Bus Éireann’s extensive Expressway network is losing money and faces potent competition from other operators. DAVID JENKINS tries it out from Dublin to Galway and Limerick in the first of this two-part account of his travels.
On the coach roads of Ireland
Long gone are the days when Bus Éireann dominated Ireland’s express coach market. For one thing, its Expressway division has to operate without subsidy and now functions in a competitive market place against a variety of newcomers.
It is a difficult transition for the state-owned operator, which is trying to reduce costs to compete with the lean start-up businesses. Some routes have already been withdrawn and Expressway expects to lose around €6million (£5.1million) in 2016. However, Expressway has largely positioned itself not so much in the direct city-to-city market where most of the newer players congregate, but continues to run more traditional limited stop routes, at much higher frequencies than before.
The network is dominated by Dublin — home to more than a quarter of the Republic of Ireland’s population of 4.75m — and its airport, used by 25million passengers a year. Which is where I start my journey.
Though the main coach terminal is fairly w…
