Busses to Barna/Spiddal and other nice places!

squonk

Hi!

I know this is kind of covered elsewhere but not sure how up to date some of the info is. I am wondering if there are any buses one can get to Barna or Spiddal in the evening, after 6PM and get back into Galway city again later in the evening, around 9 or 10?

I know there's a Galway city bus that goes out to Barna after 6 but that's it's last trip that day and there's no bus back. It'd be nice to visit Spiddal too if the evening was nice but I don't see a handy way of doing that via public transport. Am I wrong?

Thanks!

Sponge Bob

Last one in is before 6, there used to be a later one ....possibly even 11pm at one point.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055387368

Timetable now

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1277300272-424.pdf

Malice

squonk wrote: »

I don't see a handy way of doing that via public transport. Am I wrong?

No, you're not wrong. The bus service is frustratingly inadequate.

Supply and Demand..... they're hardly keeping it off in spite.

Interestingly looking at the timetable, it takes an hour and half to get to Carraroe.
It's nearly quicker going to Dublin.

Wonder how long that would take with proper roads?... 30mins?

snubbleste

It would take you the same amount of time if you stopped to pick up/drop off passengers every couple of kilometres due to the exemplary ribbon development along the route.

Diabhal Beag

Buses to the Barna direction are atrociously rare

snubbleste

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Buses to the Barna direction are atrociously rare

I see them every day..can't be that rare :cool:

Sponge Bob

I would go to the Aran Island ferry buses and see if one of them will give you a lift out and back..they run a lot later than Bus Eireann. Get the drivers number and ring them when you are coming back in. The bus is only €7 return!


http://www.aranislandferries.com/times_mor.php

Mrs OBumble

snubbleste wrote: »

I see them every day..can't be that rare :cool:

Must be medium then, 'cos they sure as hell ain't well done


Seriously though, OP, if you're looking for anywhere coastal, forget the bus service in the evenings. The only real "night bus" services Athnery (and I think Oranmore along the way) from Thurs - Sat. (Yahhhh for Farrells.)

But if there's 3 or 4 of your, consider the taxi option: it may be affordable to get the last commuter bus out, and a taxi or hackney back in. Will take more research on your part, but could work well.


... Ironically, Mr justMary and I faced a similar issue last Sunday: we wanted to go somewhere nice to stroll and enjoy the sun, but weren't able to leave town before 1:30pm. On a Sunday timetable, I couldn't find anywhere regional to go and get back from. We ended up in Roscam woods which was ok, but not quite what I'd hoped for.

Diabhal Beag

snubbleste wrote: »

I see them every day..can't be that rare :cool:

From 8am till 5pm there are very few buses into town. Compare that to Knocknacarra that practically has buses on the half-hour.

jwcurtin

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

From 8am till 5pm there are very few buses into town. Compare that to Knocknacarra that practically has buses on the half-hour.

It may say that on the timetable, but it feels like every hour in reality....

snubbleste

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

From 8am till 5pm there are very few buses into town. Compare that to Knocknacarra that practically has buses on the half-hour.

Probably cos Bearna ain't in the city and Knocknacarra is :cool:
I'm sure if there were a high demand for public transport, the market would adjust to provide for it. But guess what, the demand is not there to justify it.

pleasant Co.

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Supply and Demand..... they're hardly keeping it off in spite.

Interestingly looking at the timetable, it takes an hour and half to get to Carraroe.
It's nearly quicker going to Dublin.

Wonder how long that would take with proper roads?... 30mins?

An hour and a half?

The road to carraroe is fine, but as it's not an express route the bus stops every few minutes to let people off - which is what slows down travel time. If it was an express route there would only be demand for one bus a day as the current galway-carraroe route covers a vast region (collecting/dropping off from all over), limiting pickups/drop off's to carraroe and galway would kill demand for the service - carraroe itself is a pretty small place.

Mrs OBumble

snubbleste wrote: »

Probably cos Bearna ain't in the city and Knocknacarra is :cool:
I'm sure if there were a high demand for public transport, the market would adjust to provide for it. But guess what, the demand is not there to justify it.

To hell with the city/county debate. Parkmore East and 1/2 of Parkmore West business parks aren't in the city either, but BE have no qualms about taking their city service out there.

Knocknacarra is huge. I reckon that if they had bus leaving there ever 10 or 15 minutes, with one per hour running all the way out to Barna, then it would be as successful as route 9.

The current 1/2 arsed timetable is just enough to claim there's a service, but infrequent enough to make it seem very unreliable.

squonk

Thanks! I was thinking about the last bus and taxi home option the other day but I had to give that up for a bad job as well. The red city bus timetable said there was a bus from town at 18:15 which sounded good. I queued at the stop, waited til 18:15, no bus. 18:30, still no bus! At that point I figured I might be at the wrong stop and gave it up and went to Salthill instead. It turns out that that 18:15 bus is a bit of a phantom bus because I work with a guy who lives in Barna and he's said that the bus rarely ever shows up. Not good!

I must try the ferry buses. I'd pay the 7 euro to get to Barna. It's such a pity. Barna is lovely and, even better, Barna woods are a fantastic place. I'm amazed that for a city with such a thriving tourist industry that you can't do simple things like get to nearby towns/sights of interest without a huge amount of hassle, even in the Summer! I'd totally understand if there was only a bus service in the evenings for June/July & August. It'd make sense.

Sponge Bob

Why not set up a car pooling thread, millions of boardsies travel that road with space in their cars every day. Let someone simply post the times they are travelling anyway and let people PM them for the lift.

Very Web 2.0 non ??

bonzodog2

squonk wrote: »

Thanks! I was thinking about the last bus and taxi home option the other day but I had to give that up for a bad job as well. The red city bus timetable said there was a bus from town at 18:15 which sounded good. I queued at the stop, waited til 18:15, no bus. 18:30, still no bus! At that point I figured I might be at the wrong stop and gave it up and went to Salthill instead. It turns out that that 18:15 bus is a bit of a phantom bus because I work with a guy who lives in Barna and he's said that the bus rarely ever shows up. Not good!

I must try the ferry buses. I'd pay the 7 euro to get to Barna. It's such a pity. Barna is lovely and, even better, Barna woods are a fantastic place. I'm amazed that for a city with such a thriving tourist industry that you can't do simple things like get to nearby towns/sights of interest without a huge amount of hassle, even in the Summer! I'd totally understand if there was only a bus service in the evenings for June/July & August. It'd make sense.

Get the bus to Cappagh Road, and Barna Woods is an easy walk through Cappagh Park (correct name ?), which is nice too in a different way.

[edit] On a nice day, Barna itself is not too much of a stroll from the Woods, but maybe not great for a walk back late-ish at night.

Sponge Bob

Car Pooling started ( see below) , much easier than looking for ghost Buses

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056246219

moonflower

squonk wrote: »

I must try the ferry buses. I'd pay the 7 euro to get to Barna. It's such a pity. Barna is lovely and, even better, Barna woods are a fantastic place. I'm amazed that for a city with such a thriving tourist industry that you can't do simple things like get to nearby towns/sights of interest without a huge amount of hassle, even in the Summer! I'd totally understand if there was only a bus service in the evenings for June/July & August. It'd make sense.

Barna Woods is only a 10 minute walk from the Seacrest Bus Eireann stop, which is more reliable than the red bus and gets you into town more quickly. Or you could always walk? I walk from town to the woods and back quite often and it doesn't take that long, usually less time than you'd spend waiting for the bus tbh.

biko

An older car pool thread meant for occasional trips over to Dublin, Belfast, whatnot.