Best ever service on the 109!

CUCINA

I don't use the 109 bus that often, maybe about seven or eight times a year, usually on a Saturday evening to meet friends in Dublin. So i would wait at the stop in Dunshaughlin to get the 6:25pm bus. Of course, the bus would be consistently late, so the actual boarding time would typically be around 6:45pm.

But last night, a rare exception...as I approached the bus stop, there was the bus waiting for me! So the bus pulled away at 6:25 exactly, and i was the only passenger for the entire journey. In addition, the driver turned onto the M3 at the Dunboyne roundabout , bypassing the plodding route through Clonee village and Blanch shopping centre. So we arrived at O'Connell St before 7:00pm.
Definitely, a personal best ,one that is unlikely to be beaten!!

Cilar

Bus on time, once in a live time in Ireland.

horseburger

CUCINA wrote: »

I don't use the 109 bus that often, maybe about seven or eight times a year, usually on a Saturday evening to meet friends in Dublin. So i would wait at the stop in Dunshaughlin to get the 6:25pm bus. Of course, the bus would be consistently late, so the actual boarding time would typically be around 6:45pm.

But last night, a rare exception...as I approached the bus stop, there was the bus waiting for me! So the bus pulled away at 6:25 exactly, and i was the only passenger for the entire journey. In addition, the driver turned onto the M3 at the Dunboyne roundabout , bypassing the plodding route through Clonee village and Blanch shopping centre. So we arrived at O'Connell St before 7:00pm.
Definitely, a personal best ,one that is unlikely to be beaten!!

The 109 Bus Éireann services between Cavan and Dublin were changed on 17th September 2017.

The 109 service now includes nine services throughout the day, Monday to Friday, that start in Dunshaughlin, going to Dublin, and seven from Dublin that end in Dunshaughlin.

On Saturdays there are eight 109 services that start in Dunshaughlin going to Dublin, and seven from Dublin that end in Dunshaughlin.

On Sundays there are seven 109 services that start in Dunshaughlin going to Dublin, and six services from Dublin that end in Dunshaughlin.

Previous to 17th September, most of the 109 services that served Dunshaughlin, started in either Navan, or Kells.

There were also certain 109 services that started in Cavan that served Dunshaughlin.

The 109 service - on the old 109 timetable, prior to 17th September 2017 - that was due in Dunshaughlin at 6.25pm, was the service that left Cavan at 5pm.

These services, from Cavan on the hour, were quite often late getting into Navan and Dunshaughlin, due to issues like traffic build up.

I found that while the 109s that started in Cavan on the hour, were due in Navan at 5 minutes past the next hour, very often they could be 5 - 10, or sometimes 15 minutes late. The 109 timetable, from Navan was - and still is - scheduled to arrive in Dunshaughlin 20 minutes after it left Navan, so technically, if the bus from Cavan, was late arriving at Navan, it still took around 20 minutes to get from Navan to Dunshaughlin.

I found, that in general, on the 109 services from Cavan, that there weren't any delays between Navan and Dunshaughlin, that the bus got held up between Cavan and Navan. I found that when the bus left Navan and headed for Dunshauglin, that it took around 20 minutes, on occasions when it arrived in Navan Market Square as scheduled at 5 past the hour, and on occasions when it was late arriving at Navan Market Square.

I found that the 109 services that started in Kells at 15 minutes past the hour, would more often, be able to keep to the schedule. They would very often arrive in Navan in between 30 minutes past the hour and 35 past the hour, and were scheduled to leave at 35 past the hour, and scheduled to leave Dunshaughlin 20 minutes after leaving Navan.

The 109s from Kells, serving Navan and Dunshaughlin, continue to start in Kells at 15 minutes past the hour

I think the bus you got was one of the new 109 services that starts in Dunshaughlin, because there is, on the updated timetable, a 109 service that starts in Dunshaughlin going to Dublin at 6.25pm every day.

I would say, that on the old timetable, the services that used to start in Cavan on the hour, and also served Virginia, were, more often than not, later than scheduled, due to issues like traffic.

Often, the 109s from Cavan, would be in Navan at 5 past as scheduled, but very often, they'd get in after 5 past the hour, due to issues outside the control of the driver, like traffic congestion.

Since July 2016, the 109A operates hourly 24 hours every day. At night, the 109A picks up and drops of at Bus Aras to and from Kells, Navan, Dunshaughlin, Ratoath, Ashbourne and Dublin Airport.

It leaves from the Store Street side of Bus Aras, hourly throughout the night at 12.25am, 1.25am, 2.25am, 3,25am, 4.25am, 5.25 am and 6.25am.

The Bus Éireann service to and from Cavan, Virginia and Dublin is now the 109X service, and while certain 109X services serve Navan, at the Abbey Road stop near the Fire Station, every two hours during the day, it does not serve Dunshaughlin at all.

As part of the timetable changes, that commenced on 17th September 2017, a new service was introduced, serving Navan, Johnstown and Dublin. This is the NX service. Previously there were 109s that left from Navan Market Square Monday to Friday at 5 minutes to the hour that served Johnstown for Dublin which also served Dunshaughlin. These 109 services, that served Johnstown, used to leave Bus Aras, Monday to Friday, at 30 minutes past the hour.

http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1504435589-109.pdf

http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1473263565-109A.pdf

http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1504435631-NX.pdf

http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1504435671-109X.pdf

pullandbang

I've no interest in bus timetables, but hats off to HB - that's one hell of a comprehensive reply:-)

Butterface

And here I was thinking my mother was an expert on the 109.. brilliant reply horseburger!

Waesfjord

I took the bus for first time in months in to Dublin from Dunshaughlin- no bus at 07:46, no bus at 07:56, one came along at around 08:10, ending up late in town. Typical public bus service in Ireland, unreliable.

horseburger

brian1976 wrote: »

I took the bus for first time in months in to Dublin from Dunshaughlin- no bus at 07:46, no bus at 07:56, one came along at around 08:10, ending up late in town. Typical public bus service in Ireland, unreliable.

I guess the buses you mentioned that are due at the Dunshaughlin Business Park stop at 7.46am and 8.56am, got delayed in traffic?

Both of those services leave from Kells, at 7am, and 7.10am and both go through Navan.

Was the bus you got at around 8.10am, one that had started from Kells and went through Navan? It sounds like it might have been.

There is a service, that starts from Dunshaughlin, at 7.35am, which I imagine would have been on time leaving from Dunshaughlin.

The poster above, Cucina, stated, that the service they got, had started from Dunshaughlin, and was on time.

I think any bus service that starts from somewhere else, can be later than scheduled, arriving at intermediate stops, due to issues like traffic, especially at times when traffic is busy going towards Dublin.

It can be very slow getting through Navan, at certain times of the day. I guess this might be one of the reasons that, when the Cavan - Dublin 109 timetable was changed on 17th September, that a change was made, to have the new 109X services from Cavan, that go through Navan, pick up at the Abbey Road stop, below the fire station on the opposite side, rather than having the Cavan buses go through Navan town centre and pick up at the Market Square.

At other times, with less traffic congestion, the 109s that leave from Kells at 15 minutes past the hour, will be in Navan a minute or two before the scheduled time of departure, at 35 minutes past the hour.