Bus Éireann

‘Expressway’ is a division of Bus Éireann that provides intercity services throughout the country serving most of the main airports and cities in Ireland.

It is a commercial part of the company which, unlike the local and city services, does not receive government funding to operate.

A Bus Éireann Wright Gemini 3 operating service 103 in Dublin, September 2017

The National Development Plan included a large expansion in commuter services, especially in the Greater Dublin Area, and so the company greatly increased services on routes such as Dublin/Drogheda/Dundalk, Dublin/Ashbourne, Dublin/Ratoath, Dublin/Dunshaughlin/Navan/Kells/Cavan.[6]

Bus Éireann has also introduced regular clockface schedules on popular Expressway routes, such as hourly services on the routes Dublin/Athlone/Galway, Tralee/Killarney/Cork/Waterford, Cork/Limerick/Shannon Airport/Galway.

At the time of the establishment of the company in February 1987, there were no bus services between Dublin and Belfast. The Dublin/Dublin Airport/Newry/Belfast route was initiated soon after and came to be jointly operated by Bus Éireann and Ulsterbus. Reasons for the routes expansion in the 1990s and 2000s included the economic boom in the Republic, known as the Celtic Tiger; the Northern Ireland peace process which helped boost the economy there, and the rise of the low-cost airline industry, which greatly increased the numbers of people flying in and out of Dublin Airport from both sides of the border. By the 2000s the route operated an hourly service, each way, from 06:00 to 21:00 daily. In October 2006, further services were introduced on the route, departing at 01:00, 03:00, 05:00, and 23:00, thus establishing the route as the first "24-hour inter-city bus service" in the country.[7] In November 2020 the service was suspended indefinitely by Bus Éireann[4] although private companies continue to offer bus services between the two cities.[8] These include Aircoach route 705X (01:30-22:30)[9] and Dublin Coach route 400 (05:30-20:30).[10]

A similar service to the Dublin-Belfast route was implemented on route 2 between Dublin Airport and Wexford, which started on 18 January 2009. Services departed Dublin Airport for Wexford on the hour from 05:00 to 23:00, with services during the night at 01:00 and 03:00.[11] As of May 2022, no services exist on this route now between the hours of 00:00 and 06:00.[12]

As with the Dublin/Belfast route, the Dublin/Derry route is also jointly operated. On 4 September 2006, a new timetable on the Dublin/Derry route was launched, increasing the service level up to nine trips per day, including night-time services.

In 2008 Bus Éireann stated that they also intended to develop similar services to the 24-hour Dublin-Belfast route on the following routes: Donegal-Dublin, Ballina-Dublin, Sligo-Dublin and Drogheda-Balbriggan-Dublin Airport-Dublin.[7] Due to the post-2008 economic downturn in Ireland these plans were never realised. On 20 January 2009, Bus Éireann announced that it was to let 320 staff go and withdraw 150 buses due to the economic crisis. Some services were permanently withdrawn or reduced due to the cutbacks.[13]

In November 2020 Bus Éireann suspended its Dublin to Belfast service, route X1, along with its Expressway services linking Dublin to Cork (route X8), Galway (routes 20 and X20) and Limerick (route X12).[5][4] The board of the company announced it had taken the decision to end these commercial services, as they were losing money, in order to protect core routes.[4] The financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was also cited as a reason for the suspension.[14][8] Galway-Roscommon TD Claire Kerrane criticised the decision, highlighting the negative impact it would have on passengers who had relied on it in Aughrim, Ballinasloe and Athlone at a time when people were being encouraged to move back to such towns from the cities.[5]

Bus Éireann introduced a number of Dublin 'Nightrider' services in the early 2000s, offering special Friday and Saturday night buses for people departing the city centre to return to locations in the Greater Dublin Area. Over busy periods, the Nightrider could also be extended to operate six days a week, Mon-Sat (observed during the Christmas 2005 period), offering late-night transport options to the towns of Newbridge, Drogheda, Navan, Enfield and Wicklow.[15] The route numbers on the Nightrider services were suffixed with an 'N' to denote their night status.

• Route 101N operated from Dublin to Drogheda via Dublin Airport, Swords, Balrothery, Balbriggan, Gormanston Cross and Julianstown. The service left Dublin at 00:30 and 03:30 each Friday and Saturday night.[16] At some point after the year 2013, the route was scrapped as the regular route 101 began to operate on a 24-hours a day basis, with the largest gap between departures being those at 01:30, 03:30 and 05:30.[17]

• Route 109N operated from Dublin to Kells via Dublin Airport, Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin and Navan. On 30 May 2017, Bus Éireann announced it would be discontinuing the route. They did however notify that an alternative service was available on route 109A which operates hourly throughout the night, 7 days per week, 364 days per year.[18] Route 109A operates hourly between 00:30-05:30 whilst the daytime route 109 is inactive.[19]

• Route 126N operated from Dublin to Newbridge via Heuston Station, Inchicore, Newlands Cross, Citywest, Rathcoole Junction, Kill Junction and Naas. The service left Dublin at 00.30 and 03:30 each Friday and Saturday night. On 19 November 2018, Bus Éireann announced the termination of the route[20] noting that costs to run the service were not being covered due to insufficient passenger numbers and it had been loss-making for some time.[21] The operation of the daytime route 126 remained unaffected, but the last departure now left from Dublin at the earlier time of 23.00.[22] In early December 2019 Go-Ahead Ireland took over operation of the route,[23] and reinstated late night departures from the city. As of May 2022, route 126 caters for late-night passengers by departing from Connolly station (Mon-Sat) at the times of 00:05, 01:05 and 03:35.[24]

• Route 133N operated from Dublin to Wicklow town, incorporating the towns of Kilmacanogue, Newtownmountkennedy, Newcastle, Ashford and Rathnew. The service left Dublin at 00.30 and 03:00 each Friday and Saturday night.[25] In October 2008, Bus Éireann cancelled the service, mentioning that the route was no longer commercially viable.[25] Others blamed the poor passenger numbers on the lack of adequate promotion or advertisement on the part of Bus Éireann with many people not even knowing the service existed.[25]

The Nightrider service was also extended to Cork city and its environs during Christmas and other high-capacity events such as the Cork Jazz Festival.[26] The service was also extended to Galway city for a time in 2008, departing Eyre Square at 01:30 for Moycullen, 02.30 for Spiddal and 03.30 for the towns of Oranmore and Claregalway.[27] In December 2010 during a period of cold weather, Nightrider services from Dublin to Drogheda, Meath and Kildare were cancelled due to icy conditions.[28]

Bus Éireann operates special one-day sightseeing tours from Dublin to locations such as Glendalough, Newgrange; from Cork, day tours to the Ring of Kerry, County Clare, West Cork, and Cape Clear Island; and from Galway, tours of Connemara and the Burren.

RTPI is being run by the National Transport Authority under the brand Transport for Ireland, a single portal providing information on public transport in Ireland.

Real-time information is available across the majority of Bus Éireann's services. The service provides up-to-the-minute information regarding the arrival of a bus at a specific stop. It is calculated using the GPS location of a bus and estimated and changed with current traffic conditions. Real-time information is available to passengers on the Bus Éireann website and also via the Real Time Ireland App.

Many stops across Ireland have real-time information available at bus stops that allows the customer to see exactly when the bus will actually arrive.