F Great Eastern
Established Member
A very bloody international bus war is about to launch between Dublin and Belfast with FirstGroup company Aircoach and Dublin Coach, that is owned ironically by the founder of Aircoach. Everything that has been seen so far suggests it's going to be possibly the biggest bus war seen in these parts.
Dublin Coach have been given permission to share the same stop with Aircoach outside the Europa Bus Center in Belfast on Glengall Street which is hard enough to find a parking space for a bus now, never mind with two operators running there very soon.
Because the route will be classified as international it will be run under EU Law rather than under the legislation of either Northern Ireland or Ireland, which would prohibit the kind of competition we are likely to see on this corridor over the coming weeks as neither country can do a huge amount about it.
Essentially what will happen is Dublin Coach are going to start a 16 service a day non stop service in each direction from Belfast to Dublin whilst Aircoach have a 22 service a day route in each direction going from Belfast to Dublin via Dublin Airport without any other stops. Both services will leave the same time as each other and in Belfast from the same stops. Both Aircoach and Dublin Coach services will operate from both terminus at 30 minutes past each hour.
In addition to this Bus Eireann and Translink will run two Express non stop services a day at 00 past the hour and services every hour via Banbridge, Newry and Sprucefield, these services are unlikely to be hit so much because of their intermediate traffic and the fact that they will not be so prone to passenger abstraction at stop since they will be inside the Europa well away from the Battle Royale outside. There is a view that they would be quite happy to see each other fight it out on the streets whilst they keep away from it inside.
Why a bus war? Effectively there's going to be two Dublin to Belfast Express non stop services at the same time then a gap of another hour before the next one, clearly there is going to be a lot of fun and games at the bus stop shared between both of them and what wouldn't surprise me is that since the Dublin Coach service is not serving the airport, it can get to Belfast faster for the return leg, and then pitch up at the bus stop and hoover up a few Aircoach passengers who are waiting for a bus leaving at the same time.
Dublin Coach have been given permission to share the same stop with Aircoach outside the Europa Bus Center in Belfast on Glengall Street which is hard enough to find a parking space for a bus now, never mind with two operators running there very soon.
Because the route will be classified as international it will be run under EU Law rather than under the legislation of either Northern Ireland or Ireland, which would prohibit the kind of competition we are likely to see on this corridor over the coming weeks as neither country can do a huge amount about it.
Essentially what will happen is Dublin Coach are going to start a 16 service a day non stop service in each direction from Belfast to Dublin whilst Aircoach have a 22 service a day route in each direction going from Belfast to Dublin via Dublin Airport without any other stops. Both services will leave the same time as each other and in Belfast from the same stops. Both Aircoach and Dublin Coach services will operate from both terminus at 30 minutes past each hour.
In addition to this Bus Eireann and Translink will run two Express non stop services a day at 00 past the hour and services every hour via Banbridge, Newry and Sprucefield, these services are unlikely to be hit so much because of their intermediate traffic and the fact that they will not be so prone to passenger abstraction at stop since they will be inside the Europa well away from the Battle Royale outside. There is a view that they would be quite happy to see each other fight it out on the streets whilst they keep away from it inside.
Why a bus war? Effectively there's going to be two Dublin to Belfast Express non stop services at the same time then a gap of another hour before the next one, clearly there is going to be a lot of fun and games at the bus stop shared between both of them and what wouldn't surprise me is that since the Dublin Coach service is not serving the airport, it can get to Belfast faster for the return leg, and then pitch up at the bus stop and hoover up a few Aircoach passengers who are waiting for a bus leaving at the same time.
