Editing Transport in Ireland (section)

===Bus services===
Ireland's first [[mail coach]] services were contracted with the government by [[John Anderson (Scottish businessman)|John Anderson]] with William Bourne in 1791 who also paid to improve the condition of the roads.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Parliamentary papers, Reports from Committees, Volume 20 |publisher=House of Commons |location=London |pages=3, 38–43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0wSAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA6-PA42 |year=1837 |access-date=31 March 2021 |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924175723/https://books.google.com/books?id=K0wSAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA6-PA42 |url-status=live }}</ref> The system of mail coaches, carriages and "bians" was further developed by [[Charles Bianconi]], based in Clonmel, from 1815 as a fore-runner of the modern Irish [[public transportation]] system.<ref>{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=John |title=Bianconi home to become Clonmel hotel |newspaper=Irish Examiner |date=4 January 2005 |url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2005/0104/ireland/landmark-house-to-become-clonmel-hotel-573513087.html |access-date=11 November 2008 |archive-date=18 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118203624/http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2005/0104/ireland/landmark-house-to-become-clonmel-hotel-573513087.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:90 NEW BUSES FOR DUBLIN CITY -AUGUST 2015- REF-106947 (19870956363).jpg|thumb|Part of a fleet of 90 new double decker buses introduced to Dublin in 2015]]
State-owned [[Bus Éireann]] (Irish Bus) currently provides most bus services in the Republic of Ireland, outside Dublin, including an express coach network connecting most cities in Ireland, along with local bus services in the provincial cities. [[Dublin Bus]], a sister company of [[Bus Éireann]], provides most of the bus services in Dublin, with [[Public transport operators in Dublin#Bus|some other operators]] providing a number of routes. These include [[Aircoach]], a subsidiary of [[FirstGroup]] which provides services to [[Dublin Airport]] from Dublin city centre, South Dublin City, Greystones and Bray. They also operate two intercity express non-stop services service between Dublin Airport, Dublin City Centre, and [[Cork (city)|Cork]] and also a non-stop route between Belfast City Centre, Dublin Airport and Dublin City. Other operators such as Irish Citylink and GoBus.ie compete on the Dublin-Galway route. [[Matthews Coaches]] run a direct service from [[Bettystown]], [[Laytown]] and [[Julianstown]] to Dublin whilst Dublin Coach operate services to Portlaoise and Limerick. [[JJ Kavanagh and Sons]] also operates regular services on the Portlaoise/Limerick route as well as offering services to [[Waterford]], [[Carlow]], [[Kilkenny]], [[Clonmel]] and a selection of regional towns and villages in the south.

[[TFI Local Link]] is a set of not-for-profit operators, funded via the [[National Transport Authority (Ireland)|National Transport Authority]], that provide bus services in rural Ireland. Other private rural operators exist, such as Halpenny's in [[Blackrock, County Louth|Blackrock]], County Louth, which was the first private bus operator to run a public service in Ireland, [[Bus Feda]] (Feda O'Donnell Coaches), which operates twice daily routes from [[Ranafast]], [[County Donegal]] to Galway and back.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://busfeda.ie/about-us/ | title = About Us | quote = Feda O Donnell Coaches or Busfeda as it is now known | website = Bus Feda |access-date=26 April 2024 }}</ref>

In Northern Ireland [[Ulsterbus]] provides the bus network, with its sister company [[Metro (Belfast)|Metro]] providing services in Belfast. Both are part of state-owned [[Translink (Northern Ireland)|Translink]]. Tiger Coaches operates a very late night bus service on Friday and Saturday nights between Belfast and Lisburn.<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/tiger-coaches-launches-latenight-intercity-shuttle-service-15004369.html ''Belfast Telegraph'' 15 November 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120184524/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/tiger-coaches-launches-latenight-intercity-shuttle-service-15004369.html |date=20 November 2010 }} report on launch of Tiger Coaches service</ref>

Private hire companies offer groups travelling throughout Ireland with options ranging from cars to 56 passenger coaches. Private Coach Hire Companies can be found at [http://cttc.ie CTTC.ie].

Cross-border services (e.g. Dublin city centre to Belfast) are run primarily by a partnership of Ulsterbus and Bus Éireann with some services run across the border exclusively by one of the two companies (e.g. Derry–Sligo run by Bus Éireann). [[Aircoach]], a private operator, does however operate a competing Dublin to Belfast Express service via Dublin Airport.

According to an ''Irish Times'' article in September 2022, 14.3% of national journeys in the Republic of Ireland were undertaken by bus, compared to the European average of 8.8%. However, this may be partly due to the lack of widespread train coverage in the country, as Ireland's figure of 3.1% usage of trains for journeys is well behind the European average of 7.9%.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Briscoe|first=Neil|date=2022-09-22|title=How do we rate when it comes to public transport use?|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/special-reports/2022/09/22/how-do-we-rate-when-it-comes-to-public-transport-use/|access-date=2022-09-27|website=[[The Irish Times]]|language=en}}</ref>