There’s likely to be travel chaos around the country today as a 48-hour industrial action will see Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus services come to a standstill.
The action will take place today and Saturday, commencing at midnight tonight - with five more days of work stoppages possible for May if the dispute between bus operators and unions over privatisation of some bus routes has not been resolved.
With the strike going ahead after the collapse of late talks, tens of thousands of people will be forced to find alternative means of transport during a busy bank holiday weekend for travel. Here’s some general information for those affected by tomorrow and Saturday’s industrial action.
Luas services will be operating as normal. There’s likely to be an increased number of passengers throughout the day, so make sure to plan your journey.
Irish Rail services will also be operating as normal, with no plans for an increased service. The company is warning that demand for DART and Commuter services is expected to be extremely high at peak times - in particular trains arriving in Dublin city centre between 8am and 9am, and those leaving the city centre between 5pm and 6.30pm.
Intercity services are also expected to be busy, with Irish Rail warning demand will be particularly high between 1pm and 8pm on Friday. They are advising customers to book online. The company has further advised any passengers with flexible schedules to travel outside these peak times. For more information, check out Irish Rail’s website.
Traffic is also likely to be heavy, and it’s warned that commuters will not be allowed to use the bus lanes even though buses are not in operation (usual rules apply for taxis). Those forced to drive to work might consider carpooling wherever possible, to cut down on the amount of cars on the road on what is likely to be a very busy day traffic-wise - and also to offset some of those petrol and parking costs.
Anybody taking longer journeys are well advised to check out some of the smaller, independent bus operators. These include the likes of GoBus, CityLink, Aircoach and more. A partial list of these operators is available on the Transport for Ireland website.
Private services in County Dublin and the commuter belt such as Swords Express are operating as normal.
The Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann strike is set to finish at midnight on Saturday night / Sunday morning, so services will be operating on Sunday and Monday - albeit with a Sunday / bank holiday timetable.
