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Bus Éireann Christmas and New Year Timetable Changes for 2025–26

Posted on December 10, 2025

Reading time: 3 minutes.

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Bus Éireann has published its Christmas and New Year timetable alterations for 2025–26. While the broad pattern follows previous years, there are several exceptions worth noting, particularly for those relying on early morning departures on St Stephen’s Day or catching last buses on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve, Wednesday 24^th December 2025

City, town, commuter and rural services have their last departures at approximately 9pm, with any service starting before that time completing its full journey.

Expressway routes vary more substantially in their finishing times. Some routes finish earlier than others:

• Route 4 (Waterford–Dublin Airport): 14:45 from Waterford, 19:15 from Dublin Airport
• Route 13: 15:00 from Tralee to Limerick (the return journey runs until 19:35)

Later finishing routes include:

• Route 2 (Wexford–Dublin Airport): 17:00 from Wexford, 21:00 from Dublin Airport
• Route 30 (Dublin–Donegal): 21:30 from Dublin, 17:30 from Donegal
• Route 100X (Dublin–Dundalk): 20:41 from Dublin, 18:30 from Dundalk

Route 14 requires a connection. The last departure from Limerick to Killarney is at 17:35, with customers needing to connect in Abbeyfeale onto the 18:55 service to complete their journey.

Routes 51, 52, 55 and 64 will operate to their normal weekday schedules on Christmas Eve.

Route 40 maintains services across the southern corridor, with the eastbound route finishing at 19:30 from Waterford to Rosslare and the westbound at 19:30 from Waterford to Cork.

Christmas Day, Thursday 25^th December 2025

No services operate.

St Stephen’s Day, Friday 26^th December 2025

Services resume to a Sunday schedule. Most routes start at 09:00, with several notable exceptions.

Route 30 has its first departure from Donegal at 04:00, the earliest start of any route.

Other early starters include:

• Route 32: 04:30 from Letterkenny
• Route 23: 06:00 from Sligo
• Route 190: 05:20 from Athlone to Drogheda
• Route 270: 06:00 from Skibbereen to Killarney

Route 220 in Cork follows a different pattern. While Cork City services generally follow a Sunday timetable, Route 220 starts after 07:00, with specific early departures including 07:00 from Primary Care Centre to Ovens and 07:10 from Ovens to Primary Care Centre.

Routes serving Dublin from surrounding counties generally start between 06:00 and 08:00. Routes 109B (06:00 from Athboy to Dublin), 109X (06:15 from Dublin to Cavan) and 133 (07:00 from Wicklow to Dublin) are among those offering early options.

Routes 330 and 343 both start at 06:00 serving Shannon Airport. Route 456 from Castlebar to Galway starts at 06:00.

Routes serving Waterford and the southeast have early departures, with Route 355 starting at 07:42 from Clonmel to Waterford and Route 354 at 07:40 from Dunmore East to The Clock Tower.

Carlow town services CW1 and CW2 both start at 08:20.

Saturday 27^th December to Wednesday 31^st December 2025

Services revert to their normal patterns:

• Saturday 27^th December: Saturday timetable
• Sunday 28^th December: Sunday timetable
• Monday 29^th December to Wednesday 31 December: Weekday schedules

New Year’s Day, Thursday 1^st January 2026

Services operate to a Sunday schedule.

Friday 2^th January 2026

Normal weekday services resume.

Summary

The festive timetable provides reduced but workable service levels. Early morning coverage on St Stephen’s Day is maintained across most routes, with Christmas Eve services finishing at 9pm for local services and varying times for Expressway routes.