Ireland to Wales travel could be a lot easier
WRITING this on Monday afternoon, there are three sailings from the Irish capital to Holyhead within a quarter of an hour of each other – 14.30 Irish Ferries (conventional ship, Epsilon), 14.40 Irish Ferries (Dublin Swift fast craft) and 14.45 Stena Line (conventional ship, Stena Estrid).
Then there are no sailings whatsoever for almost six hours.
Returning from Dublin, the first wave of sailings are far too early in the day, requiring check-in not long after lunch, whereas the lateevening sailings result in a postmidnight arrival which, dependent on one’s final destination, can result in travelling well into the early hours of the next day.
Morning, noon and night for 364 days of the year the HolyheadDublin (and vice versa) sailing schedule consists of a ship of each of the competing operators sailing in the same direction within minutes of one another from and to exactly the same place (their berths are mere metres apart at both Salt Island, Holyhead and in Dublin Port).
After both ships have sailed there is an inordinate interval of around six hours during which there are no sailings. The Dublin Swift fast craft provides welcome additional sailings plugging some of these gaps however the Swift is, understandably, susceptible to cancellation in windy conditions. Furthermore the Swift is no longer a year-round operation.
Dublin, Holyhead,Bangor and other nearby settlements are markedly closer to one another than they are to other centres and cities in Ireland and Wales respectively. There are innumerable familial and business/trade links between the areas and many travel for leisure too.
The current sailing schedule significantly constrains this and I’m far from being alone in this view.
With two ferries arriving at similar times, vehicles are decanted on to the road networks essentially at once and on occasions when sailings are missed due to incidents on the roads or railways, as can occur from time to time, intending passengers face a very lengthy wait for the next crossing, often with sparse and inadequate facilities at their disposal.
Every possible measure to facilitate greater trade and travel ought to be implemented and a sailing approximately every three hours each way would fulfil this via the robust connectivity it would provide.
On a closing note, the total absence of any public transport from Holyhead off the midnight ferry arrivals is disappointing. One measure which could be evaluated is a limited-stop Trawscymru coach connection Caernarfon-BangorMenai Bridge-Llangefni-Holyhead, reaching the port around 00.45 and returning along the same route shortly afterwards.
This would provide a connection into the 02.15 and 02.40 sailings to Dublin as well as a connection off the midnight arrivals from Dublin.
Such a coach service would not only facilitate ferry users but also night workers and people returning home from evening entertainment across Anglesey, Bangor and Caernarfon. Bernard H Allan
Dublin