Ulster Bus in the Republic ?

They did the shuttle bus between fairyhouse and M3 parkway for the Pope's visit.

The one true excursion into the south was the former interlink ireland services, which had a blue bus going from Derry to Longford, connecting with an Ulsterbus from Belfast to Athlone, where after a wait of about an hour in windy cold bleak Athlone rail station, there was connecting Bus eireann services to Limerick (and onto Kerry), Cork, Galway and Waterford.

Thats now gone a number of years (since cutbacks in the recession), with the only remnant being the morning Ulsterbus from Belfast to Cavan which now turns there (previously that went all the way to Athlone) and its bus eireann from Cavan to Galway.

Aside from that, theres regular local Ulsterbusses going from Enniskillen to Belturbet or Clones, and Armagh to Monaghan so aside from the Derry/ Belfast to Dublin expresses, thats about it.

The west coast Derry-Galway service was always bus eireann as far as I know, but even on that you had always to change in Galway to get to Limerick and Cork. There was also a Ballina-Belfast service, but that was bus eireann from Ballina to Enniskillen and then a change to a blue bus there, so no blue bus in the south there either.

munchkin_utd wrote: »

The one true excursion into the south was the former interlink ireland services, which had a blue bus going from Derry to Longford, connecting with an Ulsterbus from Belfast to Athlone, where after a wait of about an hour in windy cold bleak Athlone rail station, there was connecting Bus eireann services to Limerick (and onto Kerry), Cork, Galway and Waterford.

Thats now gone a number of years (since cutbacks in the recession), with the only remnant being the morning Ulsterbus from Belfast to Cavan which now turns there (previously that went all the way to Athlone) and its bus eireann from Cavan to Galway.

While Ulsterbus no longer go past Cavan, the Interlink Ireland services and connections still run, although they're not advertised (or likely to be used in their entirety) any more. The only thing cancelled during the recession was Route 71 from Athlone to Cork via Thurles.

The connections were last advertised around 2013/14 by Ulsterbus.

The only places you'll see/hear the Interlink Ireland name are on the destination board of the 09:10 ex Belfast, and the tannoy announcements at Monaghan station where it's still referred to as the "Galway/Cork Interlink"

You can still travel from Belfast to Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford via Athlone or vice versa cross-country, with through tickets available.

Dep. Belfast 09:10 (Route 271)
Arr. Cavan 11:55

Dep. Cavan 12:00 (Route 65)
Arr. Athlone 13:55

From Athlone, you can then travel to Galway, Limerick or Waterford via all the intermediate towns.

Dep. Athlone 14:05 (Route 20)
Arr. Galway 15:45

Dep. Athlone 14:15 (Route 72)
Arr. Limerick 16:25

Dep. Athlone 15:00 (Route 73)
Arr. Waterford 18:55

Previously a Route 71 bus ran from Athlone to Cork, but this was cancelled during the recession as you've mentioned above, so you must travel via Limerick changing there. You can also travel from Limerick to Killarney and Tralee.

Dep. Limerick 16:35 (Route 51)
Arr. Cork 18:25

Dep. Limerick 16:35 (Route 14)
Arr. Killarney 19:05

Dep. Limerick 17:35 (Route 13)
Arr. Tralee 19:40