Bus fare from Athlone to Ardee on 190 and 167 busses?

Geuze

The BE website has a section called Fare Finder, which finds fares on a chosen route.

But if you want to find a fare from A to C, via B, using two services, is that possible?

190 from Athlone bus station to Mullingar, the 167 from Mullingar Austin Friars street to Ardee.

Is there any way to know the fare in advance?

DUBLINBUSGUY

Yes. Find fare from A to B. Then B to C.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058307449/bus-fare-from-athlone-to-ardee-on-190-and-167-busses

There aren’t through fares. You pay for each journey individually.

The cheapest way is to use a LEAP card.

thomasj

TFI GO app might be worth a look. You can buy both tickets in advance.

Not sure if the prices on the app would be the same as on the bus or at station

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924090#Comment_120924090

Exactly the same price as LEAP.

Geuze

I thought BE have fares from all origins to all destinations?

If not, it's bad form that you can't buy one ticket and pay one fare for, say, Athlone to Ardee, using two busses.

We are meant to be a leading ICT country!!!

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924340#Comment_120924340

Not anymore, since PSO and Expressway were split. Every journey is priced individually. Nothing to do with BÉ - the NTA make all the fare decisions now.

As I already said, the cheapest option on PSO services is to use LEAP / TFI Go.

We will have to wait and see what the NTA do in terms of the rollout of the new national fares strategy.

So the LEAP / TFI GO fares each way are:

190 - EUR 7.35

167 - EUR 9.10

If you intend returning from Ardee on the 167 within 24 hours of your outbound 167 trip starting in Mullingar, you could save EUR 1.50 by getting a BE Greater Dublin Region Yellow Zone 24 hour ticket which costs EUR 16.70. While the 24 hour ticket will cover the 167, it does not cover the 190.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924340#Comment_120924340

Are you joking? Just because we attracted ICT companies (and just because of low tax!), that doesn't mean that our government is in any way interested to be an ICT country. Ireland was and still is very behind with any infrastructure and technologies.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924756#Comment_120924756

Yes, I know, I said this in jest!!!

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924668#Comment_120924668

This is very helpful information.

I'm curious, within Expressway, is it possible to buy one ticket, pay one fare, for a journey on two routes?

Say Galway - Sligo on 64, then Sligo to Belfast.

Geuze

I am using the Fare Finder to get the fare from Athlone to Mullingar, nothing appearing?

How did you find out the fares above?

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924866#Comment_120924866

You need to be more precise.

Athlone (Bus Station) should be the origin.

I got them using the TFI GO app.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924854#Comment_120924854

Yes you can buy through Expressway tickets via www.expressway.ie, which is the cheapest option for their services, but it will just be priced as the two individual fares combined.

FYI There is no Sligo-Belfast service.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924907#Comment_120924907

That worked.

But may I make another criticism - the Fare Finder, and any public transport journey planner, should be able to cope with an input like "Athlone", and it should not need the exact "Athlone (Bus station)"

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924916#Comment_120924916

Ok, say Galway to Waterford on 51 and 55?

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924944#Comment_120924944

I’ve already said, yes you can.

But the two legs will be priced individually - it’s two tickets on the one booking.

Geuze

Brutal, we seem to be going backwards.

It should be possible to have integrated ticketing across multiple routes and multiple modes.

Train from Galway to Athlone, bus to Mullingar, bus to Ardee: one ticket, one fare.

Are we serious about supporting public transit, or not?

Does the NL have integrated fares across rail and bus? I'm not sure.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924967#Comment_120924967

We are where we are.

There is an awful lot of work to be done in terms of recalibrating fares on the PSO bus services to get them standardised across the country. For various reasons there are historic anomalies.

Then they need to implement the new fares strategy and we will have to just wait and see what they come up with. But I don’t expect through commercial & PSO fares.

All of that is going to take time.

For now the simple rule is use LEAP/TFI Go for PSO services; and for Expressway book online over 7 days in advance to get the cheapest fares.