Dublin Bus or Bus Átha Cliathis is a public transport operator in Dublin and also throughout the Republic of Ireland. It is an auxiliary company of the Córas Iompair Éireann owned by the Irish Government. This transit company controls an extensive bus network approximately of 200 radial routes, cross-city routes and peripheral routes within the city of Dublin and Greater Dublin Area. The company commenced its services on 2 February 1987 under the supervision of the Transport Act,1986. Initially, this company was the dominant one in Dublin, but recently many more bus companies have received licenses for operation in Dublin by the Department of Transport.
Dublin Bus Services
The principal aim of Dublin Bus is to provide a thorough passenger service along the roadways of the city and county of Dublin. The services of this company is also extended to the adjacent areas of the city. Dublin Bus comprises 3,408 staff and 1,067 buses traversing almost 60 million kilometers every year, as estimated by the "Dublin Bus Annual Report, 2004". Dublin Bus provided the passengers with more than 500,000 journeys per week in 2004, majority of these journeys were provided during the rush hours.
Dublin Bus Routes
The extensive network of Dublin Bus routes can be categorized into radial, peripheral, cross-city, Airport Services, DART feeder, Nitelink and sightseeing tour buses. The prime radial routes are carried out by Dublin's 15 Quality Bus Corridors, providing continuous bus service to the city center during the daytime. The Express buses or "Xpresso" operate on the same route, but they have a fixed and limited number of stops and a higher fare rates. Dublin Bus offers a "Nitelink" service across 24 routes overnight from Monday to Saturday. On Friday and Saturday nights, the bus frequency increases at night and higher fares are applied.
Bus services are also offered to and from the Dublin Port 7 days a week.
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It takes about 15 minutes in normal traffic from Busarus or the Central Bus Station to reach Dublin Port. These bus services link the Dublin Airport to all the major locations of the city . The Railink route buses carry passengers to all the main Rail Stations in Dublin through Route 90 and Route 92. Some main destinations covered by these bus services include Parnell Square East, Whitehall, Sandymount, Harristown, Blackrock, Phoenix Park, O'Connell Street, Donnybrook, Eden Quay, Wadelai Park, Mather Road North, Pearse Street and many other important locations of the Dublin.
Dublin Bus Fares
The Dublin Bus fares are usually depend on the distance traveled. There are different range of fares. Certain routes such as the Xpresso use a different fare system. Dublin Bus complies to the policy of exact fare and no change to avoid the risk of robbery. The passengers are supposed to place the exact fare in coins in the installed fare box and only then a ticket is issued. Exceptionally in routes 747 and 748 accessing the Dublin Airport charge a minimum fare of €6, here banknotes are accepted and change is returned in cash. Several types of pre-paid tickets are also available for single or multiple days. The students and old age passengers enjoy a concession or sometimes even travel free of cost .
There are many ticket agents assigned by this bus service. Their locations are spread across the city, such as CIE Information Desk, Ticket Machine @ Buses and many others at the airport and Shop n' Go, Spar and Student's Union Shop at other locations of the city. For booking advance tickets, one may visit the Booking Office from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Monday, 9.00 am to 5.30 pm on other weekdays and from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm on Saturday. It remains closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Dublin Bus offers various types of vehicles like Articulated buses, Double decker, Single decker and Midibuses. The tourists may contact Customer Service Desk for further information, situated at the O’Connell Street in Dublin.
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