New Carlow town bus service

I see yet another evolution with the NTA timetable prints: the operator is stated in plain text with a phone number! Much better than the logo that came with the C Spine schedules in Dublin, or the very original structure of splitting sheets by operators and having everything in the footnotes.

Yeah I'm not sure what I was thinking when I said that! I forgot the route from Graigue to the buspark continues after that!

As for the size of the busses I honestly think the streetlites are perfect. They work fine on the A1/A2 in Athlone and we've a bigger population! There'll be teething problems for sure but it's gonna be so great when it's up and running.

Call one cynical but......

But it's not til Sunday the 30th of July itself that the actual buses, routes CW 1 & 2 begin running........

How many photo ops do the NTA, BE, TfI, Politicians & their groupies/hangers-on need......

Am (still) 100% supportive of bus services as I've said all along; this is a game-changer for the town & while there's always gonna be the Negative Ninnies who won't give up their cars if you told them the bus would pick 'em up at their doorstep & drop 'em right back to it, these services open up the town to so many; as per above Green Party link the services are targeted at areas of low car ownership too & this improves accessibility & permeability for those parts of the town.

Also for 55 Cents or €1.10 you can go from Wexford Rd. Business Pk. & any of the stops in between to Barrow Valley Retail Pk. (Dunnes in old money).

I.e It's the 1 Fare; you don't pay twice as per above link.

Do that in a taxi; Ken Blacks to Bus Pk. & Bus Pk. to Dunnes & it's gonna be €14 (7 x 2).

New schedules always start on Sundays in Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Go Ahead Ireland (that’s how their rosters work - a Sunday to Saturday working week) - the Thursday will be the publicity launch with the leap cards etc.

More flesh on the bones in terms of times from start/end points

Was just reading there and unfortunately the NTA decided not to serve the train station directly with a stop. The closest stop will be the fire station. Disappointing but understandable I suppose given the hassle

Full map of route & stops (Crd. Cllr. Fintan Phelan FF)

Fares with & without Leap Card discounts for adults & children. Crd. Cathaoirleach & FF Cllr. Andrea Dalton for image)

Kanes Gala on Burrin Rd.'re now stocking leap cards, the capping, topping-up etc. will take a bit of getting used to for us fuddy-duddies but we'll get there; and the a positive of leap cards is, of course, being able tap on, tap off & not having to dilly-dally round for change thus delaying the service you're boarding or disembarking from.

If I arrive on a train will there be any information on the existence of this bus service even if I have a walk to avail of it?

None officially afaik. Maybe they'll put up a few arrows to guide non locals. It's barely a 5 min straight walk anyway, maybe 400metres if that

Official launch is today at 12 Noon in the Exchange on Potato Mkt. with Min. for Transport Eamon Ryan (Greeen Party TD; Leap Cards, with credit, will be distributed on site too; there's 1,500 in total as per a local Cllr.

(Location information for launch site is as per KCLR 96 FM)

TFI statement re Carlow bus service & the National Development Plans "Town Centres First" policy https://www.transportforireland.ie/news/first-carlow-town-bus-service-will-prove-transformative-minister-for-transport/

Athlone figures quite impressive in terms of daily journeys despite a smaller population; we're both college towns so the uptake should mirror theirs.

Wondering though has Navan & did Athlone witness as much on & off line negativity in advance of their bus launches as Carlows seems to've done albeit anecdotally & from comments sections on local media & local politicians posts about "this is going to cause traffic delays" etc.; it's quite embarrassing reading some of the stuff from the "cars good, nothing else matters" mentality.

Continue to repeat, if supported CW 1 & 2 are positive game-changers for the town; opens it right up and, for example, to be able travel for 90 minutes, to take 2 buses within the period for 1 Euro & 10 Cents? A bargain.

Try doing same length of journey in a private car for that cost.......

"Service disruption in Carlow Town Saturday 05th August 2023

We wish to advise Customers of the following service disruptions

Route CW1

Route CW1 will operate at a reduced frequency from 0900---1300

Route CW2

Route CW2 will operate at a reduced frequency from 0900---1300

Bus Eireann regret any inconvenience this may cause. 

Saturday, 5th August, 2023"

(Quoted from the Bus Éireann website today)

This is really disappointing that the service is not even running a week and it is facing curtailments - presumably due to driver unavailability. The notice is a bit vague - would be better to say which journeys are operating and which aren't.

Disappointed that's already happening. Anyone know if all the "cancelled" busses on the TFI Live app are actually cancelled or do they just show up?

Not really surprising that BE are struggling on the Carlow service. It's not like BE have a huge garage with lots of drivers down in Carlow so they can move drivers off other services to try and fill the gaps.

A microcosm of Irish public transport. A big PR launch with the Minister getting his picture taken. But then the reality of implementation kicks in and it's a mess. People won't give up their car journeys due to unreliability like this.

In response to myself. They show up! In 2 cases now the app has shown cancelled but they show up anyway as scheduled

So finally got on a bus today; CW 2 at 2:28pm.

The good; it was, broadly speaking, on time, give or take a minute or two here or there.

Got to go "round the houses" as it were; the negativity over the stops in & out at Londis on Pollerton Rd. can, I think, be put to bed because, well, the way they were being described they were across from each other & physically at the entrance; they're neither; they're both up & down from the retail premises.

I think the anti anything but private transport crowd on & off line locally need to get the bus in so many regards; they might see things from a different perspective then.

Negative, and it was a faux pas on my part, was I naively thought that there'd be someone at every stop and that the bus would stop; it's not, it's, rightly, a stop on request service & didn't press the red button to alight where I needed to go; thus it went past the stop on Pollerton Rd. as there were no passengers waiting to board so on we went on our mystery tour.

Ended up in Ashgrove where I disembarked for the return to the stop I'd missed; another outbound service stopped before an inbound service arrived; out of a desire to give the service a go I hung round waiting longer than I ordinarily would've; a good 40 mins. give or take but I'd the Nationalist to hand to pass the time.

When the inbound bus did show passengers were told the intended inbound had broken down; and here's the rub I guess; there were 3 others at the stop and none of us are smartphone users so, checking the TfI App for realtime information wasn't an option.

By my approximations there should be a bus every quarter of an hour in and out across CW 1 & 2 but if one doesn't show then that puts the kaibosh on it; at the Ashgrove stop in particular this frequency is important but it probably is at other stops too.

Is using RTI an option at all the stops or is it a bit pointless when probably 70-80% have smartphones & access to the timetables & the TfI app etc.?

Might RTI be prone to vandalism; would that be another consideration to not have it in use for those of us who aren't smartphone users?

Will I use CW 1 & 2 services again? Absolutely; I'm still supportive of them & continue to use the term "game changer" about them; €1.60 as I paid today from bus park to Ashgrove; you wouldn't start your car for it.

Observations; a lot of bus pass users; lot of parents/grandparents with children too.

Good to be able get round & increase ones geographical knowledge of the routes though & put an actual physical place to the stops & not a general idea of where they are & to see the stops physically rather than just on the map.

Overall am happy enough & just hope to remember next time to disembark at right stop & also bring my physical timetable with me; the bus breakdown, without the app or RTI there was no way of communicating it with the passengers.

Yeah Leap Cards're way to go alright; if I become a regular user it's a no-brainer but currently not much of a concern.

One thing I omitted to say there; the 90 minute travel as much as you want, chop & change CW 1 & 2 in & out doesn't apply to cash fares according to the bus driver I got on the outbound service; as it happens he was same driver doing the inbound when it did show & let me on but I'll know too for next time.

The services will take a bit of getting used to, the specific locations of the stops etc. but all in good time & so far so good; the moaners about area x or y not being served may need to realise if CW 1 & 2 aren't successes then there'll be no CW 3 or 4 etc.

Am I right in thinking that the inward bus stop @ Rathnapish is used by the CW 2 but, despite it being a permitted stop, neither Bus Eireann or JJ Kavanagh use it anymore on way in from Dublin.............wonder might they consider to reuse it now it's in use............?

Thanks; gladly stand corrected so; had thought our local Cllrs.'d raised the issue at a recent monthly meeting. I appreciate the correction.

CW 2; got it today to Barrow Valley Retail Pk. (Dunnes in "Old Money"; it's amazing to see almost all units now filled as it happens; for almost a decade it seemed less than half were occupied) from Barrack St. (unsure why it's not simply down on timetable as Bus Park/Coach Pk.).

Paid the €1.60 Adult Cash Fare; I don't use it often enough to justify the Leap Card just yet; that said I tried in Centra on Potato Mkt. but they'd only Childrens Leap Cards in stock.................and when I got to Dunnes they don't sell Leap Cards; pity since it's inevitably a drop off & pick up point for many using the service...........got one on the return in Gala in any case; the convenience as opposed to checking the wallet; few of us're carrying around notes much less change so no foostering about.

10 Euros; 5 for the card, 5 to top-up; think TFI need to have a look at that; 10 Euro including card'd be better; to include maybe 1 Euro charge for card itself or am I being unreasonable?

Still strikes me as odd that the stop is on the L.H.S. when you turn up for the retail park but you've to walk the rest of the way; it's but a mild convenience but when the bus passes you by as you're on the way it's a head scratcher for sure; it goes in round back of the JYSK & Dunnes etc. units & back out with To Go on the left; I'm guessing issues with Barrow Valley Retail Pk being private property is why there's no actual stop/pick up point within, at edge of car park itself?

Slightly odd too that it's same drop off, pick up, point @ Michael Lyng Motors; perhaps there wasn't room on the other side for when the bus does come back down.

Overall, and I've also used it to Pollerton Rd. on way out, I'm more than happy with the service; perhaps, if funding's there & driver recruitment issues're resolved, a 15 min. frequency might be aimed for as I think it's achievable, even needed at pinch points in the day.

Not a smartphone user so TFI app's no good for me so reliant on a printout of timetables; more than happy with reliability today on both legs.

As I've said it before I'll repeat, this is a game changer for the town; to travel 1.60 Adult Cash Fare from Wexford Rd. Business Pk to Barrow Valley Retail Park is unreal; you wouldn't start the car for it.