New Direct Dublin City-Kilkenny-Waterford Bus Service

thelad95

What are these buses like in terms of comfort? Some of the Bus Eireann buses are shocking. From damp seats, to seats that are broken and jam-jars in the air-con.

PropJoe10

thelad95 wrote: »

What are these buses like in terms of comfort? Some of the Bus Eireann buses are shocking. From damp seats, to seats that are broken and jam-jars in the air-con.

Used the service twice now and the seats are very comfortable, buses are clean and some of them have toilets on board which is great. No complaints there at all.

DerryRed

Thinking of getting this bus tomorrow morning. Where exactly at McDonagh does it pick up? Is it at the roundabout near Eddie Rockets?

road_high

DerryRed wrote: »

Thinking of getting this bus tomorrow morning. Where exactly at McDonagh does it pick up? Is it at the roundabout near Eddie Rockets?

Yea ya know the bus stop area just down from Eddie Rocketts (as you head towards John st), it stops there.

DerryRed

I got the 7.45am bus up yesterday morning and the 4pm bus back home. The journey both ways were approximately 95 minutes. There were only 4 other people on the bus each time. Hard to see it lasting with those numbers. I guess it's still early days though.

ebbsy

road_high wrote: »

God forbid people would have to pay for a service alright :eek:

+1

Would'nt mind one of those passes meself.

thelad95

DerryRed wrote: »

I got the 7.45am bus up yesterday morning and the 4pm bus back home. The journey both ways were approximately 95 minutes. There were only 4 other people on the bus each time. Hard to see it lasting with those numbers. I guess it's still early days though.

There's been little or no promotion apart from hear-say which is a pity. They should have adds and promotions in the Kilkenny people at least and maybe one or two ads on Beat and KCLR.

ebbsy

inthehat wrote: »

JJ Kavanagh also provides a great service, even though it's a private company. It still serves Castledermot and other little stops along the way. Great to have this new express service too, - but I hope it doesn't put Kavanaghs out of business.

Might just do that - it drove a nail through Bus Eireann on the N7.

road_high

thelad95 wrote: »

There's been little or no promotion apart from hear-say which is a pity. They should have adds and promotions in the Kilkenny people at least and maybe one or two ads on Beat and KCLR.

No one knows about it. How anyone would continue to use JJ Kavannagh or Bus Eireann via the old roads with this new service on offer is beyond me.
They should have had a big launch, I'd have thought there'd be a big demand in Waterford too as it's quicker than the train and cheaper.

thelad95

I don't know much about Dublin Coach but I'm presuming it's being run on a shoe-string? The lack of promotion is just absolutely baffling. If they even half-tried they have the potential to blow Kavanaghs and Bus Eireann out of the water.

Kilkennyfella

thelad95 wrote: »

There's been little or no promotion apart from hear-say which is a pity. They should have adds and promotions in the Kilkenny people at least and maybe one or two ads on Beat and KCLR.

It has been advertised on Beat for the last month or so. Cant comment on KCLR as i dont listen to it.

PropJoe10

thelad95 wrote: »

I don't know much about Dublin Coach but I'm presuming it's being run on a shoe-string? The lack of promotion is just absolutely baffling. If they even half-tried they have the potential to blow Kavanaghs and Bus Eireann out of the water.

They seem to run a very successful service to Limerick from Dublin with services every couple of hours so they must be a decent sized operation. They should definitely be doing more to promote the Waterford service though. I've shared it on Facebook, maybe you folks with Facebook accounts could do the same? I dont want to see this service going to the wall, considering how crap the alternatives are!

road_high

Need to get like a high profile hurler to launch it or someone like that for some profile. It just began and there was precious little bar Facebook (costs next to nothing) and tiny ad in the Kk people.
It's a great service and Id hate to see it lost or reduced due to lack of patronage due to nobody being aware of it.

PropJoe10

road_high wrote: »

Need to get like a high profile hurler to launch it or someone like that for some profile. It just began and there was precious little bar Facebook (costs next to nothing) and tiny ad in the Kk people.
It's a great service and Id hate to see it lost or reduced due to lack of patronage due to nobody being aware of it.

Aye. I sent them a message on their website telling them to advertise it more. I really hope it takes off.

pegasus1

inthehat wrote: »

JJ Kavanagh also provides a great service, even though it's a private company. It still serves Castledermot and other little stops along the way. Great to have this new express service too, - but I hope it doesn't put Kavanaghs out of business.

Reduced service in the new time table...not good for the small towns that used to be on the regular route
http://jjkavanagh.ie/images/stories/timetable/Route-736-from-Waterford-to-Airport-and-from-Airport-to-Waterford.pdf

Gael23

pegasus1 wrote: »

Reduced service in the new time table...not good for the small towns that used to be on the regular route
http://jjkavanagh.ie/images/stories/timetable/Route-736-from-Waterford-to-Airport-and-from-Airport-to-Waterford.pdf

Surely they'll create a new service to pick up some of those towns, or some operator at least. They had to reduce it in order to survive in reality.

pegasus1

pegasus1 wrote: »

Reduced service in the new time table...not good for the small towns that used to be on the regular route
http://jjkavanagh.ie/images/stories/timetable/Route-736-from-Waterford-to-Airport-and-from-Airport-to-Waterford.pdf

At least there is still a few buses stopping in the smaller towns but it looks like a much reduced service. It's the sad reality for rural Ireland. I suppose it had to happen to make the service profitable. Wonder will Bus Eireann follow suit? They still serve some little towns like Mullinavat, Thomastown, Gowran, Royal Oak but that could change too.

road_high

Would imagine the Clonmel/Kilkenny service will follow suit. It was inevitable the buses would start using the motorway direct as it's clearly what the bulk of their customers want and is a more efficient use of resources due to less time spent on the roads and less wear and tear from crap roads like the old N9. I'm only surprised it's taken this long.

PropJoe10

inthehat wrote: »

At least there is still a few buses stopping in the smaller towns but it looks like a much reduced service. It's the sad reality for rural Ireland. I suppose it had to happen to make the service profitable. Wonder will Bus Eireann follow suit? They still serve some little towns like Mullinavat, Thomastown, Gowran, Royal Oak but that could change too.

I'm sure Bus Eireann will continue to serve the smaller towns considering they are a public service rather than private. I'm surprised that Kavanaghs have taken this long to cotton on to the fact that people generally dont want to be rattling around sideroads for hours on end.

thelad95

If this service means I won't have to continue to use the rat and pigeon infested airplane hangar that is Busaras, then it will have been a success

thelad95

I used this service for the first time today, getting the 12 o'clock bus from D'Olier street to Kilkenny and I have mixed feelings. The bus driver was quite rude and abrasive, and didn't stop at McDonagh, where I had intended to get off. I was the only one on the bus and when I asked him why he wasn't stopping at McDonagh, he said he had just presumed I wanted to go to Ormonde street and that I should have told him.

On the other hand, we left Dublin at 12.04 and were in Kilkenny for 1:40. Bus Eireann would add an hour onto the journey.

I'm going to ring to complain about the driver. The whole set-up just felt a bit amateurish and the lack of awareness of the service is still startling.

road_high

Does that include going to waterford?
Incredible there was only one on the service!
They had a poor ad on the KK People last week. There was no mention of where it stops in kilkenny nor was there a timetable, just a direction to their website.

thelad95

road_high wrote: »

Does that include going to waterford?
Incredible there was only one on the service!
They had a poor ad on the KK People last week. There was no mention of where it stops in kilkenny nor was there a timetable, just a direction to their website.

Yes! I've often gotten the half 11 bus midweek from Dublin to KK and vice versa and you'd always have 5-10 people on board, most of which go to Kilkenny so there is demand at this time.

I think they have an ad on Beat as well but there's no mention of prices or how often the buses run, just that it's a direct bus service.

PropJoe10

Does anyone know if you can bring a bicycle with you on these services? Cheers

road_high

Used the service for the first time this weekend. It is an excellent and does exactly what it says on the tin. Just a few things, are they not allowed use the bus lanes or something? Felt it would have been a bit quicker had it used them and it comes out via M50/Chapelizod whereas I reckon it would be quicker go via Kylemore road. Probably easier on a bus perhaps.

Was just 3 on the service going up and 6/7 on it coming back. Hopefully the numbers will pick up.

Odyssey 2005

road_high wrote: »

Used the service for the first time this weekend. It is an excellent and does exactly what it says on the tin. Just a few things, are they not allowed use the bus lanes or something? Felt it would have been a bit quicker had it used them and it comes out via M50/Chapelizod whereas I reckon it would be quicker go via Kylemore road. Probably easier on a bus perhaps.

Was just 3 on the service going up and 6/7 on it coming back. Hopefully the numbers will pick up.

I don't know the in's and outs but the route they take is probably in the contract they have and so they have to stick to that. I could be wrong though.

road_high

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

I don't know the in's and outs but the route they take is probably in the contract they have and so they have to stick to that. I could be wrong though.

Yea I guess so. I did think they'd use the bus lanes though, pretty sure the driver did on the way into Dublin.

kikel

Bus lanes!!! I've seen some of these drivers use the hard shoulder during traffic jams on a Friday evening coming up to the naas junction where it goes from 2-3 lanes. Swerving in an out to get ahead of the traffic in the queue. This was for the cork route mind you.

Hmm_Messiah

My other half used it last week: said it was well worth paying the extra..no student discount for the speed, comfort and wifi

They really need to advertise it more. /better

masterboy123

Hi,

I want to travel to Kilkenny-Waterford-Kilkenny on 31 jan.

Where is Kilkenny Ormonde bustop exactly located please?

Is buseirean better than Dublincoach? any delays with dublincoach?