Ireland Public Transportaion

Hi Jean,
Yes, we spent about 2 weeks in Ireland/N Ireland and traveled strictly with public transport. No need to make excuses why you don't want to drive I totally understand!!! Can you give more specifics about where you'll be traveling in Ireland and then I can possibly offer more specific details. We traveled Dublin to Galway via train (easy, direct and inexpensive); Galway to Portstewart; Portstewart to Belfast.

We are starting in Scotland and will fly into Dublin (see Book of Kells and do a tour bus trip to Glendalough), train to Kilkenny, bus to Rock of Cashel, bus to Kinsale for 2 days, bus to Killarney (taxi to Muckross House), bus to Dingle for 2 days (with the archaelogical tour around Dingle Penninsula) and bus to Shannon airport. Rock of Cashel seems to be the biggest problem using public transportation - (meaning time consumption). I have it all planned out using the journey planner on the train & bus websites - if the schedule remains the same 3 months from now. It seems most everyone drives, so it's just good to hear that it can be done with public transportation!

I'm not sure what "at our age" implies, but I'm closer to 60 than 50 (don't know how that happened so quickly!!), and I don't hesitate to rent a car when in Ireland. You can rent an automatic if you want. I've done both manual and automatic in Ireland and am fine with either. Ireland is a truly beautiful country. No doubt you can experience and appreciate that beauty, to some degree, by looking through the windows of Ireland's limited public transportation system. But you'll appreciate it and experience it much more with a private car. Personally, I'd never travel Ireland by any other means than by car. I'm sure others have visited Ireland by bus & train and without renting a car and returned home happy, but that sure wouldn't be my choice. Regardless, you'll love Ireland by whatever means you see it. Have a great trip!

How much time will you have in Ireland? I am fortunate enough to be able to spend three weeks at a time and what I do is rent a car for part of the time and use public transportation for the remainder. I will rent a cottage for a week and have a car to use for taking day trips in the area and then use the bus or train to get me between different towns where I will stay for a day or two after hopefully having found a company in the area that conducts day tours. You might look into getting a bus pass that will let you get on and off the bus over a certain length of time. www.buseireann.ie

Did someone just refer to "Ireland's limited public transportation system"? This, http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1282732129-Network-map.pdf, is the network map of the bus system in Ireland. Doesn't look limited to me. (Sorry about the cut and paste, but there is something about the URL that won't work as a link with POS, BB Code.) I am currently looking at a trip to Ireland with my wife. After getting three quotes, which, when fuel estimate (Via Michelin) is added, come to $650 average for a compact stick shift for two weeks, WITHOUT CDW, I started looking at buses. So far I have not found anywhere I want to go to that I can't get to by bus, and it is looking like no more than $360, total for two of us.

I appreciate the responses to my post. Mike, we are in our 60's (and likewise it was only a few weeks ago we were in our 40's!) We have driven in other countries...it's just this "other side" business on narrow roads that we find worrisome. The locals would probably prefer we take busses as well :-) We used busses & trains on a trip to England last year and it worked very well. We like to travel independently and particularly enjoy small villages, where unfortunately the bus service is less frequent. I had not found the 10 journey pass idea on the Bus Eireann website until you brought it to my attention, Pat. I have our trip planned using their journey planner, but there are no schedules past mid March: so my hope is that there are few changes 3 months from now. We will be there on May 2nd and are wondering if there is bus service, since it is a holiday. I have sent an e-mail to their website asking these questions, but have not received a reply. It is good to hear about others' experiences and any tips they have to offer. Thank you for any assistance.

I "think" bus service becomes more frequent the closer you get to peak tourist season. There is bus service on holidays, or bank holidays, as they are called in Ireland but the service is usually less frequent, at least on the less traveled route's. I will also be in Ireland on May 2 but at the Cup of Tae festival in Adrara in Donegal.

On the network map to which a referred above, there are red and blue numbers next to the routes. Blue numbers are expressway buses and links to their schedules are shown here, www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=237 in numeric order. Red numbers are regional routes and links to their schedules are shown here, www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=238 by county. Schedule pages tell on what days there is no service.

I received answers to my e-mail questions very promptly from Bus Eireann and wanted to commend them on this site. There will be busses on May 2 (Holiday) but operating on a Sunday schedule. She said the daily timetables will remain the same for April & May -with a few changes for summer months. We will be purchasing the Open Road Pass when we arrive because after much research on point to point prices, that is definitely the best option for us. I have also read other forums, and busses seem to be a very enjoyable stress-free way to travel there. Now I can reserve those B&Bs and wait for April to arrive. Thank you for your responses.