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
The tickets are still available, but only way to buy them is with a Leap card. This can be done:
- On a city bus from the bus-driver (for the all-day ticket only - weekly and monthly tickets are not available from drivers)
- At Payzone outlets which offer Leap tickets (see Leap cards in Galway for information about these)
- Online at www.Leapcard.ie (if you do this, you need to validate the card at a Payzone outlet before you can use the ticket)
- Using the Leap Topup app on NFC-enabled Android phones.
It is no longer possible to buy these tickets at the Galway Travel Centre, because this is not a Payzone outlet.
What to ask for
When buying with a Leap Card, the official name for Day Saver tickets is the City Red Zone 24 hour ticket. Bus drivers are likely to understand a request for a "Day Saver", but Payzone outlet staff may not, and you need to choose the correct name online etc).All-day bus tickets for tourists in Galway
Tourists and visitors who want to buy all-day bus tickets in Galway city need to use a regular Leap card. You need to buy this from a Payzone outlet, load it with cash, and then use to buy day-saver ticket from the xity bus drivers.- There is a non-refundable €5 deposit on when you buy a Leap card
- Most Payzone outlets will only load multiples of €5.
One option is to just purchase the card, not load any cash to it, and use it once to buy a 24-hour day pass: the balance will immediately become negative, but this isn't a problem while the day-pass is active. (This will only work while the cost of a day-pass is less than the cost of a Leap card deposit.)
Visitor Leap Cards that are purchased in Dublin airport or certain Dublin City stores can only be loaded with specific visitor tickets: They cannot be used to buy regular tickets like Day-Savers in Galway.
Child and student day-passes
Some tickets have Adult, Child and Student options.From now on, you will need to have a personalised Child or Student Leap card in order to buy the Child or Student tickets. This means that they are not available for tourists.
Return tickets
There are no return tickets available on Bus Eireann city buses in Galway.Until now, a person asking for a return ticket was generally sold a cash-purchase Daysaver (even though these cost more than twice the single-fare).
However this option is not available any longer.
