Dublin Airport Bus Service Changes & Discussion

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121248876#Comment_121248876

I think the words 'marriage of convivence' apply here in the same way that they did to GoBus and Bus Eireann with GoBe. This is clearly only a deal because they can't get run coach services on the corridor.

I would suspect if NX find a way to gain a coach license on intercity corridors they don't at the moment, suddenly their enthusiasm for supporting similar routes on the train will rather quickly evaporate.

bk

Yes, while it is always good to see another option, if you were going from Cork to Dublin Airport it would be cheaper and faster to take GoBus/Aircoach all the way.

And Limerick/Galway even better with the Eir Eagle (Citylink) service that cuts out Dublin City and goes direct to the airport.

Actually now that I think of it, I'm surprised that DX or another operator hasn't applied for an Eir Eagle type license direct between Cork and Dublin Airport. And yes I know one or two of the Aircoach/GoBus services skip Dublin City in the middle of the night, but I mean all day.

BTW Those EV bendi-buses look great for the airport. It will be interesting to see how they go, perhaps even a bit of a demo for future BRT routes on some of the core corridors. Though 18m might be a bit short, 25m would be better on roads that could handle it.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121251260#Comment_121251260

It's strange no such tickets existed back when the Airlink was still in operation

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121251260#Comment_121251260

It’s a positive development - I wouldn’t be that negative at all about this. Anything that encourages public transport use should be welcomed as a positive.

The fact that it is available from any station in the country served out of Heuston is great to see, and there is no way that any Intercity bus service that NX might launch is going to offer that.

I really think you’re being way too cynical about it.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121253713#Comment_121253713

It is on the Irish Rail website now. It is just an add-on under Extras, on the same page where you can add a bike or Red Cross Ukraine donation. Price appear to be the same as on the DX website, €8 single, €10 return.

So it is sort of like how you can add an airport coach transfer/hotel/etc. on Ryanair website while booking flights

It is handy, one less website to interact with, but I don't think it is really a big deal, no price reduction for booking both, Dublin Airport isn't in the booking drop downs, separate tickets, etc. Basically minimum integration and pretty poor value.

As an aside, the DX website and booking is probably one of the best, fastest and easiest I've used, with Apple Pay integration and all. I'd rather buy my Irish Rail tickets on the DX site, then the other way around.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121254388#Comment_121254388

So it doesn't let you book Dublin Airport as the arrival/departure station as I've seen in other places where the airport does not have a rail station but the ticket includes a bus transfer.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121255326#Comment_121255326

Yep, you can't select Dublin Airport. Instead you have to enter Dublin Heuston (or just Dublin), there is no Airport option, then on the next page select your seats and then finally on the page after that you come to the "Extras" page where you can add the Dublin Express add on.

Also I feel it isn't particularly obvious that you would be adding a coach to the airport. The title of the options are just "Single Dublin Express" or "Return Dublin Express", they don't mention the airport. The Airport is then only mentioned in the body of the text:

While we here on this forum know what Dublin Express is, most regular people wouldn't, I'd make it:

"Dublin Airport Transfer - Single - Dublin Express"

"Dublin Airport Transfer - Return - Dublin Express"

And I just noticed that they use the same picture of a coach for the Red Cross, donation! Lads couldn't find a Red Cross symbol or Ukrainian flag? And notice the Bike graphics uses a darker colour then the coach!

In fairness, Ryanair do make you jump through multiple pages before you an add the coach transfer too, though I do feel it stands out better there and is more obvious what it is:

I suppose a counter argument is that the Irish Rail site is more straight forward and less overwhelming then the Ryanair site.

Either way, it is a positive development, but relatively minor one, really just a bit of cross marketing.

bk

Interestingly on that Aircoach page on Ryanair, you can actually buy tickets from Belfast to Dublin Airport with Aircoach, but weirdly not Cork.

I'd also say Dublin Express would prefer to have Aircoaches spot on the Ryanair website over Irish Rail.

Think about it what is the first thing you do when planning a trip? You normally go and book the airline tickets. Booking tickets to get to the airport is usually like the third or fourth thing you do. So if booking your airline tickets and it offers you the airport transfer at the same time, that is a good time to get it (for some). If DX had this spot on the Ryanair site, they could also offer connection to Belfast and any other future intercity destinations.

BTW If you select London Gatwick tab on Ryanair above you get offered National Express, DX's parent, on the Gatwick route.

BBTW The Aerlingus website seems to be down at the moment!!!!

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121253713#Comment_121253713

It is certainly a positive development - but if they were for example running a coach service from Dublin Airport to Limerick, could you really see them being super keen to offer through fares to Dublin Airport on Irish Rail services from there for instance

Obviously it's a moot point right now as they haven't got the licenses, so makes total sense for passengers and National Express from a commercial point of view, but it'd make less so if they were essentially competing with a coach service where they'd get more of a fare, unless they are very clever with pricing and their agreement with Irish Rail in terms of how the money is split.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121255759#Comment_121255759

Dublin Express have allegedly done a deal with Ryanair, but the Aircoach contract still has a bit left to run. So I would expect to see that change in the future. Certainly I heard Rory Fitzgerald talk about it on the radio a while back that it was in the works.

Both of these things however once again show how it's very much men and women against boys and girls in terms of the commercial acumen of Dublin Express and Aircoach respectively in the Dublin to Dublin Airport transport market.

p_haugh

Can you book the Dublin Express ticket if you're getting a train from Heuston (i.e. Airport -> Heuston -> Limerick)? Or is it just for trips with Heuston as the destination for now?

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121259062#Comment_121259062

No it doesn't appear to offer that!

First of all Dublin Airport isn't an option in the drop down selector. But even if you do say Heuston to Cork, it doesn't seem to offer Dublin Express as an add on in the extras page for that trip! That is surprising.

devnull

Aircoach

It's good to see they have stopped answering reviews with automatically generated responses. They totally ignore them now.

Aircoach appear to be dropping less trips than they were before, but they are still dropping them at peak times with long waits still occurring. Unfortunately cancellations are no longer being posted on social media and the coach tracker is totally gone from the Aircoach website for months now so there is no transparency of cancellations at all for walk up customers. Simply not good enough.

They claim they are listening to customers by changing the rules allowing them to take a later coach in the event of a flight delay up to 24 hours, but in reality they already were allowing customers do that before, even if they didn't specify 24 hours.

They have believed to have placed an order for new coaches for next year, but not sure what.

Dublin Express

I see that Dublin Express are hiring a new project manager to help 'win, chase and manage new bids' which will 'help build the business beyond Dublin Express' which tells you all you need to know about the ambitions for National Express here.

Still have to say I'm not hugely impressed with their customer care though, appears to be very much UK based and that is room for improvement.

Also a bit odd you can buy an open return ticket for their services on NationalExpress.com but not on their own website.

GoBus/CityLink

There are talks ongoing about changes in relation to these new companies that could happen in the new year.

Ronald Binge Redux

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121248876#Comment_121248876

An Irish solution to an Irish problem

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121344953#Comment_121344953

A common sense offer.

coylemj

Devnull posted:

Unfortunately cancellations are no longer being posted on social media and the coach tracker is totally gone from the Aircoach website for months now so there is no transparency of cancellations at all for walk up customers.

Months? I'd say more than two years. As you mentioned, they have stopped posting cancellations on FB and Twitter and when a service is cancelled, you can still buy a ticket for that departure on the mobile app. So there is no way of telling if a service is running or not. Until it fails to turn up.

p_haugh

Just to point out, their coaches still track on Bustimes, but obviously that's not a very user-friendly way of checking if the service is running. So it's clear that they just disabled the coach tracking functionally on their site to try "hide" the cancellations.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121346564#Comment_121346564

Here’s the link:

https://bustimes.org/operators/aircoach/map

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121345732#Comment_121345732

Hasn't been anywhere near that long, it's not always worked very well but it's only been several months.

L1011

I noticed one of their pickup points at T2 has a NTA RTPI board at it - showing the destination of the next bus as Dublin Airport. So a complete chocolate teapot of a sign

devnull

Citylink / GoBus - Dublin to Galway

The Gobus.ie website has now been closed and is redirected to the new Citylink website which basically appears to present all services as running under the Citylink umbrella. There's a GoBus.ie logo at the top of every page, but realistically everything is pretty much refered to as a Citylink service in Citylink colours and the Gobus name is barley used on the website.

However there is a note that says "Citylink also runs services on the Galway to Dublin City & Airport Express with Gobus" I note that none of the other ex GoBus routes are described like this. They are just refered to as CityLink services.

I guess they are determined to make sure they hang onto both the GoBus and CityLink licenses on the Dublin to Galway express corridor as 'separate companies' despite the fact not only do they accept each others tickets and operate out of the same offices and share a booking engine, Gobus as it's own brand basically doesn't even exist anymore following the latest change. It simply shouldn't be acceptable and the NTA needs to take steps to deal with it.

devnull

Aircoach

Aircoach have recently had a think-in with staff from the UK arm of First and local management about how to commercially combat what the competition is doing. Hopefully something good will come out of it but at the same time where they are falling down isn't exactly rocket science. And also I'm not sure that the best people to be asking for commercial advice in the Irish coach market are those in the UK bus market as the two are totally different. But proof is in the pudding as they say.

In more positive news though, there is talk that tracking may be coming back to the mobile app that will allow people to track their coach that they have booked. Not sure how that this is going to work and personally I think the way to go is a proper tracking tool on the website and the mobile app that will allow anyone to track the services freely. I'd be against anything that would essentially only allow people to track services they had pre-booked for as that is not an acceptable level of transparency.

Better news is Aircoach have won the Safety award at the 2024 Fleet Bus and Coach Awards.

https://twitter.com/Aircoach/status/1726641716533588323

Dublin Express

Dublin Express has won the Coach Operator Award 2024 - Intercity/Airport Service at the Fleet Bus & Coach Awards 

https://twitter.com/dublin_express/status/1725504589569347873

devnull

Dublin Bus Airlink Routes 747 and 757 Set to Return?

As of the end of October, Dublin Bus has been granted two new route license for two routes to Dublin Airport

• 747 from Dublin Airport to Heuston Station
• 757 from Dublin Airport to Dublin Airport (circular loop, route not disclosed)

The previous licenses that Dublin Bus had for these routes had expired and were not renewed, but these two licenses are under new license numbers and therefore are the result of a more recent application.

It has been obvious for some time that driver shortages have meant that the airport is not served as well as it could be in terms of capacity to Dublin City centre and using higher capacity vehicles was always going to be a commercially sensible way of transporting more passengers without needing additional drivers.

I've been hinting this has been a sensible way forward to address capacity issues at the airport for a while. What we are likely to see if Dublin Bus go ahead with these services, is that the 747/757 will undercut the Dublin Express 782/784 by a little, but will have the ability to hover up an extra 15-20 passengers will help reduce the issues that passengers have with waits and not being able to board buses to the airport. The 747/757 could serve as a cheaper, higher capacity competitor to Dublin Express, the same was as it did with Aircoach previously.

There are some unanswered questions though namely

• Is it right that Dublin Bus are potentially starting up new commercial routes at a time where services are being cancelled due to a lack of drivers?
• Where will the services operate from in Dublin Airport? Are the stops that Aircoach have leased from DB or do they have rights to them themselves after DB ceased operating the 747/757 from the same stops?

On the subject of Aircoach, where does this leave the 700? Lets be honest. they're losing the 782/784 Dublin Express services at this point to the city centre. DX offer a more reliable, more frequent and more comfortable service which they have marketed extremely well and built a number of good commercial deals and a substantial ticket agent network. All in all DX have heavily outmanoeuvred them commercially

The strategy that Dublin Bus may be about to pull is one which really, Aircoach should have considered themselves considering the number of passengers I see on social media that are fed up with services being full. Yes it would have involved in a change of name for the 700 service, but the performance of the 747/757 before the pandemic shows that there is an appetite for something between a regular city bus service and a coach service that Dublin Bus exploited for many years with the high capacity 747/757. When drivers are at a premium and not being able to recruit enough means you cannot meet demand by increasing capacity by adding services, going for a higher capacity vehicle is an obvious solution to help tap into that demand without needing extra staff.

bk

To be honest, I’m not really in favour of this. I worry that it leads to a situation where Dublin Bus have a conflict of interest. Operating both PSO services and commercial services to the airport. Like if they are lacking drivers, will they cancel a 16 departure or a 747, I think we all know the answer to this question.

I think the NTA should move the 16 and 41 routes from DB to GAI a result. Also as an aside I think the NTA should lay on more frequency on the 16/41 route, particularly late night services.

Another question about this route is what buses will DB use? The old Airlink fleet is pretty old now and in need of replacing. Sure maybe they can use it for a year or two, but then they will need to make the business decision about making a major investment in renewing the fleet.

Spend millions on a new fleet, to face stiff competition from DX and Aircoach and eventually Metrolink comes along and destroys the value of that fleet.

On the other hand maybe this is partly being pushed by the government behind the scenes. The airport is facing a passenger cap due to planning permission, perhaps more public transport at the airport makes it easier to overturn the cap. I’m just not sure this is the best way to go about it.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121474674#Comment_121474674

The NTA can't just move the routes to GAI. They would have to be put to open tender which both DB and GAI could compete for.

AX636

What's going around in Dublin Bus is pso drivers will not be driving these Airlinks, like the old days, instead if a driver wants to drive the Airlink they will have to apply for an interview just like the tours thats what's being mentioned at the minute apparently whoever is on tours will be doing it

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121475153#Comment_121475153

But at the end of the day the effect is the same though isn't it?

There will be existing PSO drivers who will apply for the Airlink routes who will move to Airlink, that would otherwise have stayed on PSO routes if Airlink didn't exist, so they'll still be robbing Peter to pay Paul as those drivers will have to be replaced.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121474674#Comment_121474674

DB will look to exploit an Aircoach operation that has a reputation for unreliability, leaving people behind, people waiting at airport for long periods, cancelling services without any public notice and removing transparency by removing tracking. That's before you get into the fact that they're also now not even answering negative reviews properly, instead churning out AI responses, which gives an impression of not caring. They simply have made no real attempt to shake anything up to solve these issues on the 700 and their frequency is also inferior to DX.

Ordering longer coaches or double decker's was so obvious way to serve the excess demand they have, but they did nothing and anyone who stands still is going to be vulnerable. They've literally created a gap in the market where another operator can see a viable business. If they had ordered the new Mercs as 13.9m triaxles with 65 seats and stuck them exclusively on the 700, they'd have kept that door well and truly shut.

I honestly think the 747/757 will be pitched at something between the price of an express coach and a normal city bus in the way it always did. That was always the advantage it had over Aircoach and if you saw how well the 747 performed before the pandemic it worked. That will leave Aircoach in no mans land. They'll not beat Dublin Express in a straight out commercial fight (they've already well and truly lost that) and Dublin Bus clearly smell an opportunity here, and who can blame them.

Jamie2k9

NTA should have made a condition of 24 hour service for these licences if they had the power. Previous Airlink was €7 (€12 return) if I am not mistaken. They might bring back €6/€10 which was the price for many years.

Still hard to see anywhere near the 10m summer service or 15m service that was served previously.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476149#Comment_121476149

That would be a really stupid thing to do, bearing in mind the shortages of drivers that we have now. Such condition would make solving the problem there currently is harder, not easier.

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476240#Comment_121476240

It will be many many years before there is sufficent bus drivers available. It's equally stuipd of the NTA to issue a licence to an operator who cannot fullfill its current obligations. It's not unreasonable to expect 24 hours service at the airport particularly when its a new licence.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476273#Comment_121476273

I agree that there is certainly questions to be answered in terms of how an operator who cancels services on the PSO network can expand it's reach to further commercial services. Even if they are operating a separate pool of drivers, they still are taking staff that may otherwise be working on PSO routes as they're actively competing for people out of the same pool.

However it is unreasonable to demand a service to run 24 hours a day. You're essentially saying that if we can't run services in the early hours of the morning, we should not bother to try and do something about the lack of capacity in the day either. You're literally depriving patrons on the day of the service they need out of some populist grandstanding over something that simply isn't achievable in the marketplace right now. This is literally cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Finding staff to work the early hours is even tougher than to work them during the day. That's why the likes of AIrcoach haven't gone back to their 24 hour services since the pandemic. They know if they did they would have even bigger issues with keeping and attracting drivers than they do now. But Mary and Joe on Facebook will continue to hack away at the operators for not operating 24 hour services due to 'greed' and being 'shortsighted', whilst showing absolutely no understanding of the reasons that the service isn't 24 hours anymore.

AX636

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121475439#Comment_121475439

Yea true, but they are getting the drivers the only problem is retaining them, the training school in DB is constantly full on two shifts.. I know of two driver's that as soon as they got their licence they left.. There is no obligation to stay when you get it which I don't think is right.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121476394#Comment_121476394

Need to expand a school. Doesn't make sense to have the same school capacity when clearly network expansion requires a better yield of new staff. And I completely agree that new staff should be locked in at least 12 month obligatory service contract to make it pay off the training expense to get a licence. Otherwise, if thy leave sooner, should pay a substantial amount of expenses occurred.

mikeybhoy

Seems bizarre that they'd bring back the Airlink after letting go of the original licences which I assumed was done in order to focus on PSO routes. Also odd that they'd have drivers do a separate interview for driving the Airlink routes what's the difference between driving the Airlink and a regular route for a driver?

dublinman1990

I'm honestly amazed that Airlink is making a return to the streets of Dublin. It's comeback is going to be a much tougher market now because DX and Citylink are very much making serious inroads to taking in loads of passengers when they leave the Airport when they go into Dublin City Centre.

If Dublin Bus were really serious in purchasing a new bus fleet to compete against the likes of these private operators. It would be a brand new all electric fleet.

It could be a good selling point for Dublin Bus after their interim relaunch period of their routes to say that their new Airlink buses are eco-friendly to their passengers. I think all of the other private operators that currently go to either pick up or drop off passengers at Dublin Airport currently don't have any electric buses in their fleet at the moment. They all have diesel buses only in their own fleets unless some of the operators have hybrid coaches in their fleet as well?

It would also mean that Dublin Bus would need to have charging facilities installed in their bus depots first before they rollout this new fleet for service.

What are their plans once they have their new electric fleet?

A) Could they place their new Airlink fleet back in it's original depot over in Summerhill.

B) Could they place them in Harristown which is located near the airport.

Or

C) Could they place them in both depots at the same time even though Harristown has not got it's chargers installed yet.

The new circular route for the 757 is an interesting idea to take on as well.

What areas will be covered under that particular route?

I would assume that the type of circular route that it would be taking on is probably located around the circumference or the perimeter of Dublin Airport itself rather than travelling all the way back into Dublin City Centre. The route that I could be talking about here could be around Swords and maybe some of the new stop locations for Metrolink north of Dublin Airport. There is also the hotel shuttle bus routes around Dublin Airport to take into consideration as well. What is the current status of the hotel shuttle buses that go to and from the Airport? Are those routes doing well at the moment?

Could Dublin Bus be taking on their passengers as well or would that not breach competition law?

I can't be wrong in thinking that Dublin Bus management were considering options like those in the near future.

john boye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477725#Comment_121477725

So many wild assumptions presented as fact here

AX636

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477521#Comment_121477521

There is very good reasons why they are doing it this way, plus you are handling cash, some drivers didn't feel safe handling it.

AX636

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477725#Comment_121477725

All to be based at Broadstone, that's where all commercial buses will be based

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121477844#Comment_121477844

Interesting to see what they go for this electrics or diesels. I read somewhere else their gonna be leasing buses for this Can't see the VGs they were using being up to the task especially after sitting idle for so long.

Wonder will they go for something more advanced than the average DB bus. I've seen some airport services in the UK use double deckers with coach style seats and tables wonder will DB go for something similar.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478697#Comment_121478697

The Stansted Airlink vehicles introduced by First in Essex are excellent, having been on one lately.

https://busandtrainuser.com/2020/02/20/turned-off-by-turned-off-touch-points-in-essex/

They are 63 seaters, but have a couple of tables in them (as longer distance than Dublin to Dublin City Centre) as well as single seats on the nearside in the first couple of rows upstairs, so in reality they could be comfortably 69 seaters once you change that. Edinburgh also have some similar vehicles.

I really don't understand why Aircoach didn't go down this road. They already have a spec of vehicle and even a livery and interior design that is not too dissimilar from their own branding colour wise. It would have allowed them to carry 150 passengers extra an hour without needing to recruit any further driving staff and would have made it much harder for a new entrant as there would be less unserved demand and higher customer satisfaction. The simple fact is that if you cannot meet levels of demand by increasing frequency, you need to by increasing capacity. Dublin Bus see this and they have spotted an opportunity, that has been presented to them. Lets make no bones about it, if the airport was adequately serviced by the current operators, DB would not even be thinking of returning to this market. When they left the market it was clear to everyone it was the commercially right thing to do. But now, circumstances are different and the airport is screaming out for more capacity.

What we will likely have now is a reliable Dublin Bus service with high capacity, at a price cheaper than Dublin Express and Aircoach that fills the same market sector that the 747/757 always did, A comprehensive Dublin Express operation running 5-6 times per hour that benefits from first class marketing and commercial strategy with significant network of ticket agents and partnerships and an Aircoach operation that has lost it's way and gained a reputation for being unreliable.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478856#Comment_121478856

The only thing Aircoach will still have going for them is the south Dublin links at this rate.

stephenjmcd

Aircoach to make a submission to the NTA shortly to increase the frequency of the 702 to an hourly service.

No mention of earlier starts or later finishes just that it's being increased in frequency

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478968#Comment_121478968

About bloody time! Now if only the 703 frequency is increased

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478968#Comment_121478968

I'm afraid that statement people are reading too much into.

In September it was claimed that they will be making a submission to do the same. But here we are at the end of the year and still no submission has been made to the NTA.

The reason they keep talking about doing so in future rather than saying they have done it is because they're not going to do it until they are sure they can staff it. And that's a problem that has been ongoing for some time.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478952#Comment_121478952

Their own fault. The commercial management of that business over the last number of years has been appalling.

They are being schooled on every route they have competition on in everything from customer service to marketing and vehicle choice. And they've been cent wise and Euro foolish.

bk

Someone mentioned over on the Irish Transport Forum that DB will be using leased buses.

That actually makes some sense, the VG’s are likely too old now. On the other hand buying a whole new fleet, which would be a major investment, for a market that you might be unsure of would be a big ask. Perhaps better to lease for a year or two, see how the reintroduction of the service is going, what the competition is like versus DX/Aircoach, what is happening with Metrolink, etc.

With leased vehicles easier to cancel the service again if it doesn’t work out.

BTW if DB are smart they will use modern ticket machines with tap to pay on the service, like Aircoach do.

I agree completely Devnull that Aircoach have foolishly left a gap in the market. They should have at least introduced triaxles on the route to increase capacity or perhaps even overdeckers or the bus you linked too. All would have increased capacity without the need for increased drivers.

One thing though, you keep saying Airlink was cheaper, I could be wrong, but I don’t really remember it being much cheaper. I think it was €7 for a single, which is currently still the same price for Aircoach. So they will either need to use a much better vehicle to justify the same or similar price or charge a much cheaper price. Tough when you are leasing new vehicles.

Another thought, if this opportunity for extra route licenses to the airport were available like this, I’m kinda surprised Citylink or GoAhead didn’t jump at it. Citylink in particular with such a strong presence at the airport now.

It will be an intriguing battle, it is certainly a ballsy move by DB, though I’m not sure how it will work out. It will be very interesting to see what vehicles they use and the route.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121478856#Comment_121478856

I can't imagine there being much difference comfort wise between a bus with that kind of seating arrangement and a coach for a fairly short distance. Would also make life bit easier bringing on luggage and reduce dwell times.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121481289#Comment_121481289

The advantage of the coach is you don’t have to bring the luggage onboard, it is put under the coach, often with good services it is done by the driver or other staff. It makes for a pretty relaxed ride too and from the airport. I often enjoy using airport coach services when travelling around Europe.

The odd time I’ve used a bus like the link, it is ok, but not half as nice as a coach. It will do if no other option or much cheaper, but I’d definitely spend an extra euro for a coach.

bk

BTW we are all assuming the DB will use city type buses, but if they are leasing new vehicles, it could even be coaches or even bendy buses (yeah I know very unlikely and highly ironic if they did).

I’ll put it out there, I know very unlikely, but I’ve always thought it would be nice to operate a BRT type service through the port tunnel to the airport. I was thinking of it in terms of a PSO service and it would be even more interesting if it could share the Luas red line track. Yes yes I know probably will never happen, but just an in thought.

StreetLight

I really don't understand this apparent airport service plan from Dublin Bus. When Covid struck, they didn't seem to lose much time in dropping the 747/757 and even going so far as to let the operating licence lapse. For a premium service, the 747 routing was infuriatingly getting stuck in chronic traffic around the city centre a lot of the time.

Now, post Covid, Dublin Bus are only just about managing to get by on operating their core services and even that is a struggle with driver recruitment still a problem years down the line. Dublin Express seem to be doing a damn good job with their offering. Leave them to it.