Discovering Dublin: A Guide to Dublin's Public Transportation
When I am going somewhere new, I always read posts on the public transportation of the city. I really do not want to pay for taxis so not only does using public transportation save money, you also get to experience a more local buzz riding around with everyone. Seeing as How to Get to and From Dublin Airport is one of my most popular posts on here, I figured I would dive a little deeper into public transportation in Dublin for y’all.
I will not lie to you in this post because that isn’t my style. Public transportation in Dublin is not great. I cannot speak for other parts of Ireland but after 5 years of using buses, trains and trams here I can tell you it is not good. I did not have anything to compare public transportation to when I first moved to Dublin because like most Americans, I drove everywhere. Now that I have traveled to other European cities, I can confidently tell you that public transportation in Dublin (and Ireland in general) is the worst I have experienced!
Compared to other European cities public transportation in Dublin is expensive. I am always shocked when I visited other countries in Europe that have affordable and reliable public transportation. It is also extremely unreliable – especially Dublin Bus. Dublin Bus has a habit of saying a bus is coming at a certain time and then just completely dropping off the timetable or never showing despite the timetable saying it is coming. I hope you weren’t coming into this post with high expectations of Dublin public transport but if you did, I should have them completely crushed by the end of this.
I am going to touch on the 4 main ways to get around Dublin:
Before we dive into this let me advise you to get a Leap Card for public transport use in Dublin. This will make your life easier and cheaper!
You can get a Visitor Leap Card for 1 week, 24 hours, and 72 hours. Prices vary on which one you purchase. You can get them at the Dublin Bus office on O’Connell Street or any corner store (SPAR, Londis, etc.) With a Leap Card you also get a discounted rate on public transport. You can use the Leap Card on Dublin Bus, LUAS, and DART lines.
DUBLIN BUS
Dublin Bus is an extremely popular way to get around. Here is the thing about Dublin Bus though – it is not reliable. The bus timetable may say a bus is due at a certain time but do not hold your breath on this. The bus may show, it may not. Just please do not compare Dublin Bus to any other bus service you have ever used because there is no comparison to Dublin Bus.
Not all stops have an electronic timetable to tell you the arrival time of the bus. All stops do have a paper timetable to give you an estimate of when buses should arrive though. This where having the Dublin Bus app (more on that below) is handy because the app has (about as real as they can be) real time updates.
Source: Nico Baum
Dublin Bus does not take cash notes, they are strictly coin only. If you do not pay in exact change you will not receive change back on the bus. Basically, if you do not have the exact change whatever amount you pay over is gone. Dublin Bus calculate their rates by how far you are traveling but you will need to tell the bus driver your destination for your fare to be calculated. There is a card reader by the driver that you lay your card on and the driver deducts the amount. On the bus you can pay for multiple people, but you cannot do this on any other public transport.
You may also want to download the Dublin Bus app. You can get real time updates on the bus timetable, figure out your correct fare, and get any news about the buses/routes. A website that is specific to directions in Ireland is Hit the Road. This is so easy to use and, for example tells you how long it will take to walk to a bus stop, the bus fare you need, and in how many minutes until the next service. It also offers multiple routes when you put in where you want to go, so you can decide which works best for you.
One more thing – be sure to thank the bus driver. Some buses have doors in the middle of the bus to help with the flow of people getting off, but everyone still queues to get out the front to say thank you to the driver. People who don’t thank the drivers are jerks!!
LUAS
The LUAS (the Irish word for speed) is a nifty little tram system that goes from one end of the city all the way to the other. There are 2 lines (red and green) with the red serving more north-side destinations and the green serving more south-side stops.
Source: Louis Hansel
LUAS lines prices will be calculated by how far you travel with a tap on/tap off system if you use your Leap Card. Alternatively, tickets for single and return journeys can be bought at ticket machines at all stops. You must purchase a ticket before boarding the LUAS. The ticket will be priced based on how many zones you will travel through.
Source: Luas.ie
The red line is just a touch rougher than the green. As I would recommend on any form of public transportation, be mindful of where you are and who is around you. I would caution to be even more be mindful of where you are and who is around you on the red line. Please don’t be scared to get on the red line but also please be warned.
Some tourist stops off the green line:
Trinity College (The Book of Kells / The “Long Room”)
Some tourist stops off the red line:
EPIC - The Irish Emigration Museum
There are regularly ticket inspectors on the LUAS so if you are thinking of being cheeky and not paying, don’t. The fee for not paying for your ticket is €100! The LUAS is more reliable than Dublin Bus but sometimes trams are so full you have to wait for a couple of trams to come by before you can get on. Oh, the joys of Dublin public transport!
DART
Like the LUAS, DART lines prices will be calculated by how far you travel with a tap on/tap off system if using a Leap Card or you can purchase a ticket which will be priced based on how many zones you are traveling. Tickets for the DART must be purchased before boarding the train. Tickets for single, return and multiple journeys can be bought at ticket machines in all stations or online before the trip.
There are two DART lines but no fancy colours to distinguish these – you are either going north (Howth) or south (Greystones, Co. Wicklow) and that is how you determine which train to get on. It is important to pay attention to the destination of the train you are boarding to ensure that you are headed in the correct direction. The trains run every fifteen minutes during the day, and schedules can be found online or posted in each station.
Source: Transport for Ireland
There are several day trips from Dublin that you can get to by DART – be sure to check them out in 10 Day Trips from Dublin.
DUBLIN BIKES
Truth: I have NEVER used Dublin Bikes. I don’t think you could pay me to ride a bike around Dublin. I have a lot of thoughts on cyclists in Dublin, but this is not the place to share them. Just think about it – you’re on a bike and you are competing against city buses, other cyclists and cars. Add in the people of Dublin are not the best drivers in the world – it just isn’t for me. That said, I have friends that use it and P used to regularly cycle around Dublin. Don’t let me stop yah from doing your thing if you want to ride a bike! Just a note on safety – Dublin Bikes do not provide helmets so you will need to have your own if you want to wear one (which you should!).
Dublin Bikes is a self-service bike rental system open to everyone from 14 years of age. The pricing/use of Dublin Bikes works a bit differently All stations are equipped for Annual Card and 3 Day Ticket users and your trusty Leap Card is accepted! You can enjoy the many benefits of an Annual Card for €25 or a 3 Day Ticket which costs €5. The first 30 minutes of use is free on every bike. After the first half-hour, a service charge applies. The pricing structure for this can be found here. There is a terminal at every station, but it is important to note that not all terminals are credit card enabled. The ones that are can be found here.
Source: Stavros Georgakopoulos
To hire a bike you will need to log in at the terminal using your Annual Card, associated Leap Card or your 3 Day Ticket.Enter your PIN and select an available bike on screen, you then have 60 seconds to press the unlocking button on the stand of the bike you have chosen. Once you have pressed the button you have 5 seconds to remove the bike from the stand.
To return a bike after use simply locate the nearest station with available stands. An audio signal of 2 beeps and a green indicator light on the stand confirm that the bike is locked correctly, and your usage is complete. If there are no available stands at the station, use the terminal to locate a nearby station with availability and Dublin Bike will give you 15 minutes free of charge to get there.
Be sure to always check that your bike is locked correctly. If your bike is not locked correctly, you will be held liable if it goes missing. If you are unable to lock your bike correctly it is recommended to try again at another available stand, or to contact the Call Centre at 1850 777 070 where an advisor will handle your request.
Now after all of that you are probably like “why does anyone use public transportation in Dublin? I’ll just get a taxi when I’m there.” and I would not blame you. However, if you want to save money (because like everything else in Dublin taxis are extremely expensive) and have a more local buzz when you’re in town why not experience the public transport?! If you’re still not convinced and want to take taxis everywhere be sure to download FREE NOW which is the taxi app that basically everyone in Dublin uses. Another thing to mindful of if you are going to use taxis is that most taxis do not have card readers so you will need to have cash ready to pay. If you download FREE NOW you can put your card information in and pay through the app but overall I would say make sure you have some cash for taxis. You will also need to note that taxis charge extra per person. This rate depends on what time of day it is. You can also hail taxis from the road, but I find the app the most useful and safest if I am looking to use one.
I know this was long-winded, but Dublin does not have the most straight-forward public transportation system, so I want to give you a heads up! If you have any questions on anything you can contact me here or shoot me a DM on Instagram.
Author’s Note: This post was originally published on my old blog in November 2019. All information was current at original publishing.