Christmas 2022 / New Year 2023 bus and train services in Galway

A summary of  bus and train services in Galway city and county 

for the

2022 Christmas and 2023 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.

Galway city 2022 Christmas Park and Ride

A park-and-ride service will run in Galway City for the Christmas 2022 shopping period.

It will run daily between Saturday 10 - Friday 24 December, and is being operated by City Direct, on behalf of Galway City Council.

Galway / Dublin Airport bus service changes - August 2022

GoBus have announced an extra service on their Galway to Dublin Airport Direct route, from Monday 15 August 2022. This will run:

• From Galway at 9am
• From Dublin Airport at 2:45pm

Citylink have announced extra an extra service on their  Galway to Dublin city / airport route, from Monday 8 August 2022. This will run:

• From Galway at 10:30am, direct to Dublin Airport (eirEagle service)
• From Dublin city at 5:45pm

GoBus have announced an extra service on their Galway to Dublin city / airport route, from Monday 1 August 2022. This will run:

• From Galway at 8am - direct to Dublin Airport
• From Dublin Airport at 11:45am, stopping in Dublin City (Burgh Quay) at 12:15pm

2022 Galway Races bus and train services

The information below is for 2022. 

See Galway Races bus and train information for this year.

CityLink takes over GoBus

In July 2022, Citylink announced that they have purchased GoBus.

Later in they week, they provided more details about the immediate effects:

• Irish Citylink and GoBus will operate under their own brands for now.

• Tickets are interchangeable: Citylink tickets can be used on GoBus services on the same route, and GoBus tickets can be used on Citylink services on the same route,

• Service information is available and booking can be done on both websites (www.citylink.ie and www.gobus.ie.

• Both Customer services teams are still operating:
  Citylink email at info@citylink.ie or call 091 564 164.
  GoBus email at info@gobus.ie or call 091 564 600.

Citylink service improvements - July 2022

Citylink have announced several additions to their timetable, from July 2022:

• An evening (7pm) service from Galway city to Ballinasloe, with stops in Oranmore, Craughwell, Loughrea, Kilreekil, Aughrim  (announcement) - running from 11 July 2022.

• An extra Eireagle Direct Galway / Dublin airport service (announcement) leaving from Galway at 11:30am and Dublin Airport at 3:15pm.   - running from 11 July 2022.

See Galway regional buses - eastern for information about other services on these routes.

Temporary fare cuts on some bus and train services

In February 2022, the Irish government announced a 20% price cut - on average - on public transport services which they pay a subsidy for.

In early April 2022, Transport for Ireland announced the next steps in applying this, and local publicity says that these will be effective from Monday 11 April.

• Fares for Bus Éireann, LocalLink and online-purchased InterCity train tickets will be reduced by 20%.

This means that in Galway city, the:

• Adult single fare will be €1.35 (reduced from €1.68),
• Child fare will be €0.65 (reduced from €0.80) 

for passengers who pay using a TFI Leap Card.

Other fares, eg weekly and monthly tickets are likely to decrease also, but this has not been covered in the publicity.

What buses are not included in the April 2022 fare cuts

The fare-reductions scheme only applies to Public Service Obligation (PSO) public transport services, including those provided by Irish Rail / Iarnród Éireann  and Bus Éireann.  These services receive a government subsidy under the PSO scheme.  

• The change probably does not apply to cash fares (to be confirmed). 
• Subsidised buses, or ones that are subsidised outside of the PSO programme eg Burkes, CityLink, CityDirect, Expressway, are not included, so their fares will not necessarily change.
  

More buses between Galway and Limerick / Cork

Citylink have announced that they are offering three more coaches in each direction on their  Galway - Limerick - Cork - Cork Airport service, effective from Friday 8 April 2022.

This is a 7-days per week service.  The new buses will leave from:

• Galway at 10:30am, 1:30pm and 4:30pm
• Cork Airport at 12:30pm, 3:30pm and 7:45pm

From the same day, all Citylink Galway / Cork services will not stop at Raheen in Limerick.   The only stop in Limerick will be in Henry Street, near the Garda Station.

Citylink bus stop, Raheen, Limerick - cancelled from April 2022

Extra very-early-morning buses to Dublin Airport

Citylink have announced that they will temporarily run an express bus from Galway Coach station to Dublin airport, to give extra time to get through security in Dublin.    

This bus will leave Galway at 12:01am (ie just after midnight) and arrive at Dublin Airport at 2:20am.

Initially this service is running between 30 March and 8 April 2022 - it may be extended if delays in Dublin continue.

Bus and Train services in Galway for St Patricks's Day weekend 2022.

Thursday 17th March 2022, St Patrick's Day / Lá Féile Pádraic and Friday 18 March are public holidays in Ireland.   

Most public transport services will run a Sunday timetable on both days. 

On Thursday, many services will have different routes or stops during the day, due to St Patrick's Day parades and events.

Fares going down on subsidised public transport - April 2022 Taxsaver changes

In February 2022, the Irish government announced a 20% price cut - on average - on public transport services that they pay a subsidy for.

In March 2022, Transport for Ireland announced the first steps in applying this:

• Existing annual Taxsaver tickets for subsidised services will be extended by three months, and
  
  
• Prices for Taxsaver tickets for April, (which will be purchased from mid-late March onwards) for subsidised services will go down by 20%.  

What buses are not included in the April 2022 fare cuts

This change only applies to Public Service Obligation (PSO) public transport services, including those provided by Irish Rail / Iarnród Éireann  and Bus Éireann.  These services receive a government subsidy under the PSO scheme.  

• The change probably does not apply to TaxSaver tickets for unsubsidised buses, or ones that are subsidised outside of the PSO programme eg Burkes, CityLink, CityDirect, Expressway.
  
  
• The announcement did not mention non-TaxSaver monthly tickets, so the price of these will probably not change, yet.

Extra morning buses from Loughrea to Galway

Citylink have announced that their two Monday to Friday two early morning Ballinasloe to Galway buses will stop in Loughrea, from Monday, January 24 2022.

Coaches leave from Beattys Jewellers in Loughrea at:

• 7:25am
• 8:10am

Travel time from Loughrea to Galway is expected to be 45 minutes.

These buses address the early morning service gap which was created when Bus Eireann cancelled the route 20 service.

See East Galway regional bus services for information about other companies operating on this route.