Transit EU
Transit EU

Public transport in Ireland

Ireland: 104 public transport operators, 279.3M km of scheduled service a year, 1,000 major stations and 275 tender notices — per region and operator.

Operators
104
Vehicle-km / year
≈ 279.3M km
Vehicles (peak)
≈ 2,371
Trips / week
161.9K
Stations*
1,000
Tender notices
275
Open procedures
144
Value (€)
€37.0B
Vehicle-km per inhabitant
≈ 51.3 km
Rank 12 of 25

Estimates from the scheduled timetables (one representative week per feed). *Stations with a page of their own. Methodology →

Ireland over time

15 snapshots · Mar 2025 – Oct 2026

279.3M km ↑ +7% since Mar 2025
139.7M km279.3M kmMar 2025Oct 20262026

Vehicle-km over 12 months: +8% since Oct 2025. All countries →

The largest operators

Map →

Vehicle-km / year

  1. 1 Bus Éireann 74.8M km
  2. 2 Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus 54.1M km
  3. 3 Iarnród Éireann / Irish Rail 20.1M km
  4. 4 Citylink 18M km
  5. 5 Go-Ahead Ireland 13.7M km
  6. 6 Dublin Coach 11.1M km
  7. 7 Aircoach 8M km
  8. 8 JJ Kavanagh 6.5M km
  9. 9 TFI Local Link Donegal Sligo Leitrim 4.9M km
  10. 10 Wexford Bus 4.1M km
  11. 11 Go-Ahead Ireland 3.3M km
  12. 12 TFI Local Link Laois Offaly 2.4M km
  13. 13 John McGinley Coach Travel 2.4M km
  14. 14 TFI Local Link Carlow Kilkenny Wicklow 1.9M km
  15. 15 TFI Local Link Waterford 1.9M km

Share of vehicle-km

65% Top 5 operators
Bus Éireann 74.8M km 27% Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus 54.1M km 19% Iarnród Éireann / Irish Rail 20.1M km 7.2% Citylink 18M km 6.4% Go-Ahead Ireland 13.7M km 4.9%

Routes by mode

815 routes

Regions

NUTS-3 regions by the service run inside them.

  1. Dublin Operators 31 96M km
  2. Mid-East Operators 41 49.5M km
  3. South-West Operators 20 27.4M km
  4. Mid-West Operators 23 25.3M km
  5. West Operators 27 19M km
  6. Midland Operators 26 18.2M km
  7. South-East Operators 26 16.3M km
  8. Border Operators 26 14.7M km

Busiest stations

By scheduled departures per day.

  1. College Green 1,738 departures/day
  2. Eden Quay 1,350 departures/day
  3. Five Lamps 1,322 departures/day
  4. Newcomen Bridge 1,321 departures/day
  5. North Strand FS 1,321 departures/day
  6. Dorset Street Lwr 1,310 departures/day
  7. Fairview 1,296 departures/day
  8. Ormond Quay Upr 1,287 departures/day
  9. Broadstone 1,245 departures/day
  10. Eccles Place 1,210 departures/day
  11. Dorset Street Upr 1,179 departures/day
  12. Nassau Street 1,124 departures/day
  13. Camden Street Lwr 1,123 departures/day
  14. S Great George's St 1,123 departures/day
  15. Liffey Valley SC 1,115 departures/day

Tender market

Tenders in Ireland → On the map →

By stage

275 Tender notices

By service type

  1. Other 161
  2. Vehicle hire with driver 35
  3. Rail 26
  4. Taxi 26
  5. School transport 18
  6. Scheduled public transport 9

Most active contracting authorities

  1. 1 Donegal Education and Training Board_368 40
  2. 2 Health Service Executive (HSE) 36
  3. 3 Iarnród Eireann-Irish Rail 32
  4. 4 National Transport Authority_1149 30
  5. 5 Education Procurement Service (EPS) 24
  6. 6 KARE_473 7
  7. 7 Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board_92189 7
  8. 8 Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) 6
  9. 9 Ability West 6
  10. 10 The Office of Government Procurement 6
  11. 11 Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage 5
  12. 12 University College Dublin ( UCD ) 4

How we calculate
Operators Unit: operators · counted
Transport companies as their timetable names them (GTFS agency). The same operator in several feeds is counted once; in Germany the company that actually runs each line. Source: published GTFS timetables, one representative week per feed
Vehicle-km / year Unit: km per year · estimate
For every trip: route length (along the published route shape; without one, the straight line between its stops × 1.25) × the days it runs in the representative week, × 365.25 / 7. Only scheduled service — no empty or depot runs, no demand-responsive services. Source: published GTFS timetables, one representative week per feed
Vehicles (peak) Unit: vehicles · estimate
The highest number of trips running at the same moment in the representative week — a lower bound: reserve and workshop vehicles are not included. Source: published GTFS timetables, one representative week per feed
Trips / week Unit: trips per week · counted
All scheduled trips in the representative week; trips given as a frequency (every 10 minutes) are expanded into single trips. Source: published GTFS timetables, one representative week per feed
Stations* Unit: stations · counted
Stations with a page of their own: at least 250 scheduled departures a day, or among a country's busiest 1,000 with at least 30. Capped per country, so not comparable between countries. Source: published GTFS timetables, one representative week per feed
Vehicle-km per inhabitant Unit: km per inhabitant and year · estimate
Vehicle-km per year of all operators in the country ÷ its population. Only countries whose timetables cover the whole country; the figure for all countries together is their vehicle-km ÷ their population. Source: published GTFS timetables, one representative week per feed; Eurostat, population on 1 January 2025
Tender notices Unit: notices · counted
Every published notice counts once: prior information, call for tenders or award notice. Source: TED (EU Official Journal) since 06/2024 and the German national portal
Open procedures Unit: notices · as published
Prior information notices and calls for tenders — notices that do not announce an award. Source: TED (EU Official Journal) since 06/2024 and the German national portal
Value (€) Unit: € · as published
Sum of the contract values stated in the notices, in euro only; other currencies are neither converted nor added. Many notices state no value, so the sum is a lower bound. Source: TED (EU Official Journal) since 06/2024 and the German national portal

Methodology & limits →