Christmas 2023 / New Year 2024 bus and train services in Galway

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

for the

2023 Christmas and 2024 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.

Changes to buses between Galway and Connemara (Clifden, Oughterard and Spiddal/Lettermullen) - December 2023

CityLink Ireland, Bus Éireann and the National Transport authority have announced (here and here) changes to a number of services between Galway city centre and Connemara, starting in December 2023.

Overall

• There will be a bus between Clifden and Galway every two hours, increasing to every hour at peak times.  
• There will be a bus between Oughterard and Galway every hour during the day, increasing to every half hour at peak times.
• There will be a bus between Galway and Barna, Spiddal and Carraroe almost once per hour.

However there are some stops which will no longer served, or which require a change at Clifden.

Route 923 Citylink:   Galway - Clifden - Letterfrack

From Monday 11th December there will be four extra buses in each direction, including earlier and later services each morning and evening.

There are no changes to stops on this route.

Route 419 Bus Éireann:   Galway - Oughterard - Clifden

From Sunday 17 December, there will be one extra service from Galway each day (3pm), the first bus will leave Galway city at 6:40am, and other times through the day will be adjusted (slightly earlier OR later).

This bus will no longer stop at Maam Bridge, Kilmilkin, Leenane, Salruck Cross (Opposite the hostel), Recess Cross, Kylemore Abbey, Letterfrack, Moyard, Cashel Cross, Second Cashel Cross, Toombeola Bridge,  Roundstone or Ballyconneely.

The National Transport Authority announcement says 

Bus services to Leenane and Roundstone, which had been provided by Bus Éireann, will now be secured by Local Link Galway from mid-December

but does not give details.

New Local Link services Kylemore Abbey to Maam Cross and Ballyconneely to Recess

Two new door-to-door services are being introduced.   Details are available here.   

Each bus will run once a week, and seats must be booked by phone at least one day in advance.   As door-to-door services, the route (and so times) may vary - and they are organised to suit people living in outlying areas who want to travel inward, not visitors to the area.

Route 423, Clifden to Westport via Leenane

The number of buses each day on this route is doubled, with extra buses from Clifden at approx 9am, 2pm and 6pm (check the timetable for exact times).

There is no changes to the stops on this route, which include Moyard (Opp Post Office),
Letterfrack, Kylemore Abbey, Recess Cross, Salruck Cross Hostel, Leenane, Cuslough, and Knappagh.

Route 424, Galway to Lettermullen (Leitir Mealláin) via An Cheathrú Rua, Spiddal and Barna

From Sunday 17 December 2023, there are an extra seven buses each day on this route - taking the service to almost once an hour between 6am and 11pm.

There will be one extra bus between Carraroe and Lettermullen, at approx 1:30pm - and times of all services are adjusted slightly.

Note that this service is now often operated by double-decker Galway city buses, which has also increased the number of passengers who can be taken.

2023 Christmas Park-and-Ride in Galway city

A park-and-ride service will run in Galway City for the Christmas 2023 shopping period.

It will every day between Friday 8 December and Sunday 25 December, 

The service is being operated on behalf of Galway City Council, who commission and fund this service.

New Mayo - Tuam - Athlone - Dublin Airport bus route 721, from September 2023

Citylink have announced that they will start a coach service between Mayo and Dublin Airport, from 25 September 2023.  This service will run from Castlebar, with stops in Claremorris, Tuam, Athlone and Dublin city-centre.  

Timetable information and ticket-bookings will be available on their website from the official launch-date of 1 September 2023:   initially there will be six services each way, seven days a week.

Introductory fares of €5 per journey will be available to start with: Long-term prices are to be announced.

The map below gives an initial indication of the route, exact stop details will be added as they are announced.

This service has been licensed by GoBus since 2021, but has not operated previously.

2023 Galway Races bus and train services

The information below is for 2022. 

See Galway Races bus and train information for this year.

Extra buses on route 51 Galway - Shannon airport for summer 2023

Bus Eireann Expressway have announced they will run two extra buses each way between Galway City and Shannon airport from Friday 7 July 2023, for nine weeks.

Service times

These are seven-day services, running Monday to Sunday, including public holidays.

• 4am  from Galway to Shannon Airport, stopping at ATU (GMIT) 
• 6:45am  from Shannon Airport to Galway, stopping at ATU (GMIT) only.

and

• 9:05pm from Galway to Shannon Airport, stopping at all normal stops on the route.
• 11:45pm  from Shannon Airport to Galway, stopping at ATU (GMIT) only.

The exact end-date has not been announced, it is likely to be around 7 September 2023.

Fares

Expressway is a fully commercial service, however Free Travel passes are accepted.

Seats can be booked on the main Bus Eireann website (although it does not yet appear to have updates with the new times as yet).