You had me at “WiFi on-board”

I’m posting this as I travel to Dublin on the new Gobus service from Galway and I have to say I’m a fan already. Not only is it the only direct bus service between the cities it’s also the only intercity transport service IN THE COUNTRY from Galway to offer a WiFI service.

They’re also smart enough and have enough foresight to know that this isn’t an opportunity to squeeze another dollar from your customer and the wifi is free. The also have toilets on board for those that need them. I don’t know the guys at Gobus but here’s a quote from their about page

GoBus is a new coach company, operated by Jim Burke & Sons of Tuam. Jim has spent over 30 years in the Transport Business and prides himself in listening to customer requirements and being able to provide the right solution at the right price.

I think it’s safe to say that in this case those aren’t idle words. I’m not crazy about their website and I think they could have better information, or an FAQ section may be in order, but the payment route is simple and clean.

This is a company that has got the important basics right for me and improved web experience is more of a nice to have. More importantly while not being as comfortable as the newer rail experience from Irishrail (you don’t have a table and working at a laptop is more difficult) at 10 euro single and 20 euro return on top of everything else, it tops the Irish Rail(43 euro) and Bus Eireann (13.60 single 17 return)euroin terms of value for money, and in the current climate (yes I did use THAT phrase) can our public services afford to continue to offer poor services with no value add? Surely a Green government should be encouraging people to our public transport system by offering services customers want, at prices that are reasonable with added services that make them even more desirable.

Please can whoever is in charge of our Public transport hire Jim Burke as a consultant, I have a feeling it’d be money well spent.

Update: It appears I’m behind the times on this as corrected by James in the comments. JJ Kavanaghs beat them to it