 |
Dublin Bus
by Emma1973
You've gotten to Dublin, found your way out of the airport with more twists and turns than the Crystal Maze, dumped your bags in the hotel and now you're ready to go! Although Dublin is a fairly small city some of the sights are a little hard to find and quite far apart, What to do? To save on the old shoe leather ... there's only one way to see the sights in Dublin and that's on one of the tour buses which can be seen all over the place.
We went with the City Tour buses and the price for an all day ticket was only 10 euros (when am I going to get that symbol on my keyboard?). This allows you to travel non-stop around the whole city and get on and off at any of the stops.
This particular tour has 16 stops. These are:
1) McDonalds (the start of the tour) 9) Dublin Castle and City Hall
2) Writers Museum 10) St Patricks Cathedral
3) GPO/Henry St 11) Dublinia
4) Trinity College 12) Guinness Storehouse
5) Nassan Street 13) Museum of Modern Art
6) National Gallery 14) Dublin Zoo
7) St Stephens Green 15) National Museum
8) Tourism Centre 16) Old Jameson Distillery and The Chimney
This may seem to be only a few stops but most other sights can be seen from here, for example at stop number 2, there is also the National Wax Museum and the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.
Along with you ticket you also get a really useful map of the area with all the historical landmarks on it, there's also descriptions of each place. It also displays opening times, prices, addresses and phone numbers. But most useful of all the guide has vouchers and details of money of prices al the attractions, you only have to show your bus tickets at the admission desk to take advantage of the discounts.
We had the most wonderful tour guide who sounded like your stereotypical Irishman, his knowledge of Dublin, historical events and local legends was fantastic, unfortunately his j
okes were amongst the worse that I had ever heard! But he was really helpful, answering any question and making sure people knew where they were going. We even got a friendly little wink and he dropped us of at the Jamesons Whiskey Distillery after earlier dropping us off at the Guinness Storehouse.
'Twas a pity about the second who had a really thick accent and spoke so monotone and boringly I couldn't understand a word he said!
The buses are top-notch, they're clean and spotless, no vandalism whatsoever, no broken seats, etc.
10 euros (around £8) may seem a bit expensive but if you really want to see all the sights and hear all about Dublin's history this is the best way to go. Just make sure you get a funny guide and sit up on the top deck!
Read the complete review |
 |
Dublin Bus
by timtm
I'm not that qualified to write too much on this, since I caught a bus in Dublin a total of twice. But there is information that I thought is useful, and should be shared. On arriving at Dublin airport, it's very tempting to catch one of the Airlink buses from just outside the terminal. Don't. As you come out, ... turn to the left and walk down to bus stop number 2. Catch a number 41 or a number 41C, and you'll be paying around one third of the price for the same route. Well, nearly the same.
The difference is that this bus stops en route, and on the way passes down the lenght of Gardiner Street, where a lot of B&Bs and hostels are situated. So not only will you have saved money, but you'll be closer to where you're staying. Just keep and eye out for the blue roadsigns stuck halfway up buildings, or just ask the driver.
Also, when you get to the airport, go and buy a can of drink or something. You need to pay *exactly* £1.20, no more, no less - if you pay more, you won't get any change. There is a change machine at the airport, but it only gives out £1 and 50p coins. And no using Sterling either.
As I said, it's not about Dublin buses in general - central Dublin's small enough for you to be able to walk around, and it's lovely enough for it to be nice to walk around - but, well, *I* thought it was useful, so there!
Read the complete review |
 |
Dublin Bus
by number63
Contrary to what others seem to say about Dublin Bus's service, it's not anything as good as it could be. Dublin is unfortunately cursed with bad public transport systems which, despite all the complaints about traffic congestion and air pollution, have improved very little in the past few years, despite substantial increases in ... the fares.
Disadvantage 1: they're quite expensive. And, unlike, for example, London's buses, the fares vary considerably, so you're unlikely to know exactly how much you have to pay the first time you use one, until you actually get on. And if you don't have the exact change, well, that's your bad luck. You just pay more. They don't give you change: what you get instead is a receipt which can be cashed in at the Dublin Bus offic on O'Connell Street (but really, who can be bothered doing that?). The company makes a great deal of money from that little swindle.
Disadvantage 2: Timetables? What timetables? A perverse sense of humour on the part of some executive has lead to a great number of timetables being removed from bus stops, which means that, even if you're lucky enough to know what bus actually stops there, you won't be able to find out what time it might actually arrive at. Not that they follow the timetables, anyway. A tip for the uninitiated: give yourself at least a half hour more to get to your destination, especially if you live further out. My particular bus service has regular delays of anything up to 45 minutes, for no other reason, it seems, than that the driver wants to read his paper.
Disadvantage 3: Every public transport system in Dublin shuts down at 11:30 pm at the latest, leaving the poor late drinker or clubber to the mercy of the taxis: God help us all. At the weekends, Dublin Bus do put on a night service (for, surprisingly, very expensive fares), but some of these routes are very much to be avoided. Furthermore, as a lot of people in Dublin don
't seem to realise that there's a limit on how much a person can actually drink, you're quite likely to have to negotiate a number of pools of vomit when you want to get off. Not fun.
Dublin Bus can be absolutely infuriating if you have to use them regularly. A visitor might put the extortionate prices and lazy timekeeping down to Oirish idiosyncrasy, but the truth is, they just couldn't be bothered offering a decent service, because it's not as if they have any competitors, is it? So we must put up with it until the government, in their wisdom, see fit to get rid of the company's inefficient moopoly. But I won't hold my breath.
Read the complete review |
