Bus Eireann routes 109/109A Changes

Kutebride · 07-11-2017 1:21pm

I never use Bus Eireann as am on the private coach. Amen.

Looking to purchase a ticket for the 109 for tomorrow as I am staying late in town. Feeling nervous as lots of comments on social media regarding the timetable not being accurate.

It also appears if I go on line to the Bus Eireann site direct I can get a return ticket for €14.25. If I purchase the blue zone (Navan) ticket for the LEAP card it is €18+. Shame not a better offer with the LEAP card.

malene · 07-11-2017 2:35pm

Kutebride wrote: »

I never use Bus Eireann as am on the private coach. Amen.

Looking to purchase a ticket for the 109 for tomorrow as I am staying late in town. Feeling nervous as lots of comments on social media regarding the timetable not being accurate.

It also appears if I go on line to the Bus Eireann site direct I can get a return ticket for €14.25. If I purchase the blue zone (Navan) ticket for the LEAP card it is €18+. Shame not a better offer with the LEAP card.

wow, just noticing this now as well. Cheaper online than LEAP! Also, are drivers strict on specific bus tickets. i.e if i buy ticket for 109 and NX comes along, can I get on that and if i bought return for 109 but I get a 109A, can I do that as well?

ArmaniJeanss · 29-11-2017 12:37pm

Any option to get from Navan to Blanchardstown in the early hours (2am,3am)?
Looks to me that the bus which goes via Blanch doesn't run between 1.00 and 05.30, whilst the bus which does have an hourly service through the night goes the Ashbourne/Finglas/airport route.
May be a misread on my part though as quite hard to work out.

flowerific · 29-11-2017 12:46pm

Got the 109 last month from Kells to Dublin city for the first time. NEVER again. The 109A never showed up and I was 40mins late getting to Dublin. I bought a return ticket as I had rang Bus Eireann to check fares and to confirm that as per their timetable that the 109A left Busaras every hour throughout the night. I was told my return ticket was valid to use for a month. Needles to say No buses left from Busaras and I was stranded in Dublin for the night as didn't have 80eur taxi fare. Then when I looked at my return ticket it had expiry date as the date of purchase. It f*ucjef up the end of my night

horseburger · 29-11-2017 4:38pm

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Any option to get from Navan to Blanchardstown in the early hours (2am,3am)?
Looks to me that the bus which goes via Blanch doesn't run between 1.00 and 05.30, whilst the bus which does have an hourly service through the night goes the Ashbourne/Finglas/airport route.
May be a misread on my part though as quite hard to work out.

Yes, you are correct. The 109A throughout the night does not cover the Blanchardstown Slip Road, nor during the day either.

The 109A leaves hourly from Navan during the night at the Abbey Road stop on the opposite side of the Fire Station at 5 past the hour. It then goes to Dunshaughlin, Ratoath, Ashbourne and Dublin Airport before going to Bus Aras.

It does not stop at DCU during the night.

The 109A leaves hourly from Bus Aras at 25 past the hour during the night and then goes to Dublin Airport, and then Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells.

The last service from Navan going to Dublin that covers the Blanchardstown Slip Road, is the 109, at Navan Market Square at 10.35pm.

The last 109 from Dublin to Navan, that covers the Blanchardstown Slip Road each night, is the 11.45pm 109 from Bus Aras.

http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1473263565-109A.pdf

http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1504435589-109.pdf

Dublin Bus run hourly night link services from the city centre to Blanchardstown village on Friday and Saturday nights, which might be an option.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/Your-Journey1/Timetables/All-Timetables/39n/

flowerific · 29-11-2017 8:59pm

The 109A leaves hourly from Bus Aras at 25 past the hour during the night and then goes to Dublin Airport, and then Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells.QUOTE]

Except that it is no show when you go to Busaras in the early hours of the morning. Waited from 4:10am to 5:40 am in Busaras with no sign of any bus and it seemed like a very unsafe area at night.

horseburger · 29-11-2017 9:15pm

flowerific wrote: »

The 109A leaves hourly from Bus Aras at 25 past the hour during the night and then goes to Dublin Airport, and then Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells.QUOTE]

Except that it is no show when you go to Busaras in the early hours of the morning. Waited from 4:10am to 5:40 am in Busaras with no sign of any bus and it seemed like a very unsafe area at night.

There were a number of late notice cancellations that were occurring around the same time that the NX timetable began on 17th September, on a number of different services. The notification of these cancellations were posted on Bus Éireann's website in the timetable news section. Later on, as the timetable news section was being updated with news items, the earlier updates, were then being included in the timetable archive section, of the website.

There were cancellations of services occurring on different routes, for example to and from Dublin, and Navan, Ratoath, Mullingar, Athboy, Enfield, Wicklow, Delvin, and Kildare, on a number of different services, including the 105, 111, 115, 109A, 126, 133, 109X, 109B and the NX services.

For example on 23rd September there were cancellations to a number of services including the NX, 103, 109A, 126 & 133.

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2390&month=Sep

On 24th September there were cancellations to the 111, 109, 109A and 133 services.

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2392&month=Sep

On 26th September there were cancellations on the 103 service.

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2394&month=Sep

On 14th October the 2.25am and 4.25am 109A services from Bus Aras, were cancelled.

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2414&month=Oct

On Saturday 28th October, a number of 109A services were cancelled, for example the 2.25am and 5.25am services from Bus Aras.

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2446&month=Oct

Even though there have been cancellations over recent weeks, the 109A isn't getting cancelled all the time. It is not the case that they are not showing up all the time during the night.

There has not been as many cancellations in recent weeks, compared to the amount of cancellations that had been occurring in mid to late September and October.

What date were you waiting at Bus Aras between 4.10am and 5.40am for a 109A service?

Were there cancellations listed on the Bus Éireann website, on that night?

It is possible that the 12.25am, 1.25am, 2.25am and 3.25am 109A services had operated on that night.

You stated, in your earlier post, that no services left from Bus Aras, on the occasion, that you were waiting for a 109A bus, at Bus Aras.

Did you see a 5am service leave from Bus Aras that went to Belfast? There is a 5am service to Belfast that leaves from Bus Aras daily.

Do you mean that no 109A services operated from Bus Aras during the time that you were waiting there, or are you suggesting that no 109A services operated at all, that night, from Bus Aras?

Listings of cancellations, were posted on Bus Éireann's website around the time that these cancellations were occurring, and the particular services that did not operate on the night you were at Bus Aras, may have been listed as cancelled, in one of the updates that were posted on the website.

http://www.buseireann.ie/archive_timetable.php?year=2017

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2434&month=Oct

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2441&month=Oct

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2427&month=Oct

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2407&month=Oct

http://www.buseireann.ie/news_timetable.php?id=2484&month=Nov

mugsymugsy · 15-11-2018 9:00am

Query why the hell does the 109x go.on the M50. Still cant work it out. It should be a straight run through using bus lanes on the n3 and into town / busaras as quickly as possible

crank_1975 · 06-03-2019 8:32pm

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but does anyone know why the buses are all going into Blanchardstown SC again? Bus tonight took 20 mins to get in and out of the shopping centre, looks like bus stop has moved to opposite the Crowne Plaza but makes no sense at all.

Irish Steve · 06-03-2019 9:34pm

crank_1975 wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but does anyone know why the buses are all going into Blanchardstown SC again? Bus tonight took 20 mins to get in and out of the shopping centre, looks like bus stop has moved to opposite the Crowne Plaza but makes no sense at all.

The stop has been moved to the new location as a result of a number of assaults and other anti social behaviour incidents that occurred at the stop location on the M3 slip road.

Geog1234 · 06-03-2019 9:39pm

The slip road stop was rather isolated. There is a notice at the stop directing passengers to the new stop though yesterday some buses still served it in addition to the new stop as not all passengers would know yet.

Bus Éireann release on it:

New Bus Stop location in Blanchardstown affecting Routes 105, 109, 109B, 109X, 111, 111X and NX
We wish to advise customers that from this Sunday, 3 March 2019, the Blanchardstown Bus Stop on the Westbound slip road will no longer be used.

Customers wishing to avail of routes 105, 109, 109B, 109X, 111, 111X and NX can board services at the new bus stop at the Crown Plaza Dublin Hotel.

Friday, 1st March, 2019

PauloMN · 06-03-2019 11:35pm

Irish solution to an Irish problem. Instead of addressing the anti-social behavior at the original stop, they re-route the bus adding maybe 10 mins plus at peak times to an already long journey. Total fail imo, never going to encourage people to use public transport with decisions like that.

Irish Steve · 07-03-2019 1:11am

Brutal honesty, this issue with Blanchardstown is only the thin end of a very big wedge relating to the total inability of BE to deliver a service that actually meets the users needs and requirements. There are regular and ongoing issues with the 109, 109A, 103, 103x, 105 and 105x services, and I suspect that there are other routes that are equally bad in terms of their performance against targets that are set by the NTA. The stop at Blanchardstown was only moved after the intervention by a number of ministers as a result of several nasty attacks on people at the stop that was in use until recently.

There are problems with no shows, late running, and a complete lack of realistic customer service, and that's only the start of it.

To be specific, and I am sure that there are plenty of other people who could comment here, BE is no longer fit for purpose as a provider of urban area services, and have shown themselves to be unable to meet the commitments they have given in terms of quality of service, reliability, and service delivery.

I could go into more specific details, but it's pointless, in that BE management don't care, don't respond to complaints, and are doing nothing to resolve the problems that are very evident in the East Meath corridor, and the NTA are only slightly less culpable, in that as the supervisory entity, they too are not dealing with the issues that are reported to them.

There are better solutions, but they go way beyond anything that can be achieved by discussions in this thread, and they require a fundamental restructuring of both the BE organisation, and the methods by which the services in the Meath area are delivered, but I don't see that being changed any time soon, as there is a total lack of clear vision in the places that make the decisions about how public transport will be delivered. The result is a disorganised and chaotic set of services with no cohesion between the BE, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail services that are not appropriately or effectively coordinated, even though they are operated by the one overall company.

I will be very surprised to see any real or effective change in the next while, it's clear that there is no political will to challenge and resolve the problems in CIE, and no will within CIE to make the organisation fit for purpose.

srsly78 · 07-03-2019 6:19pm

What annoys me most are the fscking ghost buses that show on the realtime tracker. Standing at ross cross in the rain waiting for 109A, tracker shows it 7 minutes away......6 .... 5 ..... 4 ....3 ...2 ...1.....59!

Other times nothing shows up on tracker at all, then a private bus with a barely legible 109A sign on front pulls up. Private bus has no leap card reader? Oh then your trip is free!

gazzer · 08-03-2019 3:03pm

PauloMN wrote: »

Irish solution to an Irish problem. Instead of addressing the anti-social behavior at the original stop, they re-route the bus adding maybe 10 mins plus at peak times to an already long journey. Total fail imo, never going to encourage people to use public transport with decisions like that.

Just reading about this. Ughhhh. After working all week in Dublin the last thing I need is extra journey time added onto my bus journey to Virginia.

gazzer · 11-03-2019 2:56pm

gazzer wrote: »

Just reading about this. Ughhhh. After working all week in Dublin the last thing I need is extra journey time added onto my bus journey to Virginia.

Well it turns out I didnt need to worry. Even with the extra detour the 6.15 109x from Busarus got into Virginia for 7.55. Quickest time yet on that particular service. The M50 was having a good day

Irish Steve · 18-03-2019 4:04pm

well, that was an interesting weekend away. We went over to the airport on Friday evening on the 109A, it was a good job we planned the journey with a lot of slack in our schedule, the 1840 from Ashbourne to the airport was 45 minutes late, given they are supposed to run every hour, that's some shambles, and in recent weeks, as a result of being around the town on a regular basis, I've noticed that there are regularly delays of 20 minutes on the service to the airport.

The only conclusion I can draw is that BE are short of staff, or suitable vehicles, or both, so they are running the 109A with at least 1 bus short, the timetable from Kells shows an hourly departure at X.40 for most of the day, and the arrival at Kells is supposedly at X.45, so in theory, they have nearly an hour lay over at Kells before the next round trip, and from what I can see of it, the arrival at 45 is effectively having to come straight back to Dublin with a delay of 5 minutes, and that's then assuming that it does arrive in Kells on time, which with the delays that are happening pretty much every day, is clearly not the case.

What's even more frustrating is that BE seem to have absolutely no interest or concern about the fact that their schedule performance is so bad. We were fortunate that we could allow for such a delay on Friday, but depending on the flight timing, and the time to clear security, that's not always possible, as was the case a few months ago, when the 0435 service was running a similar delay, arriving at the airport at 0540 for a 0630 departure was a non runner, so we ended up having to come home and drive over, in the end, we arrived at T1 as the bus was leaving Ashbourne, had we waited for the bus, we'd have been struggling to get on the flight.

Has anyone found a way to actually get the attention of BE and their system? Between their unreliability, and their inability to fix their web site so that it's actually possible to track where the buses are, they give the impression of an organisation that has no interest in actually meeting the expectations of their customers, and that for me is the quickest way to lose those customers.

If we had an alternative service provider from Ashbourne, I'd be certainly giving them a chance to prove their ability, as BE have made it very clear that they don't actually care about how they are performing. In theory, TFI and NTA are also involved, but they too are non responsive when issues are raised with them, which is not exactly the way it's supposed to be.

dar_cool · 04-05-2019 11:18am

I'm suppose to be traveling from Kells to Dublin airport on the 04:40 service tomorrow morning. Anyone know how reliable it is? After reading above posts I have my doubts. Anyone use the early morning service before?
Thanks

dar_cool · 05-05-2019 7:00am

Bus arrived on time and had us in Dublin airport few minutes before 6 so positive review from here. Bus was pretty full aswell so good to see it's being used

ArmaniJeanss · 11-05-2019 12:23am

Struggling to follow the timetable/journey planner.

Looking to go Blanchardstown to Cavan next week.
Am I right in thinking the 109X is the option, and that it stops at the new stop outside the Crowne Plaza?

Geog1234 · 12-05-2019 12:37pm

That's spot on, the 109X from the new stop to Cavan.

Bus Eireann routes 109/109A Changes

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