shilltpo,

Not sure if the single fare difference matters much. The train is faster and generally more reliable, anyway. It all depends on where you want to go to and from. 101 is good if you live in Julianstown or Balrothery (remember you have to pay for parking now in Balbriggan, and station parking is full by 0730); it is also handy if you want to go to Swords, airport, Omni, DCU, Mater, etc etc. 101 has been doing especially well with airport traffic in recent times.

More so than the single fare, I think there are issues in Balbriggan with weekly/monthly tickets, where the Short Hop is valid on trains and on Dublin Bus, but not on Bus Eireann. I would suggest that this is losing Bus Eireann quite a bit of potential business.