Route takes in the old 703 route, stopping in Dalkey, Dun Laoghaire and Monkstown. During rush out the journey can take up to 2 hours 50 minutes.
Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady recently met with representatives from Aircoach in order to raise the issue of the impact of route changes to the Greystones Aircoach bus to Dublin Airport. The meeting came after a decision by Aircoach to amalgamate a number of routes. The new route takes in the old 703 route, stopping in Dalkey, Dun Laoghaire and Monkstown. During rush out the journey can take up to 2 hours 50 minutes Brady took the opportunity to allay his concerns to Aircoach concerning these developments. He said that Aircoach took on board these concerns and undertook to come back with a series of proposals designed to address the unnecessary travel times from Wicklow.
Following the meeting Brady said:
“I welcome the fact that Aircoach have taken on board my concerns in relation to excessive travel times forced upon passengers from Wicklow travelling to Dublin Airport, following the amalgamation to a number of routes in south Dublin with the Greystones route in Wicklow.
In the first instance Aircoach cut back on its 24-hour service to Dublin Airport, reducing its service, which left the last bus out of Wicklow leaving Greystones at 6pm.
Obviously, this was unworkable, and Aircoach re-introduced its 24-hour service, but unfortunately this involved the amalgamation of a number of routes. Which left Wicklow passengers with a 2-hour 50-minute transit to the Airport during peak traffic times.
To put this in perspective, you could fly from Dublin to Barcelona in 2 hours 35 minutes.
Following my meeting with Aircoach they have accepted the difficulties that this poses for Wicklow passengers and are to carry out a review of the route.
We now await the outcome of this review as the current situation remains unacceptable, but until such time as the government gets its act together and puts a rail service in place to the Airport, passengers will be reliant on bus travel, particularly with the difficulties around long term parking at Dublin Airport.
A bus journey that takes two-and-a-half-hour journey from Wicklow to the Airport is unsustainable. And I hope that Aircoach realise this and takes action to restore the original Greystones route on a 24-hour basis.” ENDs