Bus Éireann asks public to consider the 'necessity' of their journey over bank holiday weekend 

Bus Éireann is asking people to be considerate before travelling at peak times over the bank holiday weekend. Picture: Larry Cummins

Chief Commerical Officer for the company, Eleanor Farrell, said that while only 7% of its services have a demand that exceeds capacity, Expressway routes are less likely to satisfy customer demands. 

Owing to the Covid-19 public health guidelines, passenger capacity of Bus Éireann vehicles is down 50% with the service under its greatest pressure at peak times, 12 noon and 7pm. 

Ms Farrell says that drivers and inspectors are "not in a position to assess whether someone’s journey is necessary or not" but asks bus users  "to take into consideration that their journey may prevent an essential worker reaching their place of employment, or someone attending a healthcare appointment." 

The routes that under particular pressure at peak times include the X8(Cork/Dublin Airport via Mitchelstown, Cashel), 40(Tralee/Cork and Cork/Waterford/Rosslare via Killarney, Macroom, Cork, Midleton, Youghal, Dungarvan, Waterford, Wexford) and the X12, (Limerick/Dublin Airport via Nenagh, Roscrea, Portlaoise).

Online booking is available for on the X1 Belfast/Dublin, X8 Cork/Dublin and 30/32 Letterkenny/Dublin with live service updates available on Bus Eireann twitter feed. 

The bus service also asked the public to continue to observe social distancing and to wear a facemask among other Covid-19 measures.

Capacity on our services is restricted due to social distancing guidelines
Please help us keep everyone safe by:
✅being considerate of your fellow passengers
✅avoiding unnecessary journeys
✅wearing face coverings#LetsAllPlayOurPart #besafe #beresponsible@TFIupdates @HSELive pic.twitter.com/bTHWDGJrB0

— Bus Éireann (@Buseireann) July 30, 2020