City Centre - Dell by Bus

Black_Ninja

Hi guys.

Whats the easiest way to get from Limerick City Centre to Dell by bus.

I guess it don't stop directly at dell so where is the nearest stop and how far from Dell is it?

The 301 stops outside the FAS centre in raheen industrial estate. Dell is a 5-6 minute walk from there

http://journeyplanner.buseireann.ie/jp/bin/traininfo.exe/en/11562/6100/13234/2764/86?ld=std&currentCSS=theme_be&seqnr=3&ident=3l.0495262.1364335716&date=28-03-2013&station_evaId=8060783&station_type=dep&journeyStartIdx=8&journeyEndIdx=25&backLink=tp&

http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1347273212-301.pdf

Black_Ninja

Thanks for the reply shaaane

Buckeye

Black_Ninja wrote: »

Hi guys.

Whats the easiest way to get from Limerick City Centre to Dell by bus.

I guess it don't stop directly at dell so where is the nearest stop and how far from Dell is it?

I took the bus for about two years (2010-2012) while I worked contracts at Dell and other Raheen Business Park companies. None of the HR departments has ever been able to give me a map or directions to their locations, and very little is available online. Also, on my first day out there, I was told "just ask the bus driver; they always know", but neither the bus driver nor the staff at FAS were able to give me directions to Dell (which is, as noted above, a 5-minute walk south around the corner from FAS).

There is a bus that leaves Debenham's at about 7:20 and is the only one to make the complete Raheen Business Park loop and stop in front of Dell. It is not the regular 301/304; it comes in across Sarsfield Bridge and is one of the intercity coaches. The driver is a great guy.

Otherwise, last I checked, the buses that leave Debenham's on the 10, 20, 40, and 50 (so, not on the hour or half-hour) go into Raheen Business Park and only do the Ballycummin Road/Cloughkeating Road rectangle, entering & exiting at Raheen roundabout.

About 500 metres into RBP, at the first bus stop, there is a big visitor's map with all of the streets & all of the companies. Dell is about a 10-12 minute walk from the visitor's map.

The problem is, Bus Eireann denies it. Every time I have called to get the latest schedule inside RBP, they tell me the buses do not go into RBP. And when I am inside RBP, waiting 30 minutes or more (for a bus that should come 4 times per hour), and I call to find out what is wrong, they tell me I'm "mistaken", that I wasn't dropped off by a bus that morning or picked up by a bus the afternoon before. It's very clear that in the afternoons, when the buses are way behind schedule, they catch up to their time by skipping the pass through RBP.

Because the morning routes have always been so reliable, and the afternoon routes completely unreliable, I always use the afternoon as a chance to get in an extra kilometre or two of walking and just head straight out Cloughkeating Road to the roundabout and catch the bus there.

xii

and the award for the most comprehensive post with rant goes too ....

leakyboots

How well is Ballycummin served by bus?

redron74

Buckeye wrote: »

I took the bus for about two years (2010-2012) while I worked contracts at Dell and other Raheen Business Park companies. None of the HR departments has ever been able to give me a map or directions to their locations, and very little is available online. Also, on my first day out there, I was told "just ask the bus driver; they always know", but neither the bus driver nor the staff at FAS were able to give me directions to Dell (which is, as noted above, a 5-minute walk south around the corner from FAS).

The timetables and routes changed last september, so it is completely different now!

Buckeye wrote: »

There is a bus that leaves Debenham's at about 7:20 and is the only one to make the complete Raheen Business Park loop and stop in front of Dell. It is not the regular 301/304; it comes in across Sarsfield Bridge and is one of the intercity coaches. The driver is a great guy.

Does this bus still run under the new timetables and routes?

Buckeye wrote: »

Otherwise, last I checked, the buses that leave Debenham's on the 10, 20, 40, and 50 (so, not on the hour or half-hour) go into Raheen Business Park and only do the Ballycummin Road/Cloughkeating Road rectangle, entering & exiting at Raheen roundabout.

Raheen Business Park is now served by two buses per hour (route 301), which leave Sarsfield St at 10 and 40 past the hour. The route goes via Fr Russell Road, so it takes almost 25mins to get to the stops inside RBP. So if you are starting your shift at 08:00 then you need to get the 07:10 unless you are allowed the luxury of persistently arriving 5-10mins late.

On the old 304, some drivers would simply go around the roundabout and skip RBP altogether if they were way behind time and trying to catch up to the timetable. (Apparently, they were under pressure to get their allocation of runs in during their shift, which encourages this kind of shortcut.)

Buckeye wrote: »

...

Because the morning routes have always been so reliable, and the afternoon routes completely unreliable, I always use the afternoon as a chance to get in an extra kilometre or two of walking and just head straight out Cloughkeating Road to the roundabout and catch the bus there.

The morning buses to Raheen are reasonably reliable up until about 08:20, after which they start to hit the school traffic, which causes long tailbacks between St Paul's Roundabout and The Crescent Shopping Centre (and sometimes further back than this). They are usually quite reliable again sometime after 09:30 up until schools start finishing after 14:00-14:30. Traffic congestion makes the situation crazy until after 18:00 (sometimes rostering issues add to the problems).
The 304 no longer serves the roundabout: you have to go to the bus stop on Ballycummin Road (down by the side of the church, across the road) if you want to avail of that extra option.