THE Lord Mayor of Belfast Ryan Murphy along with Ulster and Ireland rugby star Andrew Trimble have launched the new Dublin Express Service from Belfast to Dublin this week. The company has stated it is on track to save over 25,000 car journeys during July and August alone taking people between the two cities as well as Dublin Airport.

The new service will see 16 trips per days in each direction. The first departure will leave Belfast’s Glengall Sreet at 01:55am and arriving at Dublin Airport for 03:45am, ahead of the first wave of flights. The last departure from Belfast is at 21:25pm with passengers arriving into Dublin City for midnight. 

The new Caetano Levante III coaches are the safest and most efficient on the road with a range of state-of-the-art safety equipment along with the latest Euro VI diesel technology. 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.

The company, which is part of National Express Ltd in the UK, have already announced plans to create 40 new jobs in Belfast and Dungannon whilst investing £8.5m in the new route and brand new vehicles. 

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Ryan Murphy, said: “This is a welcome development which not only increases choice for consumers and improves connections between our two cities, but has created employment opportunities for residents too. Any new investment which encourages people to make the switch to public transport and choose to travel in a more sustainable way is also good news for our environment and key to our Bolder Vision for Belfast which is all about creating a more accessible, connected and greener city.” 

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."

He added: “Early departures from Belfast will get passengers to Dublin Airport before 4am 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 five hours and sales have been going really well since. We estimate that in the first few weeks of operating we’ll be replacing over 25,000 car journeys between the two big cities on the island as a result of people booking to travel on our new service.

“Celtic and Manchester Utd pre-season friendlies in the Aviva Stadium plus Ireland vs England and Italy World Cup warm-up games have a particularly strong demand at the moment so if you're planning on travelling by coach to Dublin on these dates, book soon at our promotional fare of £8/ €8 as availability is already running low.” 

For more information and to book tickets click here.