The world has turned full circle, it appears, for the ubiquitous “blue bus”. When John O’Sullivan launched his Aircoach service back in 1999, it revolutionised transport options for passengers getting to and from Dublin Airport and Dublin city centre and beyond.
At the time, the M50 was still an incomplete project and many passengers had little option but to drive to the airport and pay expensively for parking while they were away. The alternatives – a tightly regulated taxi industry with too few licences to meet demand or a rigid Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann network – were not practical for many people.
The service took off and expanded gradually over time, turning a profit within three years of its launch.
It was quick to innovate but also, generally, quick to act on routes that failed to deliver expected returns – including a dedicated IFSC route that was undermined by the 9/11 impact on air travel.
And that is what it has done again, announcing a dramatic U-turn on a route reorganisation that took effect only seven months ago, without giving its new configuration even one complete summer season to prove its worth.
Now owned by British transport giant First Group, it blamed the failure of passenger demand to meet expectations for its expanded services for a retrenchment that will take place from March 2nd. It says it wants to improve the punctuality and reliability of its services.
Those statements address a number of key challenges – some of which should have been clear to Kim Swan and her team last summer.
First, at a time when it had already accepted publicly that it was struggling to recruit enough drivers to deliver on existing routes, it seemed a bit previous to be expanding those services.
Second, Aircoach ignored the first rule of marketing: if you are going to change your offering, get the message out there loud and clear. All too often, regular users were unaware of the changes. Some still are.
Finally, any glance at proposed schedules that indicated it would take over two hours at best to get from Greystones to the airport – and three hours in rush-hour periods – should have raised questions on viability. The same issue arose on the extension of another route to Cherrywood.
Rising ticket prices alongside those journey times also meant that, for a key suburban market weighing cost and time, it made more economic sense to travel by taxi, especially for families, or get a Luas or Dart to the city centre and take a bus from there.
The alternatives whose business Aircoach took all those years ago are now, for many, the more practical option.
