Buses and trains on St Patrick's Day / Weekend, 2018

Information below is correct for 2018.

Click here for up-to-date information.



Saturday 17th March 2018, St Patrick's Day - Lá Féile Pádraic
is a public holiday in Ireland.  Most public transport services will run a Sunday timetable.    Most towns and cities will have a parade around lunchtime or in the early afternoon: morning public transport services are likely to be busy due to this.

Monday 19th March 2018 is a Bank Holiday, so banks will be closed, but not Public Holiday. However some (not all) businesses, especially ones not usually open on Saturday, will close to give their staff a day's holiday.

Confused?   You will be when you find out what the bus companies are planning!

And the weather service has issued warnings for the weekend: if there is snow, expect some services to be cancelled.

Galway City Bus services

According to this notice, Bus Éireann will run the

• Sunday timetable on Saturday 17 March and Sunday 18 March
• Monday timetable on Monday 18 March.

There will need to be slight diversions around Eyre Square area while the parade is on on the 17th (11:30am - 1:30pm).    Details of these have not yet been announced (will be added here when they are) but based on past years, many morning buses will probably leave from either Woodquay or Galway Bus Station, instead of Eyre Square.

City Direct have announced they will run a regular timetable on Saturday 17th March:

• First bus at 10:15am from Woodfield (Cappagh Rd).
• Last bus 7:45pm from Eyre Square.

However all routes will travel to and from the cathedral bus stop / from opposite N.U.I.G. on the same side as Ward's Shop between 11am and 2pm dur to the parade - is they will not go to Eyre Square.

See City Bus Services for route maps and timetable links.

Regional Bus services

Bus Éireann 

Bus Eireann's current announcement only says that they will run a Sunday timetable on Saturday 17 March, and a regular Monday timetable on the 19th. 

However based on previous years, ther may be some some exceptions (cancellations and/or time changes) on services to/from:

• Belfast
• Dundalk
• Cavan
• Clifden
• Lettermullen
• Carraroe
• Westport / Ballina

Check the journey planner on their website for specific services..

Burkes (Tuam and Headford)

Have announced they will run a Sunday timetable (4 services each way between Galway and Tuam) on Saturday 17 to Monday 19 March inclusive.   Some changes to pickup-points - see their website for details.

Bus4U (Roscommon)

Have not yet made an announcement - details will be added when they do.

Bus Feda (Sligo, Donegal)

Will run a a regular Saturday timetable  on Saturday 17 March, and reduced Sunday services on Sunday 18th and Monday 19th.   See their website for details

BusLink (Athenry)

BusLink  have not yet made an announcement.

Will run Daylink services to/from Athenry starting at 10am on Saturday 17th, and will also run the Athenry NightLink service on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th of March.

CityLink (Dublin, Cork, Clifden)

Citylink will run their regular services, but pickup and drop off points in Dublin city will be changed from 9am until 6pm (approx).   Details are available on their website.

GoBus (Dublin)

Have not made any announcement - and don't look like they're going to (their website already have an announcement for the following weekend).   Expect regular timetables each day, with changed pickup and drop-off points in Dublin on Saturday - watch their Facebook page for details.

Other companies

Have not made specific announcements:  it is likely that they will run regular Sunday-timetable services on 17 March.   See Regional Bus Services for a full listing of all companies involved.

Overall

Many towns will have parades around midday or in the early afternoon: bus services at this time could be temporarily delayed due to road closures.

Train services

Irish Rail will run a regular timetable with some cancellations on each day from 17-19 March,  See their timetable for St Patrick's weekend for details.