Aircoach Route Changes and Service Issues

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This discussion was created from comments split from:

Dublin Airport Bus Service Changes & Discussion

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devnull

Aircoach Route 702 provisional changes from Sunday 30th June.

With effect from Sunday 30th June, the Aircoach route 702 between Greystones and Dublin Airport will be provisionally undergoing major changes in it's route and enhancements to timetables.

The service will operate 24 hours a day with 24 departures each day from Greystones (Hawkins Wood) and 23 departures a day from Dublin Airport T1.

This is expected to result in the withdrawal of route 703 from the same date.

The new route will be as follows:

• Greystones (Hawkins Wood)
  
• Greystones (Charlesland)
  
• Greystones (Station)
  
• Greystones (Redford Park)
  
• County Wicklow (Briar Wood)
  
• Bray (St Cronan's Road)
  
• Shankill (Stonebridge Close)
  
• Loughlinstown (St Columcille's Hospital)
  
• Dalkey (Hyde Road)
  
• Glasthule (St Joseph's Church)
  
• Dun Laoghaire (Station)
  
• Monkstown Road
  
• Blackrock (Frascati SC)
  
• Booterstown (Station)
  
• Booterstown (Bellevue Avenue)
  
• North Wall (The Point)
  
• Dublin Airport T2
  
• Dublin Airport T1

Journey times while longer, do now appear to be a more accurate reflection of traffic conditions throughout the day. This does mean end to end journey times can range from 1 hour 40 minutes in the early hours to as high as 2 hours 45 minutes in evening pea. Most of the extra running time is mostly given on the Booterstown to North Wall section, which ranges from 20 minutes off -peak to close to an hour in evening peak.

Details on other changes to the network = will follow as soon as I am able to verify them.

Note that the above are provisional on union agreement.

stephenjmcd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122265411#Comment_122265411

Just checked the TFI planner and can see this.

Another example for the 702 is during morning peak giving it 50 minutes + to run Greystones to bray. While during school term this is warranted sometimes due to services often running 30+ late through Bray, it's definitely not needed when the schools are off. There'll be alot of idle time on the run there for example.

The 8am from Greystones used to hit bray around 8.30, that'll now leave at 07.20 from Greystones

TFI map also still has the service going through ballsbridge to city centre and up the quays, presume this isn't accurate

devnull

See timetable attached as PDF

Greystones Aircoach 702 from 30th June.pdf

As I said, health warning on this, depends on union agreement, but this is in-line with the submissions that the company have made to the NTA recently and thus should start appearing on all places that sync NTA date imminently.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122265411#Comment_122265411

As I assumed, it will do the 703 routing between DL and Dalkey, then go via Sallynoggin Roundabout and Wyattville Road to get to the N11

IMO they should have added a stop by the Graduate Pub/Killiney Shopping centre as part of the route change, but I can understand why they aren't. This route change only utilises stops already approved by the NTA.

patrickbrophy18

To say this change has been poorly communicated with passengers from both routes would be a massive understatement especially, given how near the date is.

Highlighter75

It was a shame when Aircoach reduced the overnight frequency.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122266336#Comment_122266336

Do you really expect them to announce it before it is certain? It's still subject to union approval last i heard. There are agreed procedures with SIPTU that have to be followed. Hence why I used word provisional.

easyvision

Definitely could do with 2/3 stops between Cherrywood and Dalkey. A lot of customers live between these 2 pickup points - all residential. Hopefully they add in time

patrickbrophy18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122266860#Comment_122266860

The Graduate is an obvious one which should be served and possibly one in the vicinity of Killiney Towers Roundabout.

coylemj

That new 702 route will completely cut out people in the N11 corridor between Cherrywood and Stillorgan. It will leave them with no service to the airport for early bird flights.

devnull

There are other potential changes to come to the network.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122269213#Comment_122269213

I would suggest that you go back a page or two.

There are multiple changes in the pipeline.

stephenjmcd

They'll defiantly need to tweek the running times for the runs in the morning anyway on the 702 just based on today alone.

For example, 8am from Greystones reached Supervalu Bray @ 08:29 , it's replacement service from 30th June leaves at 07:20 from Greystones and reaches Supervalu @ 08:30 , 1hr and 10 mins run time for what currently takes 30 mins.

As I mentioned yesterday, during term time for primary & secondary schools the current run time can cause issues with the service taking 30mins + to clear through Bray so the new run time allows for this.

Given they can't leave the stop before time there's going to be alot of people taking issue with the dwell time on some departures during the summer months for example.

devnull

Email just sent by Aircoach

Dear Customer

We have exciting news for you! We’re delighted to announce a major expansion of our Dublin and Greystones routes, launching on June 30th and available for prebooking on June 18th!

Our improved route network includes:

65 additional daily services to and from Dublin airport

15-minute frequency through Dublin City Centre

An hourly service on our Greystones route (702)

New stops in key areas to provide essential connectivity to and from Dublin Airport including:

- Cherrywood Business Park (route 700, every 30 mins)
- Merrion Square (route 701, every 30 mins)
- Loughlinstown Hospital (route 702, hourly)
- Pearse Station to airport (route 701, every 30 mins)
- Greystones, Hawkins Wood (route 702, hourly)

Our route configurations have changed so please make sure you check www.aircoach.ie for full route and timetable information.

Meanwhile, here is a summary of what our updated routes look like:

700: Dublin Airport – City Centre – Donnybrook – UCD – Stillorgan – Sandyford – Leopardstown – Foxrock – Cabinteely – Cherrywood.

701: Dublin Airport – City Centre – Ballsbridge – RDS – St Vincent’s Hospital.

702: Dublin Airport – 3Arena – Booterstown – Monkstown – Dun Laoghaire – Dalkey – Bray – Greystones.

With this expansion launching just in time for your summer holiday travels, you can relax knowing your stress-free travel to/from Dublin Airport is sorted.

Prebook your tickets from June 18th at www.aircoach.ie or on our Aircoach app for travel from June 30th onwards.

If you have made a booking to travel with us on our existing 700/702/703 routes from and including 30th June, don’t worry, we will re-schedule you onto the nearest service for travel and you will receive a new ticket. We strongly recommend you check the details of your new departure time to ensure it is suitable.

If you have any issues, please contact our customer service team at www.aircoach.ie/help/contact-us.

We can’t wait to see you onboard!

dublinman1990

What type of buses are Aircoach going to use on the 700 route to Cherrywood from the 30th of June?

I would assume the double deck buses planned to be used on the route are coming in the pipeline very soon.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122270811#Comment_122270811

Seems they sent out the email a bit early, the website doesn't have the changes available yet (although a route info page with placeholder info for the 701 is viewable). Changes for all routes also aren't in the TFI system just yet.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122270895#Comment_122270895

It will be existing fleet, at least initially. There is enough vehicles there to do it.

You have to remember that there has been a handful of vehicles freed up by the cancellation of the Galway service and around another three freed up by the cancellation of the 703.

Then the 700 is actually being cut from up to every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes so the extension to that route is likely to require a similar number of vehicles as it is using now as any increase in route length if offset by the frequency cut.

The 701 will provide half an hour frequency through the city centre when interworked with the 700, but overall it is a pretty short route so the PVR isn't going to be that high.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122270989#Comment_122270989

I also note the fares have been removed from the website.

To be fair the email does say they will be available to book from tomorrow, which is better than most recent announcements from Aircoach where they've sent an email out to people saying something was live now when it wasn't, but agree that they do point out that the website has the info, when it doesn't.

stephenjmcd

2hr run time for the 700 on peak hours from Cherrywood to the airport

coylemj

It would appear that the text at the top of the Aircoach 700 service page which mentions 'our 700 service which operates up to every 15 minutes' is not applicable to the new timetable from June 30th. I checked the departure times for Mon-Fri and Sat+Sun both ways and there is no period of the day when successive services are 15 minutes apart.

With the exceptions noted below, there will be a 700 service departure every 30 minutes Mon-Fri in both directions all day from June 30th. The Sat+Sun timetable doesn't appear to have any major variations. But as this is all subject to change, check the current timetable.

Inbound, the new 700 service will go from the N11 to the Clayton and then follow the original 700 route back to the N11 via Stillorgan. The Galloping Green stop is still listed so it looks like the route to the Clayton from the N11 is via Brewery Road and not Leopardstown Road i.e. the 700 will not turn left at White's Cross.

For people who previously used the Greystones (702) service from the N11 corridor, the journey time from your stop to the airport will increase by 22 minutes.

========== Mon-Fri =========

No departure from the airport between 02:25 and 04:25. First departure from Cherrywood will be at 01:30. From 19:00, departures from Cherrywood will be on the hour to (last departure) 23:00. So no departures from Cherrywood between 23:00 and 01:30.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122273358#Comment_122273358

They just haven’t updated that header yet.

As already explained in this thread, the 700 is being split and a new route 701 being set up to/from St Vincent’s Hospital, both operating at a 30-minute frequency.

When you combine the new route 700 and new route 701 they will deliver a 15-minute frequency through the city centre where it is most needed.

That will inevitably mean a lower frequency to/from stops along the Stillorgan Road out to Cherrywood, but a service every 30 mins is probably reasonable enough to meet demand.

The periods of no departures in either direction coincides with times when it’s unlikely there will be any demand for services to/from the airport.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122270165#Comment_122270165

There are different weekday and weekend running times - they should really use the weekend times for July & August all week.

devnull

There is talk on Social Media of price rises to many fares for both walk up and online fares.

Whilst it's possible to check the online prices using the booking engine, the company has totally removed their fares section on the website overnight so not able to say what walk up fares are.

I hope it will return and they don't follow the UK Bus approach where on bus single and return fares are treated as state secrets that are never published.

Rock Steady Edy

A 3 hour run time at 7.20am from Greystones is not going to attract anyone

Why is an hour allowed for between Booterstown and the 3Arena for a couple of in-bound mid-afternoon journeys while most of the time it's 15 mins?

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122274946#Comment_122274946

Funnily enough around 50 minutes from Booterstown and the Three Arena isn't that uncommon at that particular time. I've seen the 702 going past The Point quite a few times not long before 6.00pm and that service itself was due to be at Booterstown an hour earlier.

Last Thursday for instance, it took 55 minutes, but granted some days it flies through there by comparison. I guess they are both allowing for delays which do happen as we can see last Thursday as well as deliberately padding the schedule a little bit before the last stop as is common in train and bus schedules to airports world over to make sure any delays earlier in the route are caught up and the bus doesn't arrive 'late' at the airport.

But at the same time, the current timetable is not perfect either in that the running time isn't sufficient at peak time. Often transport companies can't win with this since people don't like low journey times and poor punctuality, but also don't like good punctuality if it comes at the cost of longer journeys. Don't get me wrong there is 5-10 minutes too much padding in places though and as has been pointed out upthread, school holidays and non school holidays are different beasts too. So there's certainly room for improvement.

stephenjmcd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122274946#Comment_122274946

The run from sandymount over the east link can take an awfully long time depending on the traffic. Not uncommon to sit in that for 40+ mins.

It'll vary though, could take it 20 mins today and an hour tomorrow

mikeybhoy

Not really sure how attractive the new 702 routing is to anyone living south of Dalkey the routing is too long. Same with the new 700 routing south of Sandyford. It sort of strikes me that they're waiting for these new routings to fail so they can be cancelled in time.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122276186#Comment_122276186

Considering this the new 700/701/702 network is going to account for half of their operations, then they really need it to be a success. But I agree the routes are rather long now and I can't think of any other airport routes with that many stops. I guess they are trying to ensure they get adequate loadings and customer demand, but might be overplaying it somewhat.

It's worth noting that the two people right at the top of Aircoach these days have no land based public transport experience before taking the job. Their background historically has been in the Ferry industry.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122276388#Comment_122276388

What I mean is if they fail I could see them focusing on the inner elements of the routings particularly the 701 in order to compete with DX. It will be interesting to see how they do.

bikeman1

Am I missing something? Why would you bother with the Aircoach unless you have large suitcases, for which you would get a taxi or lift.

07:24 Dart to Tara St 08:18

Stroll over to Abbey St

08:30 41 bus to Airport 09:14

Journey time 1:50, all along the south side route could hop on the same Dart. Fare from Greystones to the airport is €3.00 adult leap and cheaper as a young adult and if you have a kid.

Adult single on Aircoach is €17.00!!

Obviously very early departures and late arrivals won’t work on the DART / 41, but the rest of the 18 hours of the day will.

Those running times, while possibly realistic, would never encourage me on to them.

Or drive to Whitehall / Santry and bus to the airport.

thomasj

Or theres a Maynooth train that leaves Pearse 5 minutes after that DART. Should leave you in Drumcondra in less than 15 minutes where you can catch a 16 or 41 to the Airport.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122276924#Comment_122276924

And once the E-spine goes 24 hours, that will really hurt the 702 between Bray and Loughlinstown (and DL area), since it will be part of the 2.00 90 minutes fare with a free 41 connection!

coylemj

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122276186#Comment_122276186

Agreed. Even though there will be more services, the 700 routing via the Clayton will extend journey times for people living south of Sandyford. During the day, someone going to the airport from south of Stillorgan would be tempted to get a 46A/145/155 to Oatlands College or UCD and pick up the (potentially earlier) Aircoach there. And on the return leg, you might consider getting off the 700 at the Radisson on the N11 and picking up one of those DB services to get home quicker.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122277907#Comment_122277907

The 701 could have potentially continued to Leopardstown, going along the current 702 routing from Vincent's to Stillorgan then taking over from the 700 there. That would allow the 700 to stay on the N11 all the way from town to Cherrywood. That would probably require more buses (and drivers) though.

mikeybhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122277907#Comment_122277907

Or just getting the 46a/145/155 all the way to town and getting the 41 from there. Can't be all that between that and the Aircoach.

Big disimprovement from pre covid when the 702/703 were both hourly and ran 24hr.

devnull

Aircoach cancelled a number of services yesterday and today so far, with a colleague of mine giving up after waiting 50 minutes in PM peak yesterday. Whilst some of the services have been announced as being cancelled not all of them have been made public.

It makes you wonder how they are going to cope with the new timetables coming at the end of the month if they're cancelling services now.

https://twitter.com/Aircoach/status/1804140947300634891

https://twitter.com/Aircoach/status/1804469313660682290

LF403

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122273748#Comment_122273748

According to the Irish Independent: "The cost will also increase from €22 return from Greystones to the
airport to €25.50. From Bray and Shankill the return price will increase
from €20 to €21.60."

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122274946#Comment_122274946

While this may be the case, it also stops arguments between pax and drivers - Where a customer has a timetable stating 1hr 40mins runtime, but the driver knows it'll take 2 hours. At least with a more accurate timetable and realistic dwell times, it gives people a more realistic expectation.

LF403

Aircoach are now on a massive drive to hire coach drivers due to these expansions. Even at current service levels some 700 services are being dropped every day with hire-ins becoming a fairly common sight on Cork these days due to lack of drivers.

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122295178#Comment_122295178

Those appear to be online prices, do we know what the on bus prices are? Because Aircoach have removed the fares section from the website so the cynic in me suggests they've seen a bigger hike.

Agree that the current timetable is work of fiction, but this is what the general public are like, you have a short journey time and a service that is always late and people will complain. You extend the journey time to make the schedule more realistic and the same people will moan the service takes too long.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122295187#Comment_122295187

Gotta laugh haven't you, 7 days before the expansion and they don't have enough drivers to run the current services let alone an expansion. Can see it going badly wrong during peak times, especially from the start of July.

stephenjmcd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122295178#Comment_122295178

Only issue with the 702 timetable is they'll really need to adjust between run times in the summer when there's no schools and then term time. Some services being given 1hr 10 mins Greystones to bray. Definitely too much dwell time there during the summer months for sure, which will probably put passengers off.

stephenjmcd

Plenty of aircoach buses with driver training on them going around the 702 route the last few days.

Let's see how it all goes come Sunday

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122309841#Comment_122309841

I wouldn't get my hopes up on that….

Delay in Aircoach Service changes and cancellations due to IT Issues

Aircoach have emailed customers that have booked services that are being introduced on the new schedule this Sunday to say that these services have been cancelled due to IT Issues.

The email contains a link to the following page on the Aircoach website which contains advice and links to temporary timetables that are due to run on these routes in the meantime.

https://www.aircoach.ie/temporary-timetables

As per our email, due to IT issues around the launch of our new Dublin and Greystones routes, the service you booked has been cancelled. Please use the links below to access temporary timetable information to facilitate your travel to and from Dublin airport.  Please be aware that the name of your route may be different to the route you booked.

These timetables are for information purposes.  You will NOT need a new ticket for travel, simply present your original booking to the driver when boarding.

If the alternative travel times below do not suit, contact us via our web contact us page and we will process a refund of your booking. You can also contact us by email at info@aircoach.ie.

We understand the inconvenience this may cause, and we sincerely apologise for it.

Dublin Airport to Dublin City Centre & Leopardstown - 700
700 - Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday (PDF)

700 - Monday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday (PDF)

Dublin Airport to Greystones - 702
702 - All week (PDF)

Dublin Airport to Killiney - 703
703 - All week (PDF)

The temporary timetables that they have posted are simply the old ones which have been extended for a week. I'm not sure why they simply didn't say that to be honest.

Suspension of Online Bookings for all Non Intercity services from 30th June to 6th July.

As what appears to be a knock on effect to what has been posted above, Aircoach have suspended ALL online bookings for route 700/702/703 for 30th June to 6th July. The only services that can be booked online during this period of operation are the 704X and 705X.

If you are due to travel between those dates and are cutting it fine for time, I would strongly advise you to allow more time for your journey in case you are unable to board the coach (especially the further into the route to the airport your stop is) or avail of a guaranteed seat with another provider for peace of mind.

CitaC

Why, oh why, are Aircoach so totally cavalier about their loyal customers? I’m deeply shocked. And there is no working phone number to clarify what is actually going on.

I am booked to travel Monday with 2 children. I have been informed by email my booking is no longer valid they are literally cancelling all passenger bookings it seems. Then a second email to say ignore that. However, a glance at the website says it’s only a walk up service, no ability to book ahead for a 7-10 period while they ‘sort’ themselves out.

I need to walk up to a bus, with a temporary schedule - so actually who knows when a bus might turn up- if I’m lucky I can buy (a more expensive) ticket there on the bus. So if the bus is full say goodbye to catching your flight, Aircoach just is not bothered.

We are not going to dinner in town, or going to a gig. Yeap you’d be annoyed you missed those, or were 2 hours late. But missing a long haul flights could literally mean €5-10,000 out in last min flights and a shortened holiday.

Aircoach have you any regard for your loyal customers? Because it really looks like you hold us all in contempt.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122315337#Comment_122315337

Assume that means that the walk-up fare is the adult one only (aka no Young Adult fare will be available)? May need to go via town instead for my 10am flight on Thursday 😬

devnull

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122315481#Comment_122315481

Young Adult Fares Aircoach only sell on their website and since they are not allowing web bookings at the moment for the dates concerned it seems everyone who is not qualifying for a child fare, staff fare or a free travel pass fare is going to have to pay the walk-up rate.

I'd love to tell you what the walk-up rates are, but a few days before making their latest announcements, Aircoach removed the fares page from their website, which at the time was very disappointing. However the fact hat a few days later they are now requiring everyone to pay the higher on-board price (that you can't see anymore) on their non-intercity network for a week doesn't have great optics even though it may well be a total co-incidence.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122315337#Comment_122315337

We've seen Aircoach make their customer care team redundant, closed phone lines at weekend, outsource it to a team in the UK who simply lack the local knowledge that the NI team did. They also feel it's acceptable to reply to emails in 7-14 days and hide their fares information from view. They then say they have internal problems, but because of their problems, cancel pre-booked journeys and to top it all off then make a loyal, long standing customer like yourself who has done nothing wrong, pay a higher walk-up price because of said issues. Why should you have to pay a higher fare because of it? You shouldn't. End of.

Does this sound like a company that cares about it's customers to you? Because to me it doesn't. My advice to you if you are on the 702/703 route is to get a DART if it's feasible and take another service from the city centre such as Dublin Bus 16/41 (you'll save a fair bit if you use LEAP) or Dublin Express. Aircoach don't deserve your money. Give it to someone who does. As a customer of Aircoach since 2005, that pains me to say it, but it's just my opinion at the moment.

Chuckleberry

I have no sympathy for them. A friend of mine was let go by the Belfast arm..SIPTU are standing up for their members like any union should.

My plea is to travelling public, please do not take this out on the drivers, they are not the ones who are making decisions, when the time comes, please back them, they do not like this any more than you do.

Chuckleberry

they are now deleting any negative comments made on their social media.

LF403

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122317257#Comment_122317257

I'm assuming that's taking place on X/Twitter?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122316126#Comment_122316126

SIPTU are doing all they can, and I commend them for it - They're between a rock and a hard place on this one though, as the company are looking to also introduce some extra benefits (they need a hell of a lot more drivers to cope with the expansion). It could possibly undermine the roster issues, or downplay the downsides if the matter ends up in the Labour Court.

Chuckleberry

No it was on FB, there were a number of comments about not being informed about service changes and waiting for services that didnt arrive, there was also one from an irritate ex staff member also who named N and K.

I didn't have a look at twitter until now, but just searched it and boy oh boy their new cs team in leeds are totally out their depth.

LF403

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122318425#Comment_122318425

As expected really, the team in Leeds probably weren't even informed of the ongoing dispute. I must take a mosey on over there.

I'm not surprised at the ex staff member being irate. Current staff members are disgusted at the treatment of the (now) ex-belfast team, and the recent announcement of yet another redundancy of an incredibly important staff member.
Most of these orders come from N, with drivers, engineering and middle management detesting said person, and their approach.

K has been fairly quiet, except for the debacle that was Galway.