Night buses & special fares for the Volvo Ocean Race 2012

Bus Éireann are running extra late night buses to locations around the county during Volvo Ocean Race 2012 week (Sat 30 June to Sun 8 July, inclusive).

These buses will leave Galway Bus Station / Ceannt Station at 11:30pm each night.

Towns served:  
Kilcolgan, Ballindereen, Kinvara, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Ardrahan, Gort, Oranmore, Craughwell, Loughrea, Claregalway, Loughgeorge, Currandulla, Headford, Barna, Spiddal, Moycullen, Oughterard and Tuam

During the racing week, €10 day-return fares apply on these routes:

• Route 423 – Galway, Oranmore, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Ballindereen, Kinvara
• Route 424 – Galway, Barna, Spiddal
• Route 434 – Galway, Oranmore, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Ardrahan, Gort
• Route 419 – Galway, Moycullen, Oughterard, 
• Route 430 – Galway, Oranmore, Craughwell, Loughrea
• Route 429 – Galway, Claregalway, Tuam
• Route 456 – Galway, Claregalway, Loughgeorge, Currandulla, Headford

These fares are only available from bus-drivers or Galway Travel Centre.

For towns on these routes where the regular day return fare is less than €10, regular fares apply.

For more information, see Bus Éireann's press release.

See Also

Regional Bus Services for other bus services in County Galway.

Volvo Ocean Race 2012 Park and Ride details

Public transport journey planner for Ireland

The National Transport Authority's Transport for Ireland website now has a Journey Planning tool, which finds public transport options for travelling to/from any points in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This is the first version of the tool - some aspects are still being worked on so the results should be interpreted with care initially.

Consutlation about future way of deciding about public bus services

When the new bus routes for Galway city were announced in March 2012, it was noted that no public consultation was required to decide on the routes or services provided.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) is running a public consultation to "seek the views of the public and interested parties (including users of the public bus services) on the approach to be adopted in relation to new contracts for provision of public bus services" in 2014.

There is a consultation document, and a questionnaire to be completed by before 5pm on Wednesday 11 July 2012.

More details are available from their website.

Park-and-Ride for the Volvo Ocean Race, 2012

A park-and-ride service will be in place between Ballybrit Racecourse and the city-centre for the Volvo Ocean Race 2012.

It will operate between Saturday 30 June and Sunday 8 July, inclusive.

Buses will run every 5 minutes between 9am to 11.30pm each day.

• €5 per adult, 
• Senior citizens - free 
• Children - free.

This includes all-day parking, and return bus travel.  

Cars are not permitted to park over night. If they are left overnight, it is entirely at owners risk.
The central city drop-off and pick-up point is the temporary coach / bus parking area in Bothar Pairc an Aonaigh, opposite  Galway coach station.   (Marked "A" on the major-bus-hubs map.)

This is a short (5-10) minute walk from the Galway Docks area, and 15 minutes walk from the Claddagh / South Park area.  Buses to Salthill can be caught from Bus Stop 9 in nearby Eyre Square.

See Also:   Extra night buses to county Galway for the Volvo Ocean Race 2012

Transport to the Westlife Concert - June 2012

Reaneys of Galway will be running a coach from Galway for the Westlife concert in Croke Park on Fri 22 and Sat 23 June, 2012.

Contact them for details / bookings, through their website.

Galway - Ballyvaughan ferry service, June 2012

Ballyvaughan Bay Hop will run a fast ferry service between Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare and Galway City from 25 - 30 June 2012. This is a trial service during the Volvo Ocean race, but is also a pilot for a more permanent service.

• From New Pier, Ballyvaughan to Galway Docks (Dock Street - point 44 on the Docks area map) and return
• 3 services daily
• Single - €10, Return - €18, multi-trip tickets also available.

• Commuter parking is available at the pier in Ballyvaughan.
• Accommodation and meal value packages with Ballyvaughan eateries and guesthouses are available to passengers from Galway.

The boat can carry 10 passengers - bookings necessary:     http://www.ballyvaughanbayhop.com/


O'Brien Line - Doolin Ferry will also run a service on Friday 6 July.

Extra Galway / Dublin services from CityLink

From Fri 22nd June, Citylink's 7:15pm and 9:15pm services from Dublin Airport will run daily, instead of Friday and Sunday only.

Also services from Dublin to Galway city now pick up from North Wall (opposite the Clarion Hotel) as well as Aston Quay (near Ha'penny Bridge).

For more information, see Citylink's website.

See the Regional Buses Services page for other companies operating on this route.

Clifden - Galway shuttle for Volvo Ocean Race

Connemara Chamber of Commerce are organising a shuttle bus between Clifden and Galway on 6th, 7th, 8th July, to encourage Volvo Ocean Race attendees to stay in Connemara. Contact olivebrennan@eircom.net for details. 

Ref: http://www.clifdenchamber.ie/index.php?option=com_redevent&view=details&id=269%3Avolvo-ocean-race-shuttle-bus-clifden-to-galway&xref=277

Citylink service reductions in rural Galway and Cork

On Mon 18th June, CityLink's Galway to Cork service will switch to a limited-stops express service.

Therefore Citylink will no longer be stopping at Oranmore, Kilcolgan, Gort, Crusheen, Croom, Charleville, Ballyhea, Buttevant, Mallow or University College Cork (UCC).  

Also, their bus-stop in Limerick city will change locations

For more information, see Citylink's website, or this updated announcement.

See the Regional Buses Services page for other companies operating on this route.

Galway To Cork Express bus service - from 18 June 2012

On Mon 18th June, CityLink will start running a Galway to Cork Express Coach Service.

• Six services each day
• The existing Galway/Cork multi-stop / commuter service is cancelled.
• Limited stops:  Galway city, Limerick city, Cork city and Cork airport.
• The pick-up and set-down bus stop in Limerick City moves to Henry St, at the bus shelter beside Henry Street Garda Station  (was Upper Mallow Street) 
• Travel time, Galway and Cork: 2 hours and 50 minutes. 
• Travel time, Cork and Limerick 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Published timetable:

For more information, see Citylink's website.

See the Regional Buses Services page for other companies operating on this route.

June 2012 Bank Holiday bus and train services

Monday 4 June 2012 

is a 

Public / Bank Holiday 

in Ireland.

City Buses:

Bus Éireann and City Direct will run their their standard Sunday and public holiday city services in Galway on Monday 4th

Regional Buses:

Most regional and national public transport services will run their standard Sunday-timetable service on both Sun 3rd and Mon 4th.  However:

• Bus Éireann will run regular regional / national services on Sunday 3rdh, except that one Galway/Dundalk service and one Tuam/Athlone service are cancelled.  Details.

• On Monday 4th, Bus Éireann will operate to a Sunday timetable, but with a number of changes (both cancellations and additions) that affect Galway services.    See their press-release for full detals.

• CityLink are running their normal timetable, but have announced that from 5pm Sat 2nd June to 10 am Mon 4th June,  Dublin City pickups will be at Wood Quay, instead of Aston Quay. See their map for details.  Drop-offs will still be at Bachelors Walk if possible, but some services may have to drop off at Arran Quay.

• GoBus are running their normal timetable, but say that services from Galway between 3:45pm Sat 2 June - 8:45pm Sun 3 June will drop off at Heuston Station and Dublin Airport only.  Services from Dublin City 6:16pm Sat 2 June - quarter past midnight on on Monday 4th June 2012 (inclusive) will pick up passengers at Dublin City Council Civic Offices at Wood Quay.

• Bus Feda   on Sunday and Mon will operate their normal Sunday service with some changes to the normal Sunday timetables - details.

Irish Rail

Sun 3 June::  Galway / Dublin normal Sunday services with one cancellation

Mon 4 June:

• Galway / Dublin - normal Sunday services.
• Galway / Limerick - normal weekday services, with one cancellation.

Full details: http://www.irishrail.ie/media/JuneBankHolidayTimetable20121.pdf