Bus Eireann Travel Pass

eman66

Is there any way to book a seat on Bus Eireann if I am a free travel pass user? Want to travel next week with two family members. Can buy tickets online for them OK but can't do so for myself. There are only five seats left so looks like it will be sold out by time of travel.

eman66

The online booking is a bit of a joke. Said there was three seats left for the date/time I needed so just booked and paid for the seats quickly (disregarding my travel pass) as I couldn't afford to miss out. Went back in for another look and mysteriously there is now 15 seats left for the same journey. Also, was on the phone to them and was told there was no way to reserve a seat even if bought and paid for online. It is always first come first served. However, the online booking form says "Seat guaranteed on the specific service". Good stuff, Bus Eireann.

Mrs OBumble

Just because you have a pass doesn't mean that you have to use it.

To guarantee that you get a seat, pay for one.

Harsh, but true.

eman66

I am my autistic son's full-time carer. The government has a few (not nearly enough) allowances for children with autism that go a little way to helping them live as normal a life as possible. One of these is a travel pass for their carer.

My initial query was how to go about best using the pass. My separate problem then was as outlined in my second post, the conflicting information provided by Bus Eireann. The website says seats are quaranteed, customer service on the phone says seats are not guaranteed, paid for or not. Then the stated availability of seats is inaccurate.

Anyway, you'll be happy to know that I paid for my seat. My son's care comes first.

foggy_lad

eman66 wrote: »

Is there any way to book a seat on Bus Eireann if I am a free travel pass user? Want to travel next week with two family members. Can buy tickets online for them OK but can't do so for myself. There are only five seats left so looks like it will be sold out by time of travel.

There is no way to book seats except on the route x1 service to and from Belfast and route 30 to and from Donegal and even then only a small number of seats on the bus are bookable so maybe 10 seats on each bus will be available to book.

eman66 wrote: »

The online booking is a bit of a joke. Said there was three seats left for the date/time I needed so just booked and paid for the seats quickly (disregarding my travel pass) as I couldn't afford to miss out. Went back in for another look and mysteriously there is now 15 seats left for the same journey. Also, was on the phone to them and was told there was no way to reserve a seat even if bought and paid for online. It is always first come first served. However, the online booking form says "Seat guaranteed on the specific service". Good stuff, Bus Eireann.

You should try and get your money back for your ticket as you have free travel.

If you are boarding the bus at Busaras there should be no issue getting a seat for yourself or anyone with you.

I am assuming you are travelling between Dublin and Belfast or Dublin and Donegal as these are the only service where you can book seats. there are only a small number of bookable seats on each bus.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Just because you have a pass doesn't mean that you have to use it.

To guarantee that you get a seat, pay for one.

Harsh, but true.

Bus Eireann do not Guarantee seats on any service! not even on the new bookable route x1 and route 30 services.

Mrs OBumble

I think that people are mixing up the concept of reserving specific seats (eg 3A and 3B), vis booking a seat (any seat) on the bus.

AFAIK, the latter is what BE offer, the latter former is not possible (and neither should it be).

foggy_lad

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I think that people are mixing up the concept of reserving specific seats (eg 3A and 3B), vis booking a seat (any seat) on the bus.

AFAIK, the latter is what BE offer, the latter former is not possible (and neither should it be).

I understand what you mean but take the Belfast bus as an example, say that 60 passengers book from the airport and 25 book from Busaras and there are another 50 passengers between the two stops who have not booked, are these to be left behind once the bus fills up or will an extra bus be used?

It should also be noted that it is very hard to change your booking to travel on a later bus as although it is advertised as possible to change it up to one hour before departure you can only change the booking to the next bus with available seating which might not always be the next bus and can mean waiting several hours.

For flexibility it is better to travel as a walk up passenger.

eman66

According to Bus Eireann customer service when I rang you buy your ticket (online or otherwise), queue up at the pick up point and get a seat on a first come first served basis. If all seats are taken before your turn you can take the next bus.

The web site says different. Seats with the dark icon are quaranteed, seats with the lighter icon are not.

GM228

eman66 wrote: »

According to Bus Eireann customer service when I rang you buy your ticket (online or otherwise), queue up at the pick up point and get a seat on a first come first served basis. If all seats are taken before your turn you can take the next bus.

The web site says different. Seats with the dark icon are quaranteed, seats with the lighter icon are not.

Customer service is correct in general, however the seat reservation system is currently a trial for routes X1, 30 and 32 (route 32 is shown in your screenshot).

To get the seat you must be there at least 10 minutes before scheduled departure and use the priority boarding service which allows you to skip those already queuing.

If you arn't there 10 minutes before scheduled departure then you miss the priority boarding and have to queue like everyone else thus missing out on your guaranteed seat as it's then first come first served.

XPS_Zero

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Just because you have a pass doesn't mean that you have to use it.

To guarantee that you get a seat, pay for one.

Harsh, but true.

What the hell kind of attitude is that?
Yes, because you have a pass DOES mean you have to use it, and since, like GP visits on a medical card, it's already been paid for by a block grant (funded by taxes you paid before you got sick/old) it would be v stupid waste not to use it.

Someone on 188/233 a week with all the normal expenses but without the average wage to cover them by the v nature of the situation has an extremely tight budget (one of the v reasons they have the pass to begin with) and an intercity journey even on the cheaper end of 20/30 is a big chunk out of 188 or 233 compared to the 500/600 they'd been making (average industrial wage) before.

In addition to that, I suggest you read again what the poster said, they did NOT say "how can I reserve a seat for free" in fact they specifically alluded to paying they were simply saying the system does not allow them to. For example the Irish Rail system lets you reserve "seat only" for a €10 fee if you have a pass. So nobody's asking for special extras, before you grind that axe in future give the argument you're leaping on a bit more thought.