New Galway to Ballina Route from GoBus

devnull

€5 single fare with services commencing on 1st April 2019 to rival the service that is provided by Bus Eireann Expressway (52)

https://www.gobus.ie/Ballina

On our 10th year in business, GoBus.ie are delighted to announce that we are expanding our services and launching our first ever Regional Connect Route between Ballina, Co Mayo and Galway City.

Our inaugural service commences on 1st April 2019, with a total of 5 services daily, Monday to Sunday. The route will be serviced by our award winning Volvo 9700 coaches, complete with free WiFi and power sockets for passenger’s comfort and convenience.

There will be an introductory offer of just €5 per single fare payable directly to the coach driver. The journey will connect with Castlebar, its General Hospital, GMIT Campus, along with Claremorris and Tuam before arriving in Galway City, via the GMIT, City Centre and NUI Galway.

This new service provides ideal transfers for those attending college, university, hospital appointments in both Mayo and Galway or wishing to travel to Dublin or Internationally by connecting with any of GoBus.ie’s 20 daily departures to Dublin City and Dublin Airport, from Galway’s new Coach Station off Eyre Square.

Creating 10 new jobs in the West, our new venture will bring the same ethos of delivering a punctual service which is focused on giving comfort, efficiency and value for money.

Dreadful layout for the timetable mind, not sure what they were thinking:
https://www.gobus.ie/uplds/19043-dl-flyer-final-for-print.pdf

L1011

What demand is there for this? Professional operator so clearly they have done the groundwork but I just can't see anything beyond weekend back/forth traffic

Mrs OBumble

Interesting that they've launched this as a GoBus rather than a Burkes service. It feels far more like an extension of the Burkes routes, but with the far nicer GoBus vehicles. The times appear to fit nicely in the gaps between existing Burkes times

Also that they've got a stop at the former airport at Carnmore. I wonder what's going on there.

theguzman

Are GoBus private or are they a subsidary of Bus Eireann. I used them a few times to go to Dublin Airport from Cork.

end of the road

theguzman wrote: »

Are GoBus private or are they a subsidary of Bus Eireann. I used them a few times to go to Dublin Airport from Cork.

they are a private operator, however they operate on a joint licence with bus eireann on the cork route under the name gobe. as i understand it, they provide the coaches and bus eireann provide the branding and use of their stops.

bk

end of the road wrote: »

they are a private operator, however they operate on a joint licence with bus eireann on the cork route under the name gobe. as i understand it, they provide the coaches and bus eireann provide the branding and use of their stops.

GoBE doesn't use the BE stations any more. Same location as Aircoach and the other privates in Cork now and Burgh Quay in Dublin from the same stop as the GoBus Galway service. Also I believe the license belongs to GoBus, not BE.

BE removed all mention of the GoBE branding from their website and no longer sell GoBE tickets from their ticket machines.

BE is still mentioned on the GoBE website and coaches, but otherwise the relationship seems to have soured and seems non existent on the ground.

Having said that, things seem to be going from strength to strength since they moved out of the BE stations! From what I can tell, passenger numbers are up and they seem to be busier then ever.

BTW in Cork, they have now opened a small waiting room/ticket office across from their stop shared with Cobh Connect.

devnull

end of the road wrote: »

they are a private operator, however they operate on a joint licence with bus eireann on the cork route under the name gobe. as i understand it, they provide the coaches and bus eireann provide the branding and use of their stops.

It's not a joint license, the license belongs fully to GoBus, the only input from Bus Eireann these days seems to be marketing support and little else. BE still advertise GoBe.

However they're eating in to Aircoach's lead on the route, due to very poor commercial acumen being practiced by Aircoach in the last 6 months or so since the change of leadership at that company.

When GoBe first launched Aircoach had an excellent response to it and effectively drove GoBus into a position where they destroyed their own yields. Instead of practicing the same this time, Aircoach have just stood by and let themselves be undercut with no response.

The fact that GoBus are going up directly against Bus Eireann on the Ballina route though is quite interesting.

bobbyss

I would question how far nicer gobus vehicles are in fact. There is little or no legroom and the 'headrest', such as it is, extends only to your neck. These deficiencies are glaring compared to the superior Citylink bus and is the reason a commuter would opt for the latter.

I often wonder is it possible to find out the specifications ( eg distance between seats, seat height etc) of both services because, as a regular customer, for comfort it is Citylink every time.

Jamie2k9

Wonder are they using GoBe brand with the intention of trying to get Ballina-Dublin Airport.

n97 mini

bk wrote: »

BE is still mentioned on the GoBE website and coaches, but otherwise the relationship seems to have soured and seems non existent on the ground.

The past goings-on with striking BE drivers in Cork put an end to the Burke/BE relationship.

extra gravy

bobbyss wrote: »

I would question how far nicer gobus vehicles are in fact. There is little or no legroom and the 'headrest', such as it is, extends only to your neck. These deficiencies are glaring compared to the superior Citylink bus and is the reason a commuter would opt for the latter.

I often wonder is it possible to find out the specifications ( eg distance between seats, seat height etc) of both services because, as a regular customer, for comfort it is Citylink every time.

I took a bus eireann bus from Ballina to Galway recently, it was like travelling in a tin can. Felt every bump on the way. In that regard, GoBus will be a huge improvement.

bk

bobbyss wrote: »

I would question how far nicer gobus vehicles are in fact. There is little or no legroom and the 'headrest', such as it is, extends only to your neck. These deficiencies are glaring compared to the superior Citylink bus and is the reason a commuter would opt for the latter.

I often wonder is it possible to find out the specifications ( eg distance between seats, seat height etc) of both services because, as a regular customer, for comfort it is Citylink every time.

It depends what you are comparing to. On the Galway route, Citylinks Vanhools are superb, hands down best coach in Ireland.

But on the Cork route, GoBus Volvo 9700's are competing with Aircoaches Plaxton Panther 3's, which are only ok, arguably the GoBus Volvos are better, certainly they have more consistent legroom and more comfortable seats, though the Plaxton has a better toilet.

I wouldn't say the Volvo's are uncomfortable, I find them perfectly fine for 3 hours to Cork.

The Citylink Vanhools are definitely a premium coach. The GoBus Volvos are more mid tier, not perfect, but arguably better then Aircoach and hands down better then any BE coach.

bk

devnull wrote: »

It's not a joint license, the license belongs fully to GoBus, the only input from Bus Eireann these days seems to be marketing support and little else. BE still advertise GoBe.

Ah, I see BE website now has a few pages for GoBE, that is new, the last time I looked all mention of GoBE had been scrupped from the site! Strange, maybe things have thawed a little between them. Though with competition with BE on the Ballina route, who knows!

bobbyss

bk wrote:

The Citylink Vanhools are definitely a premium coach. The GoBus Volvos are more mid tier, not perfect, but arguably better then Aircoach and hands down better then any BE coach.

How would you know what type of bus Citylink is? A Vanhool? Never heard of it.

I have taken BE to Limerick on I don't know what type of bus but it had old world feel to it. Incredibly tight seats. No room to swing a cat. Felt as if I needed to wash myself afterwards. On the longer coach trips it's very important (for me) to have a headrest and leg room both of which Gobus fail miserably. That's a pity as they are Irish owned. Citylink are Scottish/Malay (?) but still get my money.
I'm wondering about the capacity of coaches of both companies? Do Gobus squeeze the living daylights out of customers?

Yes, have heard about the 'waft' on other GoBus coach routes which may need to be factored in, if youre just bathed yourself are wearing fresh cloths.

bk

bobbyss wrote: »

How would you know what type of bus Citylink is? A Vanhool? Never heard of it.

I've used Citylink to Galway, so I've been on them a couple of times and I'm a bit geeky about these things. Also I see them in Cork too (Cork - Limerick - Galway route) and around Dublin. Always Vanhool and look great. In particular their overdeckers are very cool.

Vanhool are a Belgium company and would be regarded as one of the highest quality coach manufacturers in the market, certainly top three.

Of course Vanhool make a wide range of different coaches targeted at different markets and the operators can spec seats, interiors out differently, but Vanhools are generally very well built, high quality materials and tend to be one of the most expensive coaches you can buy. Citylink seem to have chosen a very good spec and seating layout for their coaches.

bobbyss wrote: »

I have taken BE to Limerick on I don't know what type of bus but it had old world feel to it. Incredibly tight seats. No room to swing a cat. Felt as if I needed to wash myself afterwards. On the longer coach trips it's very important (for me) to have a headrest and leg room both of which Gobus fail miserably. That's a pity as they are Irish owned. Citylink are Scottish/Malay (?) but still get my money.
I'm wondering about the capacity of coaches of both companies? Do Gobus squeeze the living daylights out of customers?

You seem to be mixing up BE and GoBus. They are completely different companies.

BE is a semistate bus and coach company. GoBus is a completely private coach company.

GoBus use completely different coaches and too a different spec then BE. GoBus coaches are all Volvo 9700's, whereas BE use a variety of VDL and Scania coaches.

All of GoBus coaches have toilets, whereas BE have only a few coaches with toilets. BE tends to spec their coaches with lots of seats, which means less legroom. GoBus coaches have less seats and more legroom, about the same as Citylink. For instance Be has between 55 to 63 seats in the same length of coach as GoBus and Citylink which I think are both 51 - 53 seats.

GoBus/GoBe Volvo 9700 coaches have lots of legroom and headrests, so I think you are mixing them up with some BE coaches, which again are a completely different company.

BTW It seems that GoBus are now going to move to Mercedes coaches, as the 9700 isn't made anymore. 51 seats. I haven't been on one yet, but reports are saying might even be nicer then Citylink Vanhools!

bobbyss

Absolutely not mixing up any bus.I have long experience of interiors of Citylink and Gobus! I mentioned BE because it reminded me of Gobus and lack of legroom. BE I found very dirty. Beside seeing Volvo on outside how would you know what type of bus you are boarding? Gobus have definitely less legroom than Citylink. Wonder why Gobus didn't purchase busses with headrests?

end of the road

bobbyss wrote: »

Beside seeing Volvo on outside how would you know what type of bus you are boarding?

various features, some of which can be very suttle, will allow someone who has an interest in busses to know what make and model the bus is.

bk

bobbyss wrote: »

Absolutely not mixing up any bus.I have long experience of interiors of Citylink and Gobus! I mentioned BE because it reminded me of Gobus and lack of legroom. BE I found very dirty. Beside seeing Volvo on outside how would you know what type of bus you are boarding? I was on a Gobus earlier today and I my knees were against the seat ahead.

Shrug, I don't know so. Not my experience at all. Do you perhaps sit at the back of the coach? They have more legroom at the front due to the theatre style seating.

The GoBus are Volvo 9700, 13m long with 53 seats.
The Citylink are Vanhool TX16 Alicron, 13m long with 53 seats.

So as you can see from the specs both are the same.

The Citylink also has overdeckers which Vanhool TX21 Altano, 14.5m long with 70 seats. Maybe that is what you've been on with them? Great coach, best in the country.

All the specs for Citylinks coaches here:
https://www.citylink.ie/about-us/our-fleet

Aircoach Plaxton Panther 3's are 12.6m long with 49 seats (for intercity coaches).

BE has lots of different coaches, but one example would be the SE class, 13.9M long with 55 to 63 seats!

As how to tell what coach you are boarding? It is no secret to those of us who are interested. Here is a Youtube video about GoBus 50th 9700 coach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmyRyJN81dU

And some more info about their fleet here:
https://www.gobus.ie/dp.php?c=about-gobus&t=gobus-ie-fleet&id=45

I agree completely with you that if I was taking the coach to Galway I'd take a Citylink over the GoBus. But you have to understand, you are spoiled in Galway with those choices, the Citylink Vanhools are the best coach in the country and Citylink is hands down the best operator. Plus you have a lovely private bus station in Galway. And GoBus is arguably the second best operator in the country.

However the rest of the county is vastly inferior to what you have in Galway. Less competition, poorer operators, no fancy bus station, you get picked up on the road next to the river in both Cork and Dublin. And much lower quality of coach in general. The rest of the country is a good 10 years behind Glaway, at least.

The GoBus 9700's coaches are far from perfect, but they are above average for the rest of the country outside of Galway.

And this thread is specifically about the Ballina route, GoBus 9700's would be a VAST improvement over the old coaches BE that currently operate on that route and that is all they need to beat BE on this new route.

I expect what is happening is that they are now getting the new Mercedes Tourismo to better compete with Citylink on the Galway route. The recently purchased 9700's will be moved to Cork, where they are good enough to compete with the Aircoach Panthers and the older 9,700's will go on this new route where they will be much better then the equivalent BE coaches. And maybe we will see some other similar routes from them. Hopefully we will also see the Mercs in Cork too eventually.

bobbyss

bk wrote:

I agree completely with you that if I was taking the coach to Galway I'd take a Citylink over the GoBus. But you have to understand, you are spoiled in Galway with those choices, the Citylink Vanhools are the best coach in the country and Citylink is hands down the best operator. Plus you have a lovely private bus station in Galway. And GoBus is arguably the second best operator in the country.

Thank you indeed. You're well versed in all this.
The promo video of Gobus did show the seats and clear to see no meaningful headrest. The coach station itself is fine but many drivers have complained about how tight access is. It would be interesting to know how many scratches are on the back left of all busses there what with all the tight reversing to exit bays. But it certainly is a light year improvement on the previous coach station situated beside the old homeless hostel, the coach station being al fresco.

But I agree. Galway is well served. I don't, for example, see many non-stop busses Dublin- Limerick, which is a comparable city sizewise. The motorway of course has opened up all of this.
Is there any sign of BE joining in and trying to win customers on a non-stop Galway-Dublin service?

bk

bobbyss wrote: »

Thank you indeed. You're well versed in all this.
The promo video of Gobus did show the seats and clear to see no meaningful headrest.

Here is the GoBus seats:


And here are the seats on the Citylink Vanhool overdecker:


Look much the same to me, though perhaps the Citylink ones are a tad higher.It has never been an issue for me to Cork, but obviously if you prefer Citylink, go for that. I'd love for Citylink to operate Cork to Dublin and when I do go to Galway, I love going on the Citylink overdeckers, the seat at the top front have a great view

bobbyss wrote: »

The coach station itself is fine but many drivers have complained about how tight access is. It would be interesting to know how many scratches are on the back left of all busses there what with all the tight reversing to exit bays. But it certainly is a light year improvement on the previous coach station situated beside the old homeless hostel, the coach station being al fresco.

Ah right, I've been talking from the perspective of passengers. Drivers and operators would be a different story.

Busaras is just mayhem with coaches everywhere and lots of anti-social issues. Cork is horrible from everyones perspective. Stops right next to the river, no shelters, passengers exposed to wind and rain from the river, Coaches having to double park, tour coaches parked up for hours and cars parking in the coach bays to drop people off and pick them up. Complete chaos and to add to it, they are building a new bridge right beside the location and just finished also refurbishing Paticks bridge.

Galway from the passengers perspective is brilliant, dry and modern. But I can certainly see it needs more coach space. I think there was some plan to expand it, but got caught up in some developer celtic tiger/nama recession stuff.

bobbyss wrote: »

But I agree. Galway is well served. I don't, for example, see many non-stop busses Dublin- Limerick, which is a comparable city sizewise. The motorway of course has opened up all of this.
Is there any sign of BE joining in and trying to win customers on a non-stop Galway-Dublin service?

Limerick is dominated by Dublin Coach who somehow run a non-stop every 30 minutes. J.J.Kavanagh operates a stopping service.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot about Eireagle (Citylink) which operates Limerick to Dublin Airport (not city).

The route suffers from the lack of competition with the DC monopoly, they operate very old coaches on the route and seem to have a bad record of maintenance.

BE were too late to the party. The NTA seemingly issues just two non stop route licenses and two stopping license on each route. The is how you have CityLink & GoBus to Galway and Aircoach & GoBus to Cork. So now BE can't get a license to do the same, they are stuck just operating stopping services.

The two exceptions are Belfast, since it is an international border, the NTA rules don't apply and anyone can start a service. That is how you have Aircoach, DC and BE/Ulsterbus all operating on that route.

The other exception as I said is Limerick, I don't know how DC managed to swing being the only operator and operating every 30 minutes. But their are a clear example of why monopolies are bad IMO.

Lots of mention on this thread about choosing one operator over the other, BE not even considered an option.

If the private operators are offering a vastly superior service and I assume have the greatest market share, where do Bus Eireann make their money on long distance routes?

From what I can see, inter city and even city to town (Ballina - Galway) have private operators.

On what type of long distance route, is Bus Eireann the preferred choice?

bk

salonfire wrote: »

Lots of mention on this thread about choosing one operator over the other, BE not even considered an option.

If the private operators are offering a vastly superior service and I assume have the greatest market share, where do Bus Eireann make their money on long distance routes?

Well BE are still by far the single largest operator in Ireland. They operate on many routes and to places that private operators don't cover. But yes, each year the privates are opening new routes that compete with BE and where they do, they tend to end up gaining most of the marketshare on those routes.

BE actually operates two different services:

- PSO, public service obligation, routes that are subsidised by the government. Private companies aren't allowed to compete with these routes, they can't get a license for them, which is pretty ridiculous IMO.

These are the majority of BE's routes and they have a monopoly on them. So face no competition.

- BE Expressway, operate routes on a completely commercial basis with no subsidy from government.

These are the routes where privates can potentially get a competing license for and where you see the competition. Expressway has been suffering a lot and for a while BE were talking about selling it off, but that seems to have reduced now.

salonfire wrote: »

On what type of long distance route, is Bus Eireann the preferred choice?

I can't really think of any. Maybe the X1, somewhat competitive there. Mostly people take BE where there isn't an alternative (mostly those PSO routes).

BE intercity services tend to stop at towns in between the cities, while the privates mostly go direct (and thus faster), so if you are going to/from one of the towns inbetween BE are usually the only option. Some exceptions like Citylink's stopping service to Galway do exist too though.

bk

bk wrote: »

Well BE are still by far the single largest operator in Ireland. They operate on many routes and to places that private operators don't cover. But yes, each year the privates are opening new routes that compete with BE and where they do, they tend to end up gaining most of the marketshare on those routes.

BE actually operates two different services:

- PSO, public service obligation, routes that are subsidised by the government. Private companies aren't allowed to compete with these routes, they can't get a license for them, which is pretty ridiculous IMO.

These are the majority of BE's routes and they have a monopoly on them. So face no competition.

- BE Expressway, operate routes on a completely commercial basis with no subsidy from government.

These are the routes where privates can potentially get a competing license for and where you see the competition. Expressway has been suffering a lot and for a while BE were talking about selling it off, but that seems to have reduced now.




I can't really think of any. Maybe the X1, somewhat competitive there. Mostly people take BE where there isn't an alternative (mostly those PSO routes).

BE intercity services tend to stop at towns in between the cities, while the privates mostly go direct (and thus faster), so if you are going to/from one of the towns inbetween BE are usually the only option. Some exceptions like Citylink's stopping service to Galway do exist too though.

I have to ask though, what is Bus Eireann's long term strategy?

Moving people between the major population centres is taken up by the private companies.

Relying on the PSO routes is not guaranteed either and could be taken off them.

Serving an older population, who don't pay the full fares, in in-between towns (many seeing population decline anyway), is not exactly a long term sustainable model for a business.

bk

salonfire wrote: »

I have to ask though, what is Bus Eireann's long term strategy?

Moving people between the major population centres is taken up by the private companies.

Relying on the PSO routes is not guaranteed either and could be taken off them.

Serving an older population, who don't pay the full fares, in in-between towns (many seeing population decline anyway), is not exactly a long term sustainable model for a business.

Well, if they or any company are subsidised to operate a service, then it can be long term sustainable, the company makes a profit from the subsidy. Not all public transport should be purely profit driven, it should be subsidised where there is a demand and delivers a public good, but not quiet enough demand for a purely commercial operation.

But you are right, I'm not sure BE really has a strategy for growth.

I suppose the more important question might be, does the government even need to be involved in the day to day operations of bus and coach companies?

Beyond regulation, licensing and subsidies, I'm not sure if the government really needs to be owning bus companies and running them day to day. Just like they no longer run airlines, telecoms, hotels, etc.

So I suppose the question is do the government want BE to expand or are they happy to see them be chipped away at until they are eventually not needed any more?

bobbyss

salonfire wrote:

On what type of long distance route, is Bus Eireann the preferred choice?

I would take BE to Limerick instead of Citylink simply because they leave and return hourly so more flexibility there. The busses I have taken with BE were poor quality and grimy and very, very tight. Still it's just over an hour.

A non stop service to Belfast, Derry etc would be of interest too.

Mrs OBumble

bobbyss wrote: »

I would take BE to Limerick instead of Citylink simply because they leave and return hourly so more flexibility there. The busses I have taken with BE were poor quality and grimy and very, very tight. Still it's just over an hour.

Indeed. I had to catch BE from Galway to Limerick the other week, because CityLink was sold out.

Horrible experience: the expressway buses that only a couple of years ago were new and shiny are now old and grubby. Half the seats where permanently stuck in recline mode, making the seat behind horrible to sit in.



Back on topic - is it a bit strange that the new GoBus regional connects service isn't listed on www.a-b.ie yet? I just had a look at 2-April, and it's not listed as an option.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Bus Eireann matching GoBus' 5 euro fare offer for the Ballina route. https://www.buseireann.ie/news.php?id=3390&month=Apr

Interesting....