Waterford to Galway

Gael23

Im considering the possibility if taking a Job in Galway but the distance is putting me off.
I kniw I won't make it home every weekend but there doesn't seem to be any easy way of getting down on a Friday and back on Sunday via public transport. Anyone got any advice?

foggy_lad

JJ Kavanaghs have a college service between Waterford-Limerick-Galway but it may not suit as it leaves Galway at 4pm on Fridays and is only operative during college terms.

http://jjkavanagh.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Route-Waterford-Galway.pdf

Otherwise there is the 55 bus Éireann service to Limerick and the 51/51X or the train to Galway

LXFlyer

Go onto www.a-b.ie and use the National Journey Planner.

yer man!

I drive down to Waterford on Monday morning and return on Friday evening every week from Galway. Never tried public transport but I saw that it takes like 5 hours on bus eireann and costs a fortune so no way. Driving it really does get to you after a while. I've been doing it for 1.5 years now and I can't do it anymore. Do you think you'd really be going back every weekend tho? I mean there's far far more going on in Galway at the weekend compared to Waterford.

bennyineire

lxflyer wrote: »

Go onto www.a-b.ie and use the National Journey Planner.

Eh forget about the National Journey Planner for that kinda route (From a ex NTA contractor).
Seriously though its a treck on public transport, CIE do a bus twice daily from Waterford to Athlone (Via Tullamore) and then you can connect to Galway.
Looking at about 5 hours I'd say.
You would drive in about 3 to 3-1/2.
I work with a guy from Waterford City and he lives Athlone, he reckons it takes 2 1/2 hours to drive it on Friday purely down to traffic

Gael23

Im not allowed drive because of a medical condition so thats unlikely to ever be an option. Getting down every weekend would be impossible too but I would like to see my family every so often. I did look at the JJ Kavangh bus but leaving at 4 on a Friday is a bit early, although there doesn't seem to be many better options.
What about going through Dublin?

LXFlyer

bennyineire wrote: »

Eh forget about the National Journey Planner for that kinda route (From a ex NTA contractor).
Seriously though its a treck on public transport, CIE do a bus twice daily from Waterford to Athlone (Via Tullamore) and then you can connect to Galway.
Looking at about 5 hours I'd say.
You would drive in about 3 to 3-1/2.
I work with a guy from Waterford City and he lives Athlone, he reckons it takes 2 1/2 hours to drive it on Friday purely down to traffic

Perhaps you can outline why anyone should ignore the National Journey Planner?

I've found it fairly accurate, and I'm one of those small number of people who has a particular interest in timetables and scheduling.

Gael23

lxflyer wrote: »

Perhaps you can outline why anyone should ignore the National Journey Planner?

I've found it fairly accurate, and I'm one of those small number of people who has a particular interest in timetables and scheduling.

Agree with this but then some of the connections it suggests are not realistic.
For instance going to Galway it gives you 5 minutes to connect in Limerick and 8 minutes if you go through Dublin. Thats very unlikely to happen in reality .

n97 mini

I find the journey planner in Google to be slightly better for me. It's a lot more userfriendly and doesn't do a slow refresh every time you change a field.

Also a large number of the autocompletes in the journey planner are still barmy. E.g. typing in "Dublin" gives you Dublin Road (Kilkenny) as first on the list. I can't imagine there's any good reason for that.

LXFlyer

Gael23 wrote: »

Agree with this but then some of the connections it suggests are not realistic.
For instance going to Galway it gives you 5 minutes to connect in Limerick and 8 minutes if you go through Dublin. Thats very unlikely to happen in reality .

That's a fair point.

But it will give you an idea of the services available which you can then check timetables for from individual operator websites.

Bus Eireann will allow you to travel either via Dublin (20/X20 and 4), or via Limerick (51/X51 and 55), or via Athlone (20/X20 and 71).

Timetables are here:
http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=242

Irish Rail timetables are here:
http://www.irishrail.ie/timetables/timetable-pdfs

(Although check as there are extensive engineering works on certain weekends)

These are the only other operators to offer a through ticket, apart from the JJ Kavanagh student service.

Other operators on Dublin/Galway are Citylink and Gobus, Galway/Limerick there is Citylink and on Dublin/Waterford there is Dublin Coach.

You can check their timetables on their respective websites.
Otherwise you will have to pay twice.

LXFlyer

n97 mini wrote: »

I find the journey planner in Google to be slightly better for me. It's a lot more userfriendly and doesn't do a slow refresh every time you change a field.

Also a large number of the autocompletes in the journey planner are still barmy. E.g. typing in "Dublin" gives you Dublin Road (Kilkenny) as first on the list. I can't imagine there's any good reason for that.

It's like any journey planner - it's looking for anything in the database with that particular word in the location or stop name.


That is pretty universal.

n97 mini

The order can be changed, and should do so automatically based on popularity.

yer man!

I did look into getting the train before too, it changes in Kildare and takes maybe 3.5 hours in total which isn't too bad. There's only like 1 or 2 trains capable of making the connection but it is another option at least,

L1011

lxflyer wrote: »

It's like any journey planner - it's looking for anything in the database with that particular word in the location or stop name.


That is pretty universal.

There is no text sort order in the world that works this way. It's clearly sorting on another field already

Lenton Lane

n97 mini wrote: »

The order can be changed, and should do so automatically based on popularity.

Why popularity? Why not journey time?

n97 mini

Lenton Lane wrote: »

Why popularity? Why not journey time?

So that the most frequently searched for destinations appear at the top?

Lenton Lane

n97 mini wrote: »

So that the most frequently searched for destinations appear at the top?

that makes sense.

LXFlyer

n97 mini wrote: »

The order can be changed, and should do so automatically based on popularity.

Apologies - I hadn't seen that you were commenting on the order in which they appeared, as opposed to the list.