Direct Bus Waterford -> Dublin

babaracus

I have searched the forum and found posts from a few years back bemoaning the lack of a direct express Waterford to Dublin bus but no discussion since (that I can find).

I have to get the bus to Dublin next week and despite checking both Bus Eireann and JJ Kavanagh there appears to be no direct express bus using the M9. What in the name of jaysus is going on?

Bus Eireann and Jj Kavanagh both seem to go on the old N9 through Mullinavat, Ballyhale Thomastown etc. with stops right in the middle of Carlow Town thrown in to add further delays and anguish. Surely there would be demand for at least a couple of the daily services to Dublin to be direct. It is pushing me towards using the train and the train times are not really suitable for when I need to be up. A motorway is built and Bus Eireann don't use it? This is spectacularly idiotic. Please tell me I have missed a hidden direct bus timetable?

BuffyBot

"Surely" does not equal demand. Why do you think there would be passenger numbers across the two operators to sustain express services and a service to cater for local traffic?

Sully

I thought there was licensing issues or something that stopped them going on the M9? That was a few years ago but I was told that there was a service that did go along the motorway?

Knob Longman

Irish transport is still in the middle of the last century.

babaracus

BuffyBot wrote: »

"Surely" does not equal demand. Why do you think there would be passenger numbers across the two operators to sustain express services and a service to cater for local traffic?

It's a long time since I used the bus previously (pre M9) but I used it on a weekly basis for years and the majority of people were not going Waterford to Paulstown or Waterford to Royal Oak, they were going Waterford to Dublin. I doubt that has changed in the interim.

There should be a service for local traffic, I am not asking for every bus to be an Express, just to have a few Express buses a day. What is the point in building a motorway infrastructure and then public transport not using it. I'm sorry but that is idiotic in an era where we are trying to reduce car usage.

AdMMM

As far as I know, the first two services and the last service use the M9 and then exit at Carlow, and then come back onto it. I don't think there is the demand to profitably run a direct service to Dublin from Waterford. Having used the service for years, I don't think there's the demand for a direct "express" route to be run at a profit. A lot of the time, most of the people on the bus board at Carlow and I reckon that's the only stop that makes the route sustainable... outside of the weekend Student rush of course.

eiresandra

I've used Kavanaghs for years, and the only time I remember direct services was really busy student times like Sunday 5pm and Friday 5pm. Generally, by the time the bus gets from Dublin to Waterford, there may only be about 10 people on it - most people actually get off at the smaller towns along the N9.

Kavanaghs have changed their timetables recently, so that the buses generally do half motorway/half N9. They alternate between direct from Dublin to Carlow, then N9 down and N9 to Paulstown then motorway down.

PropJoe10

Kavanagh's are really missing a trick by not offering a direct bus, in my view. They'd get a lot of Bus Eireann customers that just want to go direct to Dublin, plus their own customers as well. The Bus Eireann buses are usually fairly busy from Waterford any time I get them, so surely there is an opening there for a direct service. People would be much more likely to use the bus services if they knew there was a direct route.

Jamie2k9

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Kavanagh's are really missing a trick by not offering a direct bus, in my view. They'd get a lot of Bus Eireann customers that just want to go direct to Dublin, plus their own customers as well. The Bus Eireann buses are usually fairly busy from Waterford any time I get them, so surely there is an opening there for a direct service. People would be much more likely to use the bus services if they knew there was a direct route.

I think you need to be promoted to JJ's commercial department :rolleyes:

There really isn't enough demand, most services are "timetabled" to take 2h35m while most trains take 1h50m or 2h10m so unless there is a major cut in a train times then there will be no express bus.

A few weeks ago I took one JJ's 1.30 bus to the airport and there was around 17 leaving Waterford, now I would of loved an express bus however 20 or so more get on en route and that revenue could never be made up with an express.

BTW, train is much better mode of transport to take, the little extra is worth it!

PropJoe10

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

I think you need to be promoted to JJ's commercial department :rolleyes:

There really isn't enough demand, most services are "timetabled" to take 2h35m while most trains take 1h50m or 2h10m so unless there is a major cut in a train times then there will be no express bus.

A few weeks ago I took one JJ's 1.30 bus to the airport and there was around 17 leaving Waterford, now I would of loved an express bus however 20 or so more get on en route and that revenue could never be made up with an express.

BTW, train is much better mode of transport to take, the little extra is worth it!

I was trying to say also that if there was an express service, people might be more likely to take the bus from Waterford than drive. Although it looks as if we will never know. I never was one for marketing in college, I'm sure I am quite wrong! haha

saintchrisburg

I take the JJ Kavanagh up to Dublin 5 days a week, M-F. I get the one that leaves Waterford at 3:30 a.m., and take the 4:30 p.m. bus home from Dublin if I'm lucky enough to make it in time, otherwise I take the one leaving at 6:00 p.m. . The timetables of both JJ Kavanagh and Bus Eireann don't work well for me, but at least JJ Kavanagh does a weekly ticket (60 euros at the moment); Bus Eireann doesn't do the 10 ticket for Waterford<->Dublin, that only starts from Thomastown, which doesn't make any sense at all to me but that's how it is.

Bus Eireann has the best route, especially the 5:00 a.m. as it really just hits Kilkenny-Carlow-Dublin for the most part. The 3:30 a.m. JJ Kavanagh isn't too bad either, since it takes the M9 up to Paulstown (I think, to be honest I always sleep on the bus so I'm not sure where it makes the first stop), and then it only has a few other pick-ups along the way (e.g. Naas). Coming back down is pure torture, which you can see from the timetable that doesn't even list every stop it can make. The traffic out of Dublin, through Naas, through Kilcullen is a nightmare, and then after that you usually have people getting off what feels like every 5 km or so as far as Carlow; after Carlow it's a bit less frequent, but the roads through south Kilkenny get your head spinning. The only time I've seen the JJ Kavanagh Dublin->Waterford bus using the M9 is one time when I took it at 11 something at night, and there were no passengers on board at Carlow who needed to go to Thomastown and the likes, so the driver just got on the M9 and went straight to Waterford (was my happiest JJ Kavanagh moment).

Personally a direct service would be a dream come true for me if it meant I could leave at a reasonable time and be in Dublin when I actually need to be there, not 2 hours early or 1 hour late, and not having a 3.5-4 hour journey back home.