109N Dublin - Dunshaughlin - Navan Withdrawn

devnull

Bus Eireann have confirmed that this route has now been cancelled:
http://buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2305&month=May

We regret to inform customers that Route 109N which operated on Friday & Saturday nights only will no longer operate.

An alternative service is available on Route 109A which operates hourly throughout the night, 7 days per week, 364 days per year.

This service departs from Gate 16 at Busáras and operates to Kells via Dublin Airport, Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin and Navan.

The 109A Timetable can be found here:
http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1473263565-109A.pdf

n97 mini

Mindboggling how the only 24 hour PSO route in the country had a Nightrider service aswell. How did the 109N last this long.

Jamie2k9

n97 mini wrote: »

Mindboggling how the only 24 hour PSO route in the country had a Nightrider service aswell. How did the 109N last this long.

Could ask the same about BE in general :rolleyes:

Just more "waste"....

horseburger

n97 mini wrote: »

Mindboggling how the only 24 hour PSO route in the country had a Nightrider service aswell. How did the 109N last this long.

The 109A started operating 24 hours to and from Dubin and Kells from 31st July 2016.

The 109N started operating at the end of November 2003. It ran on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from November 2003 at 12.30am and 3.30am from Dublin, and returning at 1.45am and 4.45am from Navan back to Dublin.

Shortly after it commenced, Bus Éireann discontinued the 109N service on Thursday nights. In the years that followed, it was only at the Christmas and New Year period, that 109N services would operate at other nights of the week, other than Friday and Saturday nights.

At that time, the last 109 service from Dublin, going to Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells, was at 11pm.

It wasn't until October 2011, that the last 109 service from Dublin was changed to 11.30pm.

The number 30 Donegal Town service started operating at midnight from Bus Áras in June 2008, which also serves Navan and Kells.

Until the 109A started operating 24 hours to and from Kells and Dublin from 31st July 2016, the last service available, from Dublin, going to Navan and Kells, from Mondays to Thursdays, and on Sundays, was the 12am number 30 service to Donegal Town, which runs every night, from the Store Street side of Bus Áras.

Until the 109A started operating 24 hours from 31st July 2016, starting from Bus Áras during the night, the last service from Dublin to Dunshaughlin, Monday to Saturday, was the 109 at 11.30pm. The last 109 on Sunday nights is at 11pm from Bus Áras .

It wasn't the case that the 109A and the 109N ran alongside each other for years, covering Dublin City Centre at night, from Dublin to Navan.

I found, that since the 109A started operating 24 hours, that the services which leave from Bus Áras at 25 past the hour during the night, don't take that much longer to get to Navan, compared to the 109N, even though these hourly 109A services, also cover the airport and Ashbourne.

I guess, because the 109N only accepted single fare payments, it took longer for passengers to board the bus, when it picked up at Bus Áras and then at the Penny's/Easons, stop on O'Connell Street.

I found that it would often be 12.40am by the time the 109N would stop at its O'Connell Street stop to pick up passengers, after starting from Bus Áras at 12.30am. It would be around 1.40am when it dropped off in Navan, after covering Ratoath and Dunshaughlin.

The 12.25am 109A that leaves from the Store Street side of Bus Áras, will often be in Navan around 1.35am - 1.40am and then Kells around 1.55am. I find that the 109A doesn't take that much longer to get back to Navan, when it leaves from Bus Áras, during the night - compared to the length of time it took the 109N to get from Bus Áras to Navan - even though the 109A also covers Ashbourne and Dublin Airport.

gazzer

Be great if they extended the night service to Cavan.

tara83

I'd agree wasn't much difference in the journey time. Only draw back was O Connell St always felt slightly safer waiting then Busaras. Have to get a taxi down to Busaras

n97 mini

gazzer wrote: »

Be great if they extended the night service to Cavan.

Be great if they provided a night service in Dublin.

horseburger

gazzer wrote: »

Be great if they extended the night service to Cavan.

Do you mean extending the 109A, that currently starts and ends in Kells, to start and end in Cavan?

If that was to happen, I guess the 109A would be a service that would run every two hours - rather than every hour, as it is at the moment, to and from Dublin City Centre (at night), Dublin Airport and Kells - unless there was an increase in the number of buses used, to operate such a service hourly?

If the 109A was altered, to start and end in Cavan, would passengers going to and from Cavan and Virginia be happy about the 109A also serving Navan, Kells, Dunshaughlin, Ratoath and Ashbourne, or would Cavan and Virginia passengers prefer a nightly service to and from Dublin Airport, and Dublin City Centre, that didn't stop anywhere in between Virginia and Dublin Airport?

I ask this, with regard to the fact that, in the 109 thread over the years, passengers going to and from Dublin, Cavan and Virginia, have expressed unhappiness about the 109 from Cavan serving Kells, Navan, Dunshaughlin and Blanchardstown. Passengers at Kells going to Dublin, have expressed dissatisfaction about the 109 serving Navan and Dunshaughlin. Passengers at Navan going to Dublin have complained about the 109 serving Dunshaughlin, Clonee and Blanchardstown.:)

Do you think another option might be, to have services between Cavan, Virginia and Kells during the night, connecting with the hourly 109A that starts in Kells?

What sort of service would you like to see operating?

The fact that there is the service to Cavan every night on the number 30 midnight service from Bus Áras to Donegal, that also covers Dublin Airport, is still very good.

Also, the 1am number 30 bus from Donegal to Dublin is scheduled to pick up in Cavan at 2.55am.

http://buseireann.ie/timetables/1469801409-30.pdf
http://buseireann.ie/timetables/1473263565-109A.pdf

gazzer

horseburger wrote: »

The fact that there is the service to Cavan every night on the number 30 midnight service from Bus Áras to Donegal, that also covers Dublin Airport, is still very good.

http://buseireann.ie/timetables/1469801409-30.pdf
http://buseireann.ie/timetables/1473263565-109A.pdf

The only problem with the 30 service at midnight is that it lets Donegal passengers on first and depending on how many people are getting on the bus you are not guaranteed a seat to Virginia or Cavan. So in that case the last bus on a Friday and Saturday night is at 10.30 pm. Even if there was say a 1 or 2 am service to Cavan at weekends it would be very very handy.

horseburger

gazzer wrote: »

The only problem with the 30 service at midnight is that it lets Donegal passengers on first and depending on how many people are getting on the bus you are not guaranteed a seat to Virginia or Cavan. So in that case the last bus on a Friday and Saturday night is at 10.30 pm. Even if there was say a 1 or 2 am service to Cavan at weekends it would be very very handy.

Indeed, you are correct that in times when the buss is filling that there may not be space, for people not going as far as Donegal.

The time that both Fleetwood Mac and The Script played Dublin in 2015, the bus filled with people going to Cavan and beyond. On that night, I got the 12.30am 109N instead, because the 30 bus at midnight had filled to capacity with people going further than Navan and Kells.

But instances of it filling, and there not being any seats available for passengers for Navan, Kells, Virginia or Cavan, are very rare.

I can think of two occasions when the bus filled to capacity. It was when The Script played the Aviva Stadium, on 2nd July 2011, and then The Script gig in Croke Park, on 20th June 2015, the same night that Fleetwood Mac played Dublin in The 3 Arena.

There were people who were at each of the gigs, looking to get the midnight 30 bus to Donegal, and as far as I know, an extra bus was not made available. There were people left behind in the case of the 2015 example. I'm not sure if there were people left behind, who were hoping to get the number 30 midnight Donegal bus to Virginia and Cavan and beyond, in the case of the 2011 example.

Since that occasion in 2015, I noticed that often, an extra bus was made available at Bus Áras, on nights when big outdoor concerts were held in Dublin.

It may well have filled to capacity with people left behind, on other occasions, but I don't think it happens too often.

Generally, each night, there are enough seats available to accommodate passengers waiting at Bus Áras and the airport, for all the stops, between Dublin and Donegal.