Late night bus services for Galway Arts Festival

THE 41st Galway International Arts Festival takes place from July 16 to 29 and features an exciting Irish and international mix of theatre, opera, and dance (six world premieres, five Irish premieres), comedy, circus, music, spectacle, and visual art.

Highlight musical acts include The Flaming Lips, Madness, Walking on Cars, Gavin James, and Kodaline.

And the good news is that access to the city has been made easier as Bus Éireann have announced late night weekend services on two key city routes for the festival.

This is the first time services have been extended for the event in a bid to encourage more festival-goers to leave their car at home, and travel to the city centre for as little as €1.61.

This year is set to be the biggest in the festival’s 41-year history, running from July 16 to 29, as the build towards Galway City of Culture 2020 continues.

Bus Éireann will operate late night services for customers travelling on Route 404 (Eyre Square-GMIT-Parkmore) and Route 409 (Oranmore-Eyre Square-Newcastle).

Late night bus services will operate from Galway city to these areas on Friday, July 20, Saturday, 21, Friday, 27, and Saturday, July 28. Route 409 will operate up until 01:00, with extra services at 00:00, 00:30 and 01:00. Route 404 will operate up until 01:05, with extra services at 00:05 and 01:05. Route 404 will also operate an increased frequency half hourly service from 14:00 to 19:00 on these four weekend dates.

These extensions are an addition to all city services, and regional and Expressway services to/from Galway city.

Late night Bus Éireann services are available at regular fares – with single city LeapCard trips costing just €1.61 on the 409, and €1.89 from Oranmore on the 404. Discounted student and child fares are also available, and free travel passes are also valid.

Fans going to the festival venues in the heart of Galway can also avail of the city network of services throughout the day including the Route 401 (Salthill-Eyre Square), 402 (Merlin Park-Eyre Square-Seacrest), 403 (Eyre Square-Castlepark), 404 (Newcastle-Eyre Square-Oranmore), 405 (Rahoon-Eyre Square-Ballybane), 407 (Eyre Square, Bóthar an Chóiste & return), 409 (Eyre Square-GMIT-Parkmore), in addition to late night services on Routes 404 and 409.

Brian Connolly, Bus Éireann regional operations manager, north/west, said: “We are delighted to play our part in enabling everybody to avail of late night and regular bus services to experience the great programme of events the arts festival has to offer. I am sure late night services will be popular with both our regular customers and visitors to the city.”

John Crumlish, GIAF chief executive, said: "We very much welcome the late night extended bus services that Bus Éireann have put in place for the festival.”

For further information, see www.buseireann.ie. For more information about the festival, see www.giaf.ie.