Christmas 2019 / New Year 2020 bus and train services in Galway

The information below was for Christmas 2019. 

Click here for this years Christmas public transport information.

A summary of  bus and train services 

in Galway city and county 

for the

2019 Christmas and 2020 New Year period.


This is based on information published by the bus companies, and may change.
  Always check the services you want to use with the bus company.

2019 Christmas park and ride service

A park-and-ride service will run in Galway City for the Christmas 2019 shopping period.

It will run daily between Friday 6 December and Tuesday 24 December, and is being operated by Callanan Coaches on behalf of Galway City Council.

Changes to Bus Éireann services in Connemara

Bus Éireann have announced major improvements to the frequency and coverage of two services in the western side of County Galway, effective from Sunday  1 December 2019.

The company announcement about these changes can now be read here.

Route 419 (Galway, Moycullen, Oughterard, Maam Cross, Recess, Clifden)

Changes on this route are:

• New buses from Galway to Oughterard at 7:15am (Monday - Friday) and 8:15pm and 10:15pm, (seven days a week)

• New buses from Oughterard to Galway at 9pm and 11pm, - seven days a week

The official announcement about this from Bus Eireann was preceded by unofficial announcements in local social media and newspapers, and the times above are published on their website.

Route 424 (Galway, Carraroe, Lettermullen, Carna)

• The 7am bus from Carraroe to Galway will now start its journey from Lettermullen at 6:30am, picking up in Carraroe at the slightly earlier time of 6:57am. This bus will now travel via Salthill and Spanish Arch, and no longer goes through to GMIT.

• The 8:10am bus from Spiddal to Galway will now start its journey from Carraroe at 6:30am, picking up in Spiddal at the slightly earlier time of 6:57am. This bus will now travel via Salthill and Spanish Arch, and no longer goes through to GMIT.

• There is a new bus from Lettermullen to Galway city at 9:30pm, Monday to Friday

• Between 10am and 7:30pm, there are now seven buses from Carraroe Monday to Friday, with one every 1.5 hours. This is an increase from the 5 buses per day previously in this time.

• The first route 424 bus from Galway bus station will leave at 6:55am, Monday to Friday, and travel to Lettermullen.

• There are new buses from Galway to Carraroe at 10am, 7:30pm, 9pm and 11pm - and the 7:30pm continues through to Lettermullen.

• The 8:20am bus from from Galway to Carraroe now leaves at 8:30am, and now follows the usual route: it no longer goes via UHG (the hospital) or Taylors Hill (St Annes).

• The 7:30am Galway to Spiddal Monday to Friday bus is cancelled.

• On Saturday, the timetable is similar to Monday - Friday (except no 10am Galway to Carraroe bus) - overall this is a major increase in the service.

• On Sunday, there are two new buses to and from Lettermullen to Galway, and services now run between 8:30am and 8:30pm - overall this is a major increase in the service.

• There are slight (+/- 10 minutes) departure time changes to some services or intermediate bus stops.

See bus services in the west of Galway for information about all public transport services in the area.

Galway bus and train fare changes from December 2019

December 2019 public-transport fare changes for Galway have been announced by the National Transport Authority.

This year, these changes are only for pre-paid, subsidised fares, ie monthly and annual tickets.  Changes to other fares will be announced in February 2020, and apply from March 2020.

Full details are in the determination document, which is available here.

These fares apply from 1 December 2019, for the 2019 calendar year.  Monthly and annual ticket prices will be applied during November for tickets that will be used from December.

The Galway City Bus Fares page will be updated with this information shortly.

GoBus accepts Free Travel Pass on Dublin and Cork services

GoBus have announced that they will be accepting DEASP Free Travel passes on their Galway / Dublin / Dublin airport services, effective from 1 November 2019.

This is in addition to their Cork - Dublin - Dublin airport service (previously branded GoBE) which already accepts Free Travel.

However it does not include their regional connect service to Ballina.

See also

• Galway north regional bus services

More buses on Burkes Galway/Tuam route 427

Burkes Buses have announced an increase on their services on route 427 Tuam to Galway, from Monday 14 0ctober 2019, especially at night and the weekend.

See their website for detail of the new times of buses on this route.

See Galway north regional buses for other services in the area.

Extra Dublin Airport / Galway bus services

Citylink have announced that from Monday 2nd September they will be running twelve extra services on the Dublin / Galway / Dublin route.

These are made up of

• Five Eireagle services from Galway to Dublin Airport, not stopping in Dublin City - at 5:30 am, 6:30 am, 7:30 am, 9:30 am and 11:30am

• Six additional Eireagle services from Dublin Airport to Galway , not via Dublin City, leaving at 1:15 am, 10:15 am, 12:15 pm, 1:15 pm, 3:15 pm and 5:15 pm.

• An extra evening (8:15pm) service from Galway to Dublin city and airport.

See the Galway / Eastern regions buses information page for more information about services from Galway to Dublin and Galway airport transfers for other air travel connection options.

NUIG bus stop change for Ballina service

Buslink have announced that from Monday 26th August 2019, their services to Ballina will stop behind Galway Cathedral, on the Millennium children's playground side, instead of on University Road.

See the Galway City regional bus stop location map for the exact position of the new stop.

Cancellation of the last Galway / Athenry bus each evening

Buslink have announced that, starting from Monday 26 August 2019, the following buses are cancelled:

• 6:30pm Athenry to Galway
• 7:30pm Galway to Athenry.

All their other services, including the Night-Link buses, are unaffected.

After this change, the last bus from Galway to Athenry each evening will leave Eyre Square at 6:10pm.

See the Galway - East regional buses info page and the Athenry neighbourhood map for information about other services in the area.

2019 Galway Races shuttle bus and train services

The information below is for 2019.

Click here to see up-to-date bus information for the Galway Races.

The Galway Races Summer Meeting is from Monday 29 July - Sunday 4 August 2019.

This is a summary of the public transport and traffic-management plans.

• Bus Éireann special races shuttle buses will run from Eyre Square.  

• Private bus companies are running special services from various towns and villages.  Some hotels are also organising shuttle services. 

• The route 409 - Parkmore  and route 401 - Salthill to Ballybrit / Parkmore Industrial city buses go to the racecourse (Avenue entrance).  But there are restrictions during peak racing traffic hours Mon - Fri.

• There are some changes to regular regional buses during race week and the next week.

City Direct student fares are going up

City Direct Galway have announced price increases for student fares:

• Student Leap card single journey increases to €1.70, from €1.50 (a 13% increase).
• Student Leap card monthly ticket increases to €55, from €50 (a 10% increase).

These changes are effective from 1 June 1st 2019.  But because student fares on City Direct only apply between 1 September and 31 May, the real effective-date is 1 September 2019.

See Galway city bus fares for more bus price details. 

June public holiday bus and train services

Monday 3 June 2019 is a Public / Bank Holiday in Ireland.

Many public transport services have timetable changes because of this.

The changes in the Galway region are summarised below.

Easter bank holiday 2019 bus and train timetables

Easter this year is from Friday 19 - Monday 22 April 2019.

Good Friday (the 14th) is a bank holiday but not a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland:  All banks and many public services (eg post-office) are closed, but most public-transport run normal Friday services.

Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday are not public holidays:  usual Sat / Sun timetables generally apply.

Easter Monday is a public holiday and a bank holiday, and in most cases Sunday services will be run.

Information from bus and train companies is summarised below.  Always confirm details with the company.  Bookings are recommended, because there are a number of events happening this weekend.

Bus timetables and daylight savings time, March 2019

Irish Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time) officially starts at 2am on Sunday 31 March 2019, when the clocks spring forward to 3am.

Bus companies that run overnight services have advised customers to adjust their watches at midnight on Saturday night:  services that leave after midnight will run at "summer time" times.

New 7-day bus between Galway and Ballina, Co Mayo

GoBus have announced that they will be running a new Regional Connect bus service between Ballina Co Mayo and Galway City, from 1 April 2019.

The buses used will be long-distance coaches with free WiFi and power sockets.

Bus Éireann withdraws cash sales of daily, weekly and monthly tickets

Bus Éireann have announced that from Monday 18 March 2019, multi-journey tickets for city will not be available as cash-purchases.

Affected tickets are

• Day Saver
• Weekly city commuter
• Monthly city commuter

Bus and train services on St Patrick's day / weekend, 2019

The information below is for 2019.

Please see St Patrick's Day public transport for the latest information.

Sunday 17th March 2019, 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, but not Public Holiday.  Banks will be closed,  Some businesses, especially ones that don't usually open on Sunday, will close to give their staff a day's holiday.  Because of this, most public transport companies will run a Sunday timetable.   

Read on for more details ... 

Ballinasloe to Galway express bus starting February 2019

Citylink have announced they will be running two new morning express buses between Ballinasloe and Galway, from February 25th 2019.

Buses will be at 7am and 8am:  this is a one-way service, there are no express return buses.

Regular return tickets, including CityLink's three-month TaxSaver tickets, cam be used on both express and multi-stop buses.

These buses will pick up from the three Ballinasloe bus stops (Creagh, Main St / Keller Travel and Portiuncula Hospital).

Journey tine to Galway city is 45 minutes.


See Galway eastern regional bus services for more information buses about this area.

City Direct weekly and monthly tickets becoming Leap-card only

City Direct have announced that from Monday 11 February 2019, their drivers will no longer sell weekly or monthly bus tickets.

From this date, these tickets can only be purchased from Leap card outlets (map of them here), loaded onto Leap cards. 

If you do not already have a Leap card, you will need to purchase one (cost is a €5 deposit) before you can buy a City Direct weekly or monthly bus ticket.

This applies to the adult, student and child versions of these tickets.

There is no announced change to City Direct's monthly TaxSaver ticket.

See more

• Information about using Leap cards in Galway City
• Galway city bus fares