Aircoach Route Changes and General Discussion.

The new Aircoach timetables have been published

I've had a quick (but not exhaustive) look and this is some of the things I've noticed.

It seems that there will certainly be a number of drivers freed up by the changes of the 701 to the 700X bearing in mind it's limited operating hours compared to what it replaces.

I haven't had a look at running times in much depth or fares.

Route 700

• The service is mostly every half an hour all day but after 7pm from the airport the timetable gets a bit weird with timetables with inconsistent gaps in service of 30-40 minutes for rest of the evening.
• Pretty much reverts to the stops served before extension to Cherrywood.
• After midnight the service drops to every 60 minutes from Dublin Airport (previously every 30 minutes)

Route 700X (replaces 701)

• As suspected, isn't any faster than the 700 from the same stops.
• This route will run every 30 minutes (with some gaps of 35 minutes)
• The stops will be Westmoreland Street, O'Connell Street and Drumcondra only
• The first service will be 06:42 from Westmoreland Street with the last service at 17:30
• The first service will 06:35 from Dublin Airport with the next at 08:05am
• After the 19:05 services, the frequency drops to 40 minutes with the last service at 20:25

The 700x has had it's operating hours gutted compared to the 701 which now means areas that used to be served every 15 minutes by the 700/701 combination and the 700 pre last June, will now see frequency cut by 50% to every 30 minutes for those departing early and arriving late due to the restricted hours of the 700X. If punters have a viable choice between waiting 30 minutes for Aircoach or every 15 minutes for Dublin Express, they're going to chose the later.

Route 702 (Dublin Airport to Dalkey via Ballsbridge)

• All the 701 stops from the Ballsbridge area have been added into this route.
• The first service from Dalkey is now 02.00 (previously 00:49)
• The last service from Dublin Airport is now 23:30 (the 23:50 and 00:50 and 01:50 are gone)
• There is a frequency drop in the morning, after the 08:30 service, the next two are 09:45 and 11:15
• Running time via Ballsbridge from Dalkey to Dublin Airport between 60 to 73 minutes most of the time.

Unlikely to be anytime soon it seems.

Both the fleets that have been linked with doing that work are still in service with their existing operators. The one decker that it was (seemingly incorrectly) reported as being under repaint to come to Aircoach has been spotted in the UK in the new First Bus livery at it's existing depot.

C1 to C5 have already been withdrawn and the Citaros have all been too.

I would imagine that once the service changes take place in a couple of weeks, you will be likely to see at the very least C6 to C10 withdrawn pretty much straight away. On paper at least, the changes look like they will certainly reduce the peak vehicle requirement by a number of coaches.

It isn't, the last service on the new 702 timetable from 2nd March from Dublin Airport is 23:30 and then there is not a service until 02:50 the next day.

https://www.aircoach.ie/timetables/702/pdf?date=2025-03-02&day=

The original 702 as it was pre last July has essentially been scrapped. They're bringing back the former 703 and calling it the 702.

None of C6-C10 have been out this morning.

They won't really need them with the much reduced PVR from today, but still been cancellations this morning on the Belfast route.

Despite the fact that the needed driver numbers are significantly lower today there has been cancellations on the 702.

8am ex Dalkey was cancelled at 5am this morning, friend of a colleague got a text. You'd have thought reliability should have improved.