Public Transport

vodkasoda

I wonder if anybody can help me ...

I am moving to Clara, Offaly, in about 7 or 8 weeks time and am researching as much as I can about the area & how to go about things & get to & from places ... however, I can find nothing, absolutely diddly-squat about bus services in the area !!!

I know about the trains, but buses appear to be a myth !!!

I visited the Bus Eireann site, which quite honestly has to be amongst the worst web-sites I have ever seen, as far as supplying information is concerned, and it told me, under the tab of Local Services : "Stage carriage are regular daily services serving all intermediate points en route and stopping on request where required.

Our local stage-carriage services carry 13 million passengers every year and provide the only public transport link in many rural areas. Population decline and rising car ownership have reduced the market for local stage-carriage bus services but, recognising the social value of local bus services, we pursue a strategy of maintaining the existing network. We have, where possible, linked local stage-carriage services closely with Expressway routes to improve connections to many rural areas. "

Well thanks Bus Eireann, but that is of no use whatsoever to somebody trying to find out information about local bus services !!!

So, can anybody help me with regard to bus services in the Clara area ?!?!

Scawgeen

There's a regular daily service between Tullamore and Athlone by a private bus company which stops in Clara. Carrolls is the company in Tullamore I think, don't know who operates from Athlone.

vodkasoda

Scawgeen wrote:

There's a regular daily service between Tullamore and Athlone by a private bus company which stops in Clara. Carrolls is the company in Tullamore I think, don't know who operates from Athlone.

That's certainly a start, thanks. do you have any idea how I can find out about this service ? I googled but couldn't find anything obvious ...

offaly1

carrolls bus service, don't have a website, but if you go to golden pages website and look up jj carrolls coaches in tullamore it should be a help.

I think Flagline are the company operating from athlone to tullamore daily.

Bus eireann, operates the athlone to waterford service which stops in clara, around whites pub or thereabouts :cool:

Saruman

All these private operators are missing out on a lot of customers in our tech savvy computer age it seems. Im guilty of it myself.. if they do not have a website then i believe they do not exist Im too lazy to go looking through the phone book. I want a website with timetables or i will just use the car.

Anyway Bus Eireann do not service clara which is why you cant find any info.

offaly1

I must admit the bus eireann time table is very hard to follow,but they did serve clara. I went to college in athlone, and when i used to skive off lectures i used to get the waterford bus eireann bus home to tullamore, this bus stopped in clara, but only if there is some1 wanting to get on or off there. try this link... www.buseireann.ie/journeyplanner

i agree totally with the number of private operaters that to not have websites.........in this day and age is a little bit backwards....oh well..

Occidental

The Waterford bus still serves Clara, though I think it's only a few times a day.

_feedback_

Saruman wrote:

if they do not have a website then i believe they do not exist Im too lazy to go looking through the phone book. I want a website with timetables or i will just use the car.

That's very true... Can't understand why some of them don't have them yet! Cheap as chips for a low maintenance website these days.

Not sure about the route you're talking about, but what I find really is a joke, is the 'Athlone/Mullingar/Tullamore Triangle - Linking Midlands Towns' (or some BS like that) It's like planning a bank robbery , planning a trip from one town to another via bus ..... and as for the Mullingar/Athlone train line ..... that's just a disgrace.

offaly1

ah the townlink is it?its a load of rubbish!

mullingar athlone train line....what train line?!

_feedback_

offaly1 wrote:

mullingar athlone train line....what train line?!

That's what I mean , don't want to elaborate, or might do some damage in the office here when get going !!!!

GRRRRRRRRRRR

vodkasoda

elviscostello wrote:

That's very true... Can't understand why some of them don't have them yet! Cheap as chips for a low maintenance website these days.

Not sure about the route you're talking about, but what I find really is a joke, is the 'Athlone/Mullingar/Tullamore Triangle - Linking Midlands Towns' (or some BS like that) It's like planning a bank robbery , planning a trip from one town to another via bus ..... and as for the Mullingar/Athlone train line ..... that's just a disgrace.

Mullingar is hosting one of the FAS courses that my son was interested in doing & that's what started me on this "adventure" ... as far as I could remember, it is not far from Clara, maybe 10 or 12 miles, but when I queried this on the Irishrail.ie website it sent me via Dublin !!!

That's when I searched on a map of the Irish rail network and, to be honest, was flabbergasted at what I was seeing !!!

vodkasoda

offaly1 wrote:

carrolls bus service, don't have a website, but if you go to golden pages website and look up jj carrolls coaches in tullamore it should be a help.

I think Flagline are the company operating from athlone to tullamore daily.

Bus eireann, operates the athlone to waterford service which stops in clara, around whites pub or thereabouts :cool:

I called Carroll's and it sounded like I woke up a bored housewife, the phone was certainly not answered by a busy switchboard operator !!! Apparently the only buses that they run through Clara are shuttle buses to and from Athlone IT college.

Flagline, I have a phone number for them, which I got from Offaly CC, but can't get an answer so far ... Offaly CC have said that they will update their Offaly.ie site with some relevant information, though, which is good for the future ...

Bus Eireann don't have Clara in their list of towns, although it is mentioned in 1 timetable, that's for the number 120, and it's for 1 bus from Birr to Dublin & 1 bus from Dublin to Birr ... on Saturday's only !!!

I knew that things would be a bit different when I moved out of the city, but this is beginning to feel a bit ridiculous ... no wonder there are so many cars on the road !!!!!!!

Saruman

As usual.. if you want to take public transport somewhere, you need to "drive" somewhere else to get the bus/train you need in which case you might as well just keep going to your destination

It would be nice to have a regular bus service going between Tullamore, Athlone, Mullingar.. including Rochfortbridge of course that ran every hour and even ran until midnight or so. Obviously including Clara too

Are you trying to get to anywhere in particular? im assuming you want to get somewhere the train does not run?
Would love a trainstation in Rochfortbridge (neares one is Mullingar) but we have regular Bus services with Bus Eireann and Citylink and i think some others. We are the Dublin-galway route so i can get to Athlone by bus if i want.

Scawgeen

Clara is 20 miles from Mullingar, it's takes about a half hour driving by car. There are two ways of getting there, through Kilbeggan or through Horseleap, Dysart. The latter being a quieter road. Most people attending Fas courses in the area do so in either Athlone or Tullamore. You can place an add on local radio looking for a lift from Clara to Mullingar, or in the local papers, it can very often yield a successful result.

vodkasoda

... who has participated in this thread. I am now a little clearer about public transport (or lack of it !!!) in Clara & at least we can now move down there and not be surprised when we find there are no regular buses or bus routes !!!

We are still waiting to hear from FAS Athlone regarding their bus service, when (if ?!?) I hear back from them I'll post the information up here, it may help somebody else in my situation some time !!!

offaly1

Midland Bus in Athlone operate the fas bus service as far as i know. it used to run from portlaoise to athlone daily!