Last year my friend Rosie and I decided we would hit Dublin in the summer of ’17 to see American rock legends ZZ Top live at the 3Arena.
So straight onto Ticketmaster to book our tickets and onto booking.com to get our hotel booked. The only concern I had was transport up and down to Dublin. We were on a budget and we couldn’t hitch a lift due to my electric wheelchair, which doesn’t collapse to be fitted into the boot of a car.
I decided to put the feelers out on Twitter and asked Translink (the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, a public corporation in Northern Ireland which provides the public transport in the region.) if it was possible to use their Ulsterbus service.
Dear @Translink_NI. I’m traveling from Omagh to Dublin to see @ZZTop in July. Do you have a bus on this route & is it wheelchair accessible? pic.twitter.com/TC1bprACji
— My Way Access (@MyWayAccess) June 30, 2017
Follow the conversation here.
Translink were able to tell me, which buses they felt would be best for me to travel down on and back up to Omagh this next day and provided me with a telephone number to contact their Head Office in Belfast to book a wheelchair friendly bus on the routes I wanted.
To me, this is an excellent service and one that the wider population in the north with disabilities may not be aware of, but should. So if you are looking to travel anywhere by bus, ring 028 9066 6630 and let them know which route you want to travel and they will put the correct bus on for you. I shall be bussing more often!
Once we arrived, the next task was to get a wheelchair friendly taxi. Outside Busáras Bus Station at the taxi rank, not one suitable taxi was to be seen. I was told there would be one long in 10 minutes. None appeared and time was running out. Rosie rang looking for a taxi, but was told that they were all out and can’t guarantee when we would get one. So after an hour of waiting, we decided to walk to O’Connell Street. True enough, like many had told us along the way, it didn’t take us long to find a taxi there.
We did consider taking the Luas out to St Stephen’s Green, but after getting sandwiched between two trams going in opposite direction and finding it a little too close for comfort….. walking was the better option.
At Clayton Hotel Burlington, things couldn’t have been better. Everything was accessible and the staff were brilliant. Here’s my review.
The hotel booked us a taxi to take us to the 3Arena for ZZ Top and it was on time and they provided an excellent service. We informed them about the trouble we have when we arrived, trying to get a taxi. He rolled his eyes and said at the bus station, some taxi drivers see people with a disability as too much hassle for a fare, so either decide to drive on or pick up others. This was disappointing to learn.
At the concert, it was a brilliant night. A few drinks outside, before heading in to see the warm up act The Red Devils and the main act ZZ Top. It was night to remember and that I won’t forget. Belting out the old favourites, head rocking, soaking in the atmosphere. Here’s my review of 3Arena.
The next morning, back in a taxi and off to catch our bus. After a moment or two at the game, a bus driver came over and asked if I was “Dermot Devlin?” This showed that even the drivers knew who pre-books the wheelchair friendly buses, so others stealing our spot won’t strand users. 😉
So an all round successful experience testing out the transport to Dublin and across the city. Here’s the My Way Access 4 point tip to remember.
- Pre-book a wheelchair friendly bus on your route.
- Pre-book a wheelchair friendly taxi (allowing a 20min margin of error incase of delays).
- Have fun.
- Watch out for Luas lines!