The annual Christmas exodus from cities and towns begins today as many people finish work for the holidays and businesses close for the short annual break, and most schools will close for the Christmas break tomorrow.
Buses and trains will carry thousands of extra passengers in the coming days, although some services will operate a skeleton or Sunday service during the Christmas period. Bus Éireann said it expects to carry up to 200,000 passengers between today and January 2nd, inclusive.
Normal weekday services will operate today and tomorrow. On Christmas Eve (Wednesday), normal weekday services will operate with some cancellations.
All Eurolines cross-channel services will be cancelled, as will the following Expressway services: 21.00 Dublin/Galway, 20.30 Galway/Dublin. Services on city, suburban and commuter routes will terminate earlier than normal. There will be no Bus Éireann services on Christmas Day.
On Friday, December 26th, there will be a limited service on the main Expressway routes, Cork suburban routes and the Limerick/Shannon/Ennis routes. Cork city services and the Cork airport service will operate to a Sunday timetable.
There will be no city services in Galway, Limerick and Waterford on St Stephen's Day and no town services in Dundalk, Drogheda, Athlone, Sligo and Navan. The Eurolines and cross-channel services will not operate. Normal services with some alterations and cancellations will operate from Saturday December 27th to Tuesday December 30th inclusive.
On Wednesday December 31st (New Year's Eve), normal services will operate with some cancellations. Services on the city, suburban and commuter routes will terminate earlier than normal and Eurolines services will not operate, Bus Éireann said. Sunday services with some alterations will operate on January 1st. Full weekday services will resume on Friday January 2nd, except for services to and from Shannon Industrial Estate.
A special Christmas/New Year timetable is available from Bus Éireann offices and depots and full details of services are available on the website at www.buseireann.ie
Irish Rail has warned there will be disruptions to the Rosslare and Arklow route from Saturday, December 27th, until Sunday, January 4th inclusive, due to major station and track improvement work as part of the DART upgrade project. All DART, commuter and Intercity services will be suspended between Connolly station and Greystones from Saturday, December 27th, until Sunday, January 4th, inclusive.
Intercity services between Rosslare, Arklow and Dublin Connolly Station will be part or wholly substituted by bus and customers should expect delays of at least 20 minutes on their journeys.
Weekend closures on Saturdays and Sundays only will resume on 10th and 11th January 2004, Iarnrod Éireann said. Full details of the affected services are available on Iarnrod Éireann's website at www.irishrail.ie or by phone on 1850 366 222.
Dublin Bus services during the holiday period will operate as follows:
- Monday, December 22nd - normal services will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate.
- Tuesday, December 23rd - normal services will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate.
- Wednesday, December 24th - normal services will operate on all routes. Last buses will leave the city at 2100 and will operate in service back to their respective garages excluding buses from Heuston Station, Dublin Airport and Ferry Port, which will operate later than 2100 hours. A Saturday service will operate on DART feeder routes. Xpresso and Nitelink services will not operate.
- Thursday, December 25th, Christmas Day - no bus services.
- Friday, December 26th, St. Stephen's Day - a Sunday service will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate. Xpresso services will not operate.
- Saturday, December 27th - normal Saturday services will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate.
- Sunday, 28th December - normal Sunday services will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate.
- Monday, December 29th - normal services will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate. Xpresso services will not operate.
- Tuesday, December 30th - normal services will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate. Xpresso services will not operate.
- Wednesday, December 31st, New Year's Eve - normal services will operate on all routes but last buses will leave the city at 22.00 and will operate in service back to their respective garages. A Saturday service will operate on routes 102, 111 and 114. Nitelink services will operate. Xpresso services will not operate. Route 39B will not operate.
- Thursday, January 1st, New Year's Day - a Sunday service will operate on all routes. Nitelink and Xpresso services will not operate.
- Friday, January 2nd - normal services will operate on all routes. Nitelink services will operate. Route 84X Xpresso service will operate. All other Xpresso services will not operate.
In other traffic news, Bakehouse Lane in Waterford (the road leading to Lady Lane) has reopened to all traffic. It has been closed for works for the past 18 months.
A new QBC is in operation on the Lucan Road, Con Colbert Road and St John's Road in Dublin. AA Roadwatch said the route would not have a major effect on evening rush-hour traffic, although it may be more significant during the morning rush-hour.
Today is the fourth day of the Operation Rudolph Santa Cycle, which will travel from Loughrea to Galway via Craughwell and Oranmore. Some 40 cyclists are taking part and motorists should slow down and drive carefully in the area, AA Roadwatch has warned.