The public transport system
- Before Ireland Things To Do
- Home Affairs
- Other Paperwork
- Documents for Ireland
- Checklist of things to do before you move
- European Union Passport holders and South African family members (EU/EEA)- Relevant parts of the EU Directive
- Police Clearance, Tax Clearance and Driver’s licence letter of Entitlement- Must have, good to have or don’t bother?
- De Facto Relationships
- Preparing to Fly
- Things you may want to consider before you leave
- In Ireland Things to do
- Registration at Garda Immigration
- Finding a home
- Setting up your home
- Finding Employment
- PPS & Tax
- Driving in Ireland
- Animals and Plants
- How things work in Ireland
- Public Transport
- Children in Ireland (costs and education)
- Schooling in Ireland: The Basics
- Enrollment
- Homeschooling
- Types of Schools
- Supports and Transport
- Third-level Education (Tertiary)
- Pre-School
- ECCE program and Childcare in Ireland
- How much does it cost for children to grow up in Ireland?
- Children with Special Needs
- Educate Together Schools
- Habitual Residence (Child Benefit, HRC1 form, Irish Social Welfare and Operational Guidelines)
- Medical in Ireland
- Long term life in Ireland
- Family Reunification: The Basics
- Habitual Residence, Means Testing, Benefits, Permanent residency, Naturalisation and Becoming an Irish Citizen
- Starting a Business in Ireland
- Which Residency Stamps can Start a Business in Ireland?
- Starting a Business or Investing in Ireland on South African Passports
- Starting a business in Ireland- Stamp4, Stamp4EUfam and Stamp5
- FSAI advertising food businesses online
- Starting a Food business in Ireland
- Resources for this topic- Business in Ireland
- Links to everything you need
- Jargon Busting
- Helpful contact details
- Disclaimer
Coming from SA something that is very exciting but also pretty daunting is the fact that you will be able to use public transport when you are in Ireland. For many of us this is not only pretty much the first time that we get to do this, but it is also for many of us the first bit of transport we will use when arriving here.
It tends to be a bit confusing in the beginning though. The Dart is no longer a thing you use for pub games only, and a leap card has nothing to do with every 4 years nor involves any form of hopping. Putco and Golden arrow are nowhere to be found and the running dog on the busses have nothing to do with Greyhound. So were to start? Well, as we all pretty much arrive in Dublin, that’s as good a place as any other to begin and then go from there.
To get from the Airports to your accommodation:
Dublin Airport Buses
Dublin Bus – to and from Dublin airport to the city
Dublin Express – to and from Dublin airport to the city
Aircoach – from Airport to main cities across Ireland
Bus Éireann – Ireland’s National Bus service
City Link – Dublin to Galway
GoBus – Dublin to Cork or Galway
Journey Planner – plan your journey
Irish transport maps – the various network maps across Ireland
Cork Airport Buses
The Bus Éireann 226 and 226A bus departs from Parnell Place Bus Station to Cork Airport and then on to the nearby town of Kinsale.
The Bus Éireann 252 bus operating during summer months only departs from Parnell Place Bus Station to Cork Airport and then on to Kinsale, Innishannon, Bandon, Clonakilty, Owenahincha Cross, Rosscarbery, Leap, Skibbereen, Ballydehob, Bantrt, Glengarriff and Kenmare.
For more on these Bus Éireann routes to and from Cork Airport click here.
The Bus Éireann 225 bus departs from Cork Airport and then goes onto Ballygarvan, Carrigaline, Ringaskiddy and Haulbowline. This bus departs Cork Airport every 30 minutes and operates from 05:00 until 00:30 daily. For a more detailed timetable click here.
Taxis- Dublin and Cork Airports
If you have a lot of luggage you may want to book in advance. Look for MiniCabs on Google and see who you can find and book with
No, we don’t have Uber. But we have something which works on the exact same principle that is called FREE NOW.
Car hire
There are so may car hire companies you can just google and get prices. You should be able to hire a car on your South African licence, but check with them before booking and get it in writing as some people have found out last minute they needed an International Driving licence.
GoCar – Essentially is referred to as a car sharing experience. Sign up, Book a Car, Hop in, Go, Return. You can go collect the car on the side of the road at a designated zone in the main cities.Charged to your credit card by the hour or day.
Day to day travel- most of Ireland
You are going to need to look in depth at where you are planning to live in Ireland what public transport is like. The frequency and availability of types of Public Transport. The more rural the less the frequency and the less types of public transport there are.
For example if you live in Cork City- there are buses frequently and taxis for occasional use. There is a train that comes from Mallow in the North and a train from parts of the East into the city every hour, but if you live rurally you will need to see how often the buses come from that village to the train or to the centre of the city.
If you live in the smaller cities or even smaller towns or villages you might find there is only 1 bus once or twice a day on a particular route.
Bus Eireann
Think National bus service. So these are the guys who go through all the towns in the country. You might have to change busses at a few stops, but you are able to get to most places without having to change to a different service.
Now they are NOTHING like Putco or Golden Arrow. You have free wifi on the bus and the busses themselves are more like a long distance service bus in SA.
You can buy tickets online before you arrive or take a bus, or you can pay as you get on or from the automated vending machines at the bus stations (yes, this is a thing
here)
Irish Rail
This is, as the name implies the rail way service that operates in Ireland. Trains are much shorter than Metro rail trains and you will sometimes even see only 2 carriages and that makes up an entire train.
You can not catch a train from Dublin airport directly and not all villages are on a train route, so bear this in mind when looking to move to a specific area.
Day to day travel- Dublin
These are transport options particular to Dublin
Bus Eireann
Think National bus service. So these are the guys who go through all the towns in the country. You might have to change busses at a few stops, but you are able to get to most places without having to change to a different service.
Now they are NOTHING like Putco or Golden Arrow. You have free wifi on the bus and the busses themselves are more like a long distance service bus in SA.
You can buy tickets online before you arrive or take a bus, or you can pay as you get on or from the automated vending machines at the bus stations (yes, this is a thing here)
Irish Rail
This is, as the name implies the rail way service that operates in Ireland. Trains are much shorter than Metro rail trains and you will sometimes even see only 2 carriages and that makes up an entire train.
You can not catch a train from Dublin airport directly and not all villages are on a train route, so bear this in mind when looking to move to a specific area.
What is the Luas?
Well, the short answer is a Tram system that runs in Dublin city. There are 2 lines available to which there is a link available below the image.
What is the DART?
In Dublin, the electric rail system called the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) is a quick and easy way to get around Dublin. It runs along the coast of the Irish Sea from Malahide or Howth in north County Dublin southwards as far as Greystones, Co Wicklow.
From the Irishrail website:
“DART Services
Train: EMU (Electric Multiple Unit)
The DART allows you to discover many of the sights and attractions Dublin has to offer from sandy beaches, parks, theatres, harbour villages, museums and much more.
There is a range of DART tickets and fares that offer customer great value.
DART services operate every 10 minutes all day. DART timetable can be found in the printed time table section or by entering your journey details above and click GO.
All DART services are operated by Iarnród Éireann Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) Fleet.”
What is a leap card?
A Leap Visitor card gives you unlimited travel over the amount of time that the card is valid for, There are three options available. 1, 3 or 7 days and the time only starts when you use the card for the first time.
A Leap card gives you access to services on Airlink, Dublin us, Go-Ahead Ireland routes (in Dublin), Luas, Dart and commuter rail.
The cards are valid for 12 months, so you can buy it and keep it also, but remember that the amount of time it is valid becomes active from the first use.