Buses are by far the most popular mode of public transport in Ireland. Dublin Bus carries three times the numbers using Luas, Bus Éireann double the numbers that use Irish Rail. There are substantial private operators of scheduled bus services too, including Go-Ahead and Aircoach with routes in Dublin city and the various firms around the country, including Aircoach, Citylink and Ulsterbus, offering longer-distance connections. The motorway developments of recent decades have enabled bus operators to match the journey times of the railway and they also win on frequency. Fixed-line systems are expensive to build and costly to operate. There…