AIRCOACH SERVICES ARE to be scaled back significantly from 2 March, when the bus company will cease serving a number of areas in south Dublin and Wicklow.

Announcing the changes today, Aircoach said that the service reductions were being made “to better align service offering to customer demand”. 

The planned changes include a shortening of the 700 route, which will now run between Dublin Airport and Leopardstown, and the bus will no longer stop at Galloping Green, Foxrock, Cabinteely, Cornelscourt or Cherrywood.

Aircoach is also renaming its 701 route to 700X, providing a shuttle service between Dublin Airport and the City Centre, with the Ballsbridge and St Vincent’s Hospital stops now being served by Route 702.

Route 702 will now operate between Dublin Airport and Dalkey and will no longer serve Loughlinstown, Shankill, Bray or Greystones.

Updated timetables will be made available later this week on the Aircoach website, the company said. 

Independent Bray councillor Joe Behan described the cancellation of the service as “shocking” and questioned how much government officials, particularly Tánaiste Simon Harris, a Wicklow TD, knew about the move beforehand.  

Behan said he was “completely amazed this is happening under the nose of Tánaiste Simon Harris,” particularly in the context of government drives to get more people to use public transport.

“Many people will be very disappointed,” he said. 

“I would love to know how long this has been in the works,” Behan said, asking, “When did they know?”

He said he wondered if government officials had made any attempt to prevent the change of service coming into effect.

Behan said he would like to see the introduction of a new bus service to replace the Aircoach. 

Local Fine Gael councillor Frank McNamara told The Journal that the announcement was “very disappointing” as the issue of transport options for getting to the airport had come up in the Shankill area during the last local election. 

He added that while the area does have access to the DART and in the Luas in Cherrywood, the Aircoach service is the only direct way to get to and from Dublin Airport.

McNamara noted the Aircoach also serves the area at odd times when normal public transport options are not available. 

“It is a critical resource for the local area,” he said, adding that there is not much the local council can do as Aircoach is a private company.  

Green Party councillor from the Bray area Erika Doyle said that many people in the north Wicklow area rely on the Aircoach service and that “with no real equivalent service it will have a very real impact”. 

Aircoach said the changes are intended to improve services for areas where there is greater demand, making the bus service in those areas more punctual and reliable. 

Customers who have bought tickets to or from any of the discontinued stops will receive a refund, Aircoach said.

“Last year we announced a significant expansion to our services, going from 152 services a day to 217. Unfortunately, the anticipated passenger growth to match these expanded services has not materialised,” the company said in a statement. 

“While we’re disappointed with today’s announcement, we’re confident that the changes being made will ensure the future sustainability and viability of our services across our full network of routes.”

The company said the Bray and Greystones section of the 702 route has seen “low and declining passenger numbers in recent years” and that it is currently “not viable”. 

“Average passenger numbers for our discontinued stops are now in the low single digits,” the company said, citing longer journeys due to traffic congestion as well as people opting to use the DART to get into town before making their way to the airport. 

Councillor Behan of Bray questioned the reasoning presented by the company. 

“They say there’s been a fall off in the number of passengers,” Behan said, adding that anecdotally, route changes have made the service “less direct”, which could account for the fall in passenger numbers. 

He also took issue with the claim that traffic had made journeys longer.

“There’s a whole lot of bus lanes all the way into town,” he said.