Dublin Express Launches new Belfast to Dublin route

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On Tuesday 18th of July, Dublin Express officially launched its new Belfast to Dublin City via Dublin Airport route with Minister of State for Transport Jack Chambers on hand to cut the ribbon. This new service by Dublin Express will offer 16 daily trips in each direction between Queen Street Upper in Belfast to Dublin Airport and Dublin City Centre stopping off at both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 Dublin Airport along the way.

Belfast Lord Mayor Ryan Murphy and former Ulster and Ireland rugby star Andrew Trimble formally launched the new Dublin Express bus service from Belfast earlier in the day, anticipating a substantial demand, Dublin Express expects the inter-city routes will carry almost 2 million passengers this year alone.

The company which is part of National Express Ltd in the UK have already announced their plan to create 40 new jobs between Belfast and Dungannon whilst investing £8.5m in the new route and the newest buses on the island of Ireland which are also the longest in their entire fleet meaning more legroom for passengers.

The new Caetano Levante buses which arrived in the country shortly before launch are the safest coach on the road with a range of state-of-the-art safety equipment along with Euro VI diesel technology with the lowest carbon emission of any public transport.

The vehicles are fully accessible with onboard lift and wheelchair space, have free Wifi and an onboard toilet, whilst each reclining leather seat has two USB connections. With the first departure from Belfast’s Queen Street Upper at 01:55 getting into Dublin airport for 03:45 ahead of the first wave of flights. The last departure from Belfast is at 21:25 getting passengers into Dublin City for midnight.

Dublin Express’ General Manager Rory Fitzgerald said “We are bringing a new standard of luxury travel to the people of Northern Ireland to Dublin City. Early departures from Belfast will get passengers to Dublin Airport before 4 am for the first wave of departing flights. When we announced the new service we were blown away by the response selling 14,000 tickets in just under 5 hours and sales have been going really well since. We estimate in the last week that we’ll be replacing over 20,000 car journeys between the two big cities on the island as a result of people booking our new service in the past seven days alone.

We’ve been receiving a high volume of requests from customers asking for this service. We estimate the number of Northern Ireland residents using Dublin Airport annually at over 1 million due to its location on the north side of the city, the seamless M1 motorway and numerous connections to Europe and the US.

“At National Express we are committed to providing value for money and a reliable choice for customers to use public transport over their personal vehicle at the times they want to travel to the destination they want to travel to for a great value price. With the cost of living, fuel costs, parking fees and the challenge of getting car park spaces in both he airports and city centres we feel the service has arrived at just the right time and is a no-brainer choice for hard-pressed consumers,” he added.”

In line with environmental goals, Dublin Express emphasises the importance of public transport in reducing emissions. By providing a reliable, sustainable, and cost-effective option for travellers along the Belfast – Dublin Airport – Dublin City corridor, they aim to encourage people to choose coach travel over private cars and eliminate the hassles of parking in busy areas.

Dublin Express aims to be the first to operate a fully Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) bus fleet in Northern Ireland by 2030. They already operate 110 fully electric buses in the UK, which will increase to over 500 by the end of December 2024.