County Derry left behind as stops no longer available on relaunched airport bus service

Locals have raised concerns over Aircoach leaving out several County Derry stops from its airport service following its purchase of Airporter.

There was huge buzz when Aircoach relaunched the airport bus service with a new stop added at Dublin Airport. Some headlines even dubbed it a ‘game changer’ for the North West.

However, people in County Derry have been left frustrated that stops at Altnagelvin Hospital, Claudy, Dungiven, Maghera and Castledawson are no longer available.

Mairead McCormack, Chief Executive of Glenshane Community Development Limited in Dungiven, said the new Aircoach service has let locals down in a number of ways.

"I'm bitterly disappointed that the Dungiven stop has been removed from the airporter route following the route’s takeover by Aircoach ,” she said.

“Not only will this inconvenience those commuting to Belfast International, but it will increase vehicle pollution as there will be more cars on the road transporting those needing to make it to the airport.

“In addition to this, they no longer include Belfast City airport on the schedule.”

Ms McCormack highlighted Dungiven's nitrous oxide levels, the highest in the North and well above the UK urban average.

In 2019 the N2O level was recorded at 51 g/m3 in the town - exceeding the UK and EU legal limit and the WHO's recommended limit of 40 g /m3.

The majority of N2O emissions come from agriculture but vehicles are also a factor.

Aircoach Managing Director Dervla McKay said the stops were not profitable enough to continue but they remain open to change.

“Our objective is to provide a regular express service between Derry/Londonderry, Belfast, and Dublin and to achieve that we had to prioritise the most commercially viable areas.

“Unfortunately, this required some challenging decisions around the route mapping to guarantee an outstanding overall customer experience,” she said.

Ms McKay said the service will be 'under constant review' including route stops and the company welcomes all feedback.

“We are excited to be providing services in the North West for the first time and are fully committed to ensuring that the North West is connected to major travel and economic hubs,” she added.

Another aspect of the new service that has received criticism locally is that it does not accept Senior Travel Passes.

Right now this is out of Aircoach’s hands as new services are not currently eligible to join the Concessionary Fares Scheme. The Department for Infrastructure (DoI) will soon review the scheme for 2023/24.

However, the removal of the stops along the way will make it ineligible for the scheme even if the DoI reopens the scheme.

A representative of the DoI said: “For a bus service to be eligible for the scheme, passengers must be able to alight the service within 30 miles of boarding.

“The scheme is funded and administered by the Department for Infrastructure and aims to promote social inclusion. For many years the scheme has been underfunded and this has resulted in it being closed to new operators at this time.”