Full story here.

Note the following quote from the article:

"Mr Bartley revealed that he had applied to the National Transport Authority (NTA) for a licence on this new route every 15 minutes but was refused. He reapplied for a 30-minutes frequency, which was granted"

Why the hell wouldn't the NTA sanction a 15 minute service? Knocknacarra is one of the most densely populated areas of Galway, and the routing would attract a significant number of passengers.

Hopefully when the new route goes live City Direct will offer their customers something better than those clapped out Dennis Darts they are currently using. Bus Éireann uses newer and far superior vehicles not to mention being cheaper even after the recent price hike. I've also noticed that City Direct no longer accept copper coins (and they use Autofare) too, something Bus Éireann does.

May I be as bold as to make a suggestion for City Direct in relation to the new buses they are presumably going to purchase for this new route.

Bus Éireann will soon have a large number of Volvo B10Ls and B10BLEs available for sale, these are fantastic machines that are infinitely better than any Dennis Dart and if they were owned by someone else there would be no question of them being withdrawn from service any time soon. I suggest they buy a few of these for the new service. Also interesting to note that they are going to be operating via the Quincentenary Bridge, this area is currently not served by bus, and it will be interesting to see if is quicker to go into town from the Browne Roundabout via NUIG and the Cathedral (as BÉ do with their number 5) or going over the bridge. Also Rahoon Road (Mincloon side) is supposed to be getting bus lanes, although they will only be for about the 500m nearest to the Glenoaks hotel. If they do go for deckers I hope it will be something half decent like a Volvo B7TL or a Scania Omnidekka rather than a Dennis Trident.

I wonder what will happen BÉ's number 5? Outbound the 5 and the new service will have the exact same routing from the Deane Roundabout all the way to the junction for the Glenoaks hotel/Rahoon Road, but inbound they will only share the same routing from the Rahoon Road/Glenoaks hotel junction to the Highfield Park/Circular Road junction (only a few hundred yards). Hopefully BÉ will be allowed re-route the 5 going inbound, though I suspect that won't happen now.