info on dublin airport bus please

silverside

Hi
I will have to get to Dublin Airport from the city centre in rush hour (5pm) next week. I plan to get the dublin bus express from O'connell street.

How long should I expect the bus to take at that hour? and how reliable is the service? I've found it quite good before but I don't know what the traffic is like now with the port tunnel roadworks and winter traffic.

thanks

De Rebel

Depending on the air line you are flying with and your attitude to last minute rushing, I would suggest 2-2.5 hours before flight time.

silverside

that long? I might get a taxi instead! Its ryanair so deffo want to be there on time.

Victor

You can get routes 746, 747, 748 or Aircoach. Journey times would probably vary from 20-60 minutes. As best I know (haven't used it in long time) the 747/748 use the Malahide Road and suffer less congestion.

Take a look at the realtime Aircoach tracker to see how long it takes tomorrow.

http://www.aircoach.ie/html_en/routes.html
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=114478

Originally posted by silverside
that long? I might get a taxi instead! Its ryanair so deffo want to be there on time.

He's overstating it. He is taking journey + check in time. A taxi wouldn't be hugely quicker and would cost about €25 against €6. Getting a taxi on the street at that hour is another matter, you might need to book.

Handy hint. Get a one day bus ticket (€5 or 5 for €15) and you can still use the 746, 747, 748 and use any bus you want during the day.

De Rebel

Originally posted by Victor
He's overstating it.

Not sure that I am. I frequently travel from the city centre to the airport, usually by taxi , sometimes by aircoach. The taxi drivers are free to choose a route, and although the aircoach drivers also sometimes change their routes they usually stick to the published one. In general though, the aircoach is as fast as a taxi, and a hell of a lot cleaner (but lets not get back into that.....)

I've done it by leaving 90 minutes before take off, but it leaves NO room for things to go wrong, and believe me I am almost always last to check in and am very comfortable with cutting it fine.

If the bus goes anywhere near the port tunnel works at that time it COULD be stopped for quite a while. Check in queues in Dublin Airport are very unpredictable at present. Closing times for a number of flights have increased in recent times. And Aer Arann (if thats what s/he is travelling) have changed their computer system and are currently have major problems/delays at check-in.

I stand by what I said. And I would add that the 2 hours before departure would not guarantee getting on board the flight. Especially if its Ryanair/Aer Arann - thats why I added the "Depending on the air line you are flying with"

I drove to Dublin this week, rather than bother with a repeat of the epic I had when flying last week, and I can see myself using a mix of car/train over the coming months to avoid Dublin Airport and the city centre.

BuffyBot

the 747/748 use the Malahide Road and suffer less congestion.

I wish - the last few times I've used them they've gone right through Summerhill and Drumcrondra or up the Malahide Road, then over to Whitehall....all the time going through the Port Tunnel roadworks!

Victor

Originally posted by De Rebel
Not sure that I am.

He asked for "A". you told him "A+B" (admittedly saying it was "A+B"). Thats all.

silverside

ok thanks for the info

I think i'll give it 2.5 hours before flight time - better safe than sorry and all that - 60 mins for bus, 60 mins for check in, and 30 mins as a buffer.

or i might bring a pair of runners and jog it - should do it in just over an hour! or maybe not.