Dublin Airport Bus Service Changes

Aircoach, like most operators only have a certain amount of driving staff right now and it the simple fact is that if they were to increase the frequency of the 702/703 route or run it later, they'd have to reduce services on the 700/704/705 routes which would make no sense because the services those staff/coaches run on now achieve far better financial performance.

They've already increased their pay but their MD said recently that the main reason for staff leaving them was not because of the pay which people were happy with, but was because of the late hours and unsocial hours that many of their services involved. That no doubt is part of the reason that the 702/703 are not running so late as previously.

I think the fact that they've acquired Airporter will be not only helpful in developing their network, but also helpful in terms of giving them access to another pool of staff to prospectively be bus drivers on the routes operated from the Northern Ireland base. Often they are having to sub Dublin based drivers and vehicles on the Belfast route which should be operated fully by Belfast because of shortages.

Unfortunately when an operation is short of staff they will always deploy their staff in the most profitable way possible and simply put, the 700, 704 and 705 routes are always going to be higher priority at this time.

I'm aware that not everyone has moved across, but still it does give them access to extra staff than previously and an extra location to source their staff from which will no doubt be helpful.

Few updates for the new year.

Airport Hopper

I note that the Airport Hopper timetable now shows a service every hour rather than every half an hour as it did initially. There has been no notification of this whatsoever to potential patrons apart from changing the timetable itself.

Aircoach

Having to increasingly use hire-ins over the last week due to a lack of available staff. Doesn't look like there is going to be any expansion of services anytime soon

Derry/Londonderry route is now said to launch in Early 2023. There's no assurances it will be January anymore as there apparently have been some further hurdles hit.

One of the Mercedes Citaros on the Car Park Shuttle is permanently withdrawn. 3 ex First Plaxton Centro B7RLE's rigid buses have now had their paperwork done and ready for use - 07D124896, 07D124903, 07D124906

Dublin Express

Dublin Express are looking to expand at least a little at the start of this year. Apparently Bernard Kavanagh might be in the position to throw more resources at it soon should National Express wish to do so.

The Derry to Dublin via Belfast Aircoach route will start on 22nd January.

The service does not have authorisation from the NI Department of Infrastructure to carry non airport passengers from Belfast to Derry or passengers from Belfast to Belfast International Airport.

This means whilst all Cross border journeys of all types are permitted. The only domestic NI journeys that are allowed on this service are between Belfast International Airport and Derry or Drumahoe Park and Ride. 

A few updates in terms of bus operations out of Dublin Airport following todays the release of the latest official National Transport Authority route licenses data.

Airport Hopper - Dublin Airport Routes 767/777

An official list of licenses from the National Transport Authority has confirmed the license holder of these services continues to be Dualway Coaches Ltd. Whilst there has been much talk about the service being under new ownership, the route licenses continue to be owned by the same company they always have been.

This does not mean that there is not a new company potentially involved in delivering the service as a subcontractor, but the legal right to run these services and the ownership of the routes remain with Dualway according to official documents.

This tallies with the legal address and legal documents on the Airport Hopper website, but seemingly contradicts posts made on the Airport Hoper social media that claim that the ownership of the routes has changed unless the NTA has made an error in it's own documents.

GoBus / CityLink - Galway Routes

Both operators continue to operate their own licenses for Dublin to Galway and are considered as separate companies still at this point rather than as a single entity.

Nolan Coaches - Dunboyne to Dublin Airport Route

Nolan Coaches have been granted a license for a service between Dunboyne and Dublin Airport which will be given the service number 770 which is expected to start later this year.

Deregistered Airport Services

Dublin Bus have formally relinquished their licences for routes 747 and 748 and Dublin Express have for route 783. None of the routes have ran in some time and the licenses have now expired so cannot return unless applied for from scratch.