on even on the most popular routes then they might be full enough.

Or even if they combined some of the routes of the weekend nitelinks for week nights so say have one heading west bound taking in Inchicore, Ballyfermot, Palmerstown, Clondalkin, Lucan, Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth then another heading out the Blanch direction taking in Cabra, Clonsilla, Castleknock etc. then maybe three others - Bray, Tallaght and Malahide taking in places on the way... one stop in each town and no traffic on the roads at that hour so wouldn't be too long a journey - that might work out more economic that having one a night on each route - probably not economic having a driver work for one journey.

No, it was because they just didn't do all that well over the last few years less people go out mid week. The simple end of it is that until the pubs and clubs get punters drinking late in the mid week then night buses won't pay their way in Dublin again; staff who work in late venues are also losing work as a result of the slow trade.

Combining routes mid week would probably confuse people (as well as taking forever if you like way out of town) while running one service a night would be almost as expensive as two or three services a night.

dowlingm

lxflyer wrote: »

Aircoach can only pick up at the airport southbound - nowhere else is permitted.

Varadkar should get on that - pickups allowed say 0100-0500 where no parallel Nitelink running?

loyatemu

dowlingm wrote: »

Varadkar should get on that - pickups allowed say 0100-0500 where no parallel Nitelink running?

yeah, its crazy that there's a bus that can take you where you want to go, there's no alternative service, but its not allowed to pick you up!

Tickityboo

dowlingm wrote: »

Varadkar should get on that - pickups allowed say 0100-0500 where no parallel Nitelink running?

I think Dublin Bus would have something to say about that
Considering that they were refused the 24 hr 746!!

dowlingm

746 was refused under DoT regime. Maybe they should try again now it's NTA. But either way it seems crazy to limit pickup options by bus operators to zero when buses are running the route.

LXFlyer

dowlingm wrote: »

Varadkar should get on that - pickups allowed say 0100-0500 where no parallel Nitelink running?

I very much doubt that Aircoach would want their premium coach service diminished by allowing it to become a route home for late night revellers?

dowlingm

lxflyer wrote: »

I very much doubt that Aircoach would want their premium coach service diminished by allowing it to become a route home for late night revellers?

Fair point, especially if the pickup point became oversubscribed and thus prone to aggro, but my point is it should be up to Aircoach whether they choose to offer it or not if no other bus operator is on the route and the DART is shut. That said, I'm looking at the Aircoach site and I can't see where it says there's no pickup en route on the DUB-Greystones timetable.

LXFlyer

dowlingm wrote: »

Fair point, especially if the pickup point became oversubscribed and thus prone to aggro, but my point is it should be up to Aircoach whether they choose to offer it or not if no other bus operator is on the route and the DART is shut. That said, I'm looking at the Aircoach site and I can't see where it says there's no pickup en route on the DUB-Greystones timetable.

I think that they have already decided that by not applying for such a licence.

Whether or not the website says it, their licence is only for passengers travelling to/from the Airport. Try booking a ticket online from the Point - the only destination allowed is the airport.

King Road Warrior

reggaeman wrote: »

If you walk up to Bus Eireann station you could get the 03.30 to Kilmac, and if you talked nice to the driver he might let you off at the the top of the Dargle Rd.

Now now as a Bus Eireann driver u should well know that there's not ment to be any stopping at unofficial stops unless it's a stage coach service. And your putting the driver in an awkward posion by asking. Lol

BenShermin

Losty Dublin wrote: »

No, it was because they just didn't do all that well over the last few years less people go out mid week. The simple end of it is that until the pubs and clubs get punters drinking late in the mid week then night buses won't pay their way in Dublin again; staff who work in late venues are also losing work as a result of the slow trade.

I don't buy this at all. There isn't less people out drinking midweek, there is just too many taxis, that's why Dublin Bus lost the night bus business.

Midweek is host to many student nights and cheap drinks promotions, boozers hosting such deals are packed midweek nights.

Let's not forget the "normal" pubs which serve last orders at 2330 and close their doors at 0000hrs. People leaving these pubs also have no bus home. For a European capital it's a disgrace that there isn't at least a normal bus service between 5am and 1am.

dowlingm

BenShermin wrote: »

I don't buy this at all. There isn't less people out drinking midweek, there is just too many taxis, that's why Dublin Bus lost the night bus business.

The 5 euro fare probably isn't helping either. Night services here in Toronto cost exactly the same as the fare the rest of the day (around 2.20Euro cash fare), day/week/month passes valid on services etc.