Touring bikes on train/bus

clod71

Hi there,

two friends of mine are coming to Ireland to tour in the West of the country and they were looking at booking the train From Galway to Cork, but apparently you have to reserve in advance, but there is no guarantee that they (irish rails) let you bring on the bike on board? What the feck is that supposed to mean?
They're looking at the bus as a second option and also in this case it looks like they will let you load the bikes in the boot only if there is... space.
Anyone has any experience with loading bikes on train/buses here?

Thanks in advanced for your help.

Mint Sauce

clod71 wrote: »

Hi there,

two friends of mine are coming to Ireland to tour in the West of the country and they were looking at booking the train From Galway to Cork, but apparently you have to reserve in advance, but there is no guarantee that they (irish rails) let you bring on the bike on board? What the feck is that supposed to mean?
They're looking at the bus as a second option and also in this case it looks like they will let you load the bikes in the boot only if there is... space.
Anyone has any experience with loading bikes on train/buses here?

Thanks in advanced for your help.

My experience of bringing bikes on trains and buses is an old one (5 years ago), so may not apply now.

You are pretty much right about the buses, which there is also a charge for.

In terms of the train, my understanding is that if its an intercity type train, on an intercity service, then the bike can be bought on at a charge, and only if space. There is limited space, 2 or 3 I think per train. On one of the days I traveled I had to get permission as well from an inspector before the clerk would sell me a ticket.

I know in the UK you can reserve up to 3 months in advance, not necessary, but recommended. Not aware of such an option here.

Hope that helps slightly.

clod71

Mint Sauce wrote: »

My experience of bringing bikes on trains and buses is an old one (5 years ago), so may not apply now.

You are pretty much right about the buses, which there is also a charge for.

In terms of the train, my understanding is that if its an intercity type train, on an intercity service, then the bike can be bought on at a charge, and only if space. There is limited space, 2 or 3 I think per train. On one of the days I traveled I had to get permission as well from an inspector before the clerk would sell me a ticket.

I know in the UK you can reserve up to 3 months in advance, not necessary, but recommended. Not aware of such an option here.

Hope that helps slightly.

Thanks a mil for sharing and clarifying, even f slightly.
I'll get on to irish rails tomorrow and ask them more questions.

L'Enfer du Nord

For the Galway to Cork you be better off taking the Bus, by train you have to change train once if not twice, some services you can book others you can't. It's true the Bus will only take a bike if there is space, but there usually is if it's not a busy time, e.g. Friday evening.

Should be no problem, in my experience the individual bus driver or train guard is a lot more helpful and sympathetic than the 'system'.

blobbie

All Intercity trains have a storage area in a carriage for 2 bicycles and Irish Rail recommend pre-booking. Most trains only have a single carriage with the bike storage area so are limited to 2 bikes however some trains have 2 or 3 carriages with bike storage areas and thus can take >2 bikes.

The only exception is the Dublin -> Belfast Enterprise which has a guard carriage and can take >2 bicycles.

Irish Rail recommend you pre-book bicycles with them. I do this using their online site when booking my ticket - I don't believe it is possible to make a "bike only" reservation online - perhaps via the phone but I am not sure if they have a phone booking service. This allows you to reserve a space for your bicycle when you book your ticket by ticking the "Bicycle Spaces are required" box. You then need to select a bike space in a carriage with the Bicycle Space icon (small blue box with white bicycle). It costs 6e per trip, not per leg so should cost 6e from Galway to Cork.

I presume once you have a reserved bicycle space your bicycle will be on the train and the folk without reservations have an issue.

If booking online, use a debit card to avoid credit card charge and book both tickets together to minimise transaction charges.

One PITA bit of the online booking process is that your seat selection, while in the same carriage, will be at the far end of the carriage from where the bikes are stored. If a quite train you can move seat but if busy you are a bit away from the bikes.

With regard changing trains it isn't really a hassle.

A quick look @ IE booking for a random date in July has some good fares (9.99e) for Galway - Cork and is anything fro 4h to 5h30m with 1 or 2 changes. Bus seems to be about 4h 30m and around 18e which is pretty much the same as train when you take into account the base fare of 9.99e, bike fare of 6e and transaction charge of 2e and CC charge of 1e.

I haven't traveled by bus with a bicycle yet but as posted above I believe BE will take bikes once there is space. As you will be going from a terminus stop, once you are there early you should be good to get your bike on-board. On the plus side AFAIK they don't charge for bicycles however on the negative side Irish people don't really give a fook about other people's property so don't be surprised to get all sorts of $hite chucked on top of them.

Irish Rail bicycle info page:
http://www.irishrail.ie/travel-information/bicycle-information

Bus Eireann luggage info page:
http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=324#luggage

EDIT: If booking online via Irish Rail website it has some "issue" with Chrome so use IE

Thargor

Look into Citylink for Galway-->Cork, cheaper than Bus Eireann for the passanger and the bike, nicer bus, toilet and wi-fi and proper air-con, no questions asked last time I put a bike underneath, driver didn't charge either but I think that was just a miscommunication between the guy loading the luggage and the driver, its usually a fiver.