Airport Hopper - Maynooth-Dublin Airport new route

devnull · 19-06-2013 11:05PM

I have to take two buses to get to the airport by public transport since it's either that or a €35+ taxi. If I could get a direct bus I'd sure as hell do it.

The kind of people you are talking about are the likes that would use public transport regularly, there is a whole other market out there that would never dream of using public transport but may take a direct airport bus.

n97 mini · 19-06-2013 11:36PM

Surely the vast majority of people in Maynooth, Leixlip and Lucan, would be familiar and unintimidated by public transport?

And does one bus instead of two not still constitute public transport for those who are?

Polar101 · 20-06-2013 09:29AM

GCU Flexible Demeanour wrote: »

A two hour gap between services seems too long. You could get to the Airport and back twice over while you were waiting. If it was every hour, it might get past some psychological barrier.

I'd assume they can run the service with one bus when it is a two hour gap, while they'd need more buses if it was every hour.

Lifelike · 20-06-2013 07:51PM

I personally have no problem with taking two buses to the airport, the only problem I have with getting to the airport is that the lack of a night bus service in Dublin prevents me from getting to/from the airport by bus in time for an early morning flight before ~9am and a flight arriving in after ~10pm. The solution, imo, is to have a single route operating along all major corridors at night, in both directions.

In the case of the Lucan corridor, this could easily done by operating a route that follows route 66 to maynooth, with an extension to Celbridge. Have buses depart Westmoreland st. and Celbridge every hour from midnight to 5am. Therefore, for a flight at say 6:30am, one could hop on a bus departing Celbridge at 3am and connect to a Swords-bound night bus going via the airport at 4am from town!

It's far more efficient than operating buses directly to the airport from every area in Dublin, and would also generate higher passenger numbers as the network would also cater for people that are going out, and those who finish work late or start work early.

GCU Flexible Demeanour · 20-06-2013 07:51PM

Polar101 wrote: »

I'd assume they can run the service with one bus when it is a two hour gap, while they'd need more buses if it was every hour.

I'm sure you're right, and I do hope that the service attracts enough interest for frequency to increase.

But my concern is exactly that one about the return journey. I know if I'm at the airport wanting to get home, and I've just missed the departure, I'm not going to wait for two hours for the next one - which I know is counter-productive in a sense, as it means maybe the service doesn't get the custom it needs to increase frequency. But, in fairness, one of the things the operator needs to offer to hold our attention is frequency, even if the cost of running half-empty buses at times needs to be covered by the fare.

n97 mini · 20-06-2013 10:40PM

Lifelike wrote: »

It's far more efficient than operating buses directly to the airport from every area in Dublin

Not just Dublin, it's from all over Ireland.

Dublin Airport must be the single biggest centre for non-connecting, standalone bus services in Ireland.

devnull · 20-06-2013 11:17PM

n97 mini wrote: »

Not just Dublin, it's from all over Ireland.

Dublin Airport must be the single biggest centre for non-connecting, standalone bus services in Ireland.

Strangely enough, a lot of airports have coaches from various places to the airports. It's not something that is uniquely Irish.

Airport Hopper - Maynooth-Dublin Airport new route

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