Translink, the owner of both Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland railways is running ads at the minute to leave the car at home and get the bus, fair enough if they could provide us with a service that would persuade me to leave my car at home.
Ulsterbus have been running the bus service within ... Read review
A review by fuzzibear on Ulsterbus April 5th, 2004
Author's product rating:
Quality of Rooms
Average
Customer service
average
Frequency of bus / buses
Poor
Value for money
Average
Reliability
Poor
Advantages:
Don't have to fight lanes of traffic in Belfast
Disadvantages:
Late, dirty buses, rude staff
Recommend to potential buyers:
no
Full review
Translink, the owner of both Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland railways is running ads at the minute to leave the car at home and get the bus, fair enough if they could provide us with a service that would persuade me to leave my car at home.
Ulsterbus have been running the bus service within Northern Ireland since 1967, and operate over 1000 buses across the province. They regularly update their bus stock, and most coaches, especially the Goldliner service, express coaches between towns and cities, are relatively new. The older buses are generally used for school runs where they are promptly trashed by gangs of schoolkids.
There is also a variety of bus sizes, from the small 15 seaters for use within town servieces to the 'bendy buses' which are used mainly for the Belfast - Londonderry route. 'Bendy buses' are the ones that look like 2 buses joined together with an accordion in the middle.
I regularly travel all over Northern Ireland, & since passing my driving test, rarely take the bus. I used to travel up & down to Belfast all the time on the bus, but that was necessity rather than choice.
I live in an area where public transport is pretty much none existant, there are express buses, but only set stops, so I have to drive to the bus stop anyways. They also tend to be dirty, especially some of the seats that you'd be afraid to sit on, and I have met quite a few rude drivers. The fares are also quite expensive, compared to the cost of petrol etc of taking the car.
Staff within the bus stations are generally very helpful though, and the regeneration schemes that are happening all over Northern Ireland are helping bus stations in general to be nicer places to wait for your bus, rather than the cold damp stations I remember a few years ago.
Within Belfast, I would occasionally take the bus, as it’s easier than trying to drive around the city, but even so, I tend to drive. Fares are generally reasonable within the city though.
It's a great idea in theory to get people to use public transport, but the infrastructure in many areas of Northern Ireland is very lacking. There needs to be a lot more money pumped into the bus services, however, the fares are too expensive currently for the service received, and in some areas, they treat buses as mobile fireplaces!
Overall, I wouldn't recommend public transport, it has its place, but I can't see many that have the option of driving taking the option to travel by public transport unless the journey is going to be less stressful, sometimes it's nice to be driven around, even if it is by a bus driver!
Advantages: Public Transport Disadvantages: Old, dirty buses
...and operating approximately 1,100 buses Ulsterbus serves the whole of Northern Ireland. There were 65 million journeys on Ulsterbus and Metro (Ulsterbus services in Belfast) so they must be doing something right, right?. For many years and still to a certain extent today a journey on ulsterbus is more like taking a journey back 25 years!
Many of the buses are old and dirty and are used for the daily transportation of 65,000 children to and from ... ...there too late.
Also Ulsterbus operates buses called Goldliners. These buses are used on intercity bus services and are more frequent, faster and more comfortable.
Most bus stations are outdoor and are fairly standard. However many could do with better facilities such as clean toilets that are always open and heating for the colder winter months. Some Ulsterbus stations are brilliant such as Belfast Europa. This is indoor with all necessary facilities. ...
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Advantages: occasional service that is survivable... barely Disadvantages: read the review!
...fuel price increase it is actually more economically viable to drive into belfast, or certainly far enoguh to get the metro service!
ulsterbus is a shambles, irregular service, irresponsible, reckless drivers and over pricing for the quality of service all combine to make journeys hell! ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: You don't have to concentrate on driving. Express service comfy! Disadvantages: often late, infrequent services
I often use Ulsterbus to commute into Belfast to study. This is a handy service for myself as there is a great Translink Student discount card. It costs £7 iniatally and you can use on Ulsterbus or on Northern Ireland railways. It entitles you to between 10 and 15% discount on your journey costs.
Another plus point is that of the express services. The buses are clean and comfortable and these do run on time, Not good when you are running down the ... ...is that of the Metro system. Regular bus services around Belfast city, only costing for example £1.20 from Stranmillis( a suburb) right into the city centre. Great value and saves the feet!
Some qualms though are over the regular services. Often buses are in poor condition, with uncomfortable seats and rubbish littering the seats and floors. Some routes are notable for always being overcrowded especially from about 3pm onwards due to schoolchilldren. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: gets the job done, reasonably priced Disadvantages: can be delayed and made late, buses need updated
...I think that the service overall provided by Ulsterbus is average, though if there were some new buses and more reliable travel times the service would be much better. I still would take this option to living in student accomodation any day. ****Also posted on dooyoo under lorrainek858**** ...
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In Northern Ireland,If you don't have your own transport then you must turn to the public transport provided by Translink transport company. Translink owns Ulsterbus, Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) and Citybus. So, as a person who uses public transport regularly....using all of these avenues I have a lot of experience to be able to make a comment!
Because of this monopoly of the transport service Translink can be as late, as rude and deliver the ... ...don't run regularly enough and they tend to be very expensive for what you recieve. Their cramped conditions don't promise a comfortable journey and too often I have found that the air conditioning system is broken and I spend an hour in front of a hairdryer.
I have travelled on the continent and I often wonder what tourists think of our shambles of a transport system. I am sure that many of them have a chuckle at the fact that we accept it so! ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: nice garden, handy for shops Disadvantages: not much to see in side
...Apparently this is supposed to be based upon St. Paul's in London. But then again, it also looks like the Customs House in Dublin (which was a design originally intended for St. Petersburg).
It does look quite pleasant and the grounds give a nice area in which to sit down, especially on a hot summer’s day (thought they don’t seem to be too frequent in the North).
It’s also handy for the buses and the shops. The buses congregate on two opposing sides of the square (Donegall Square, notice the ‘ll’, it was named after some duke or some such person who had the two in his name as opposed to the one you get in the county). These are the red city buses as opposed to the blue of Ulsterbus.
The shops in Royal Avenue face you if you stand with the front door to your back. They are the major British retailers...
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Advantages: none Disadvantages: everything about the place
...was going well so far, we couldnt wait .
Traveling
All was left was to arrange was the traveling, which all went to plan.
this cost £180 for 2 aduls and 3 children, we went through Ulster Bus.
Eventually we went on holiday, after 4 hours traveling between Ulsterbus and Stena Line, we finally arrived at Havens , the bus dropped us of at the Entrance which we thought was handy, as we had originally thought we would have to go right in to Ayr and make our way to Havens from there.
Arrival at Havens
We got our luggage of the bus, got the kids together and made our way to the entrance with five heavy rucksack bags, only to find that we had a long walk ahead of us, down a very large steep hill, eventually we made it to reception for approx 11.30am, they showed us were to leave our luggage until check in time.
Check in
Lucky...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Dramatic views clothed in the mysteries of both legend and science Disadvantages: Access for the handicapped is necessarily restricted
.... At Portrush, we caught the A2 to Bushmills, then followed local signage on the B146 to the Causeway.
For those of you who might be worried about the enduring impact of the Troubles and their effect on travel between the Republic and Northern Ireland, don't. The border is so widely ignored and poorly marked that we didn't know for sure when we made the crossing. As for currency, we carried pounds sterling as well as euros, but we noticed that a great many businesses in both Northern Ireland and the Republic accepted both currencies.
Other means of getting there include:
By Train - Check service offered from Belfast or Londonderry to Coleraine.
By Bus - The Causeway Rambler (Ulsterbus No. 376) between Bushmills and Carrick-a-Rede runs in the summer; or Ulsterbus No. 252 is a circular route via the Antrim Glens from Belfast.
By Car...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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