Dublin Coach Experience Discussion Thread

18.00 pm M9 service over 40 minutes late this evening leaving Dublin. Not a word of apology, and just to make things even better they switch buses at the Red Cow for reasons only known to themselves.

You’d imagine 6 pm Friday you’d stick on one of the new more spacious buses too. Not Dublin coach, that would be too much like logic for them.

Our guy actually pulled into the hard shoulder near Avoca on the N7 too (as if we weren’t late enough)- assume to check something. Was only for a minute though but still very dangerous if non emergency. Seems to be their motto “sure take a chance”?

I often get it from Dublin to Kilkenny and if they keep to the schedule i.e. leave on the dot and don't stop at the Red Cow for a big chat with colleagues it can run to schedule. A few times it's even been slightly ahead i.e. 1 hr 35 mins to Kilkenny.

If their timetable was more frequent it would be less of an issue, but only every two hours leaves you stuck waiting. Have they ever said they'd increase the M9 route frequency? One very early morning service and one that arrives after 9 am to Dublin is a bit rubbish.

I said a month... what do I win lol

I got this to the airport this week and what a mistake that was. As the bus from cork was (of course) very late to Kilkenny it missed the connecting bus to the airport- now that there’s no Dundrum service this means the next one is only every hour. Which is useless. Better off just go into the city centre and get a connection there rather than wasting time in the wind swept car park of the red cow.

If it’s just 5 mins late you possibly miss the connecting airport bus- wasn’t a problem before as the Dundrum one was very frequent and there’d always be another along soon

Yes I noticed that today also

Saw one in Kilkenny yesterday with no branding at all on it.

Driver shortage everywhere so I would not hold my breath. Most company's struggling to cover routes as it is.

Very typical of Dublin Coach to blame others but being blind to their own incompetence. What's surprising that they're still managing to stay in market. Even though the way they do business is a bit shady. I wish to see someone else replacing them.

While I completely agree with that I fail to see why only urban networks should benefit from a single integrated network.

Do small town, rural dwellers or those travelling longer distances who already have a poor service not deserve to benefit from a single ticketing regime rather than having to be at the whim of commercially based fare structures that only exist to provide profit to operators?

Where I live I have

1. Locallink scheduled route about 30min walk away 4 times/day
2. Bus Eireann PSO 30 min walk away in other direction 4 times/day
3. Commercial operator A 10 min drive away 6 times/day
4. Commercial operator B same 10 min drive 8 times/day
5. Other Locallink service 15 min drive 6 times/day

None of these have any integration, either fares or timetables. a return journey just to a directly served destination has to be done with the same operator or there is a massive fare penalty from buying single tickets, a journey to somewhere further afield just becomes quickly so convoluted with fare/operator mix that it is just not worth the bother. That doesn't even account for the scenario of a missed connection where operator A's responsibility to a passenger missing a departure on operator B is zero, "different company, not our problem pal" drive off and potentially leave passengers stranded.

Every city seems to have areas which there is no PSO route for.

In Galway its the north end of Knocknacarra: huge new estates that BE had zero interest in serving. Vs similar older estates in the east of the city that have three routes going to/thru.

And Athenry which had a shyte PSO and train service. A fully commercial service started, and they now have the only nite-bues in county.

PSOs were useful in covid because they gave a mechanism for the government to make services continue. But they seem to stifle innovation and customer focus. There must be a better way.

And existing licensing should be enough to force integrated timetables, at least.

Since it has been over a month since the 307/308 was suspended in Limerick. Would Dublin Coach have other suspensions lined up for the remainder of their network in the near future?

I assume the passengers who would have used these routes frequently before they were suspended are still very bitter and frustrated with Dublin Coach's decision to not run them through their area.