JJ Kavanagh & Sons Reviews 183

Got on a bus in nenagh towards limerick.. asked the driver for a single ticket. 11 euro, no problem. I take out the correct amount in cash and the driver proceeds to tell me that they dont accept cash.. meanwhile, im looking at a sign right in front of me that clearly says, "card payments preferred" now unless I'm mistaken, that implies that I can still pay by cash.. so i said to the driver, until your sign states that it is "card payments ONLY" I can, and will be paying in cash.. the driver responded by saying that he would pay for the ticket with his card and I could give him cash in exchange, which i thought was actually a very sound thing to do.. i gave him the cash for the ticket and he ushered me on, but didn't actually give me a physical printed ticket.. now im not 100% sure that this is the case, so im not accusing him of anything, but I got the impression that he put the cash in his pocket and didn't actually make the card payment for the ticket... either way, im delighted I was allowed board the bus so no complaints there.. I just think that for one, if it's actually card ONLY, then thats what it should say on the signs and not say PREFERRED. and secondly I feel like I should have been printed a ticket as a proof of purchase.. otherwise he could quite possibly have just pocketed my money..

I took the 815am bus to Dublin Airport from Tipperary during the protests April 2026. The driver was amazing - he was informative (real about possible delays) but also reassuring and had a great sense of humour that kept everyone calm. I expected to be stressed and worried about making my flight but I was able to trust that he knew his routes and detours and would do his best to get us there. A massive thank you! I’ve been a customer for years and service has always been excellent.

0 stars. Missed our flights because the 3.20am bus was cancelled and they didnt bother telling us. 20 of us waiting since 3am and no bus, no emergency line, no explanation, no apology... nothing. Horrible company... Book Bus Eireann so you can be sure that it will be there when you've bought the ticket.

My daughter was going to Dublin airport today at 12.30 from Roscrea ,and the bus driver was so kind , helpful , said 👋 hello, smiled and was very friendly ☺️I felt comfort that there was such a nice man running this bus with my daughter on it ❤️
Thank you for your kindness at such a hard time ☺️😘 ment a lot to me ,

Terrible company,never returned to pick us up,wont respond to emails and the person on the phone was very unprofessional,vile scam of a company, avoided at all costs

The drivers are all friendly and are a credit to the business, however the customer service team running the emails and phoneline are a joke! I have used their busses countless times and rarely had I a problem, but there has been a few times where the bus departed my stop before the scheduled time or the bus skipping my stop, leaving me stranded and down the money I paid for the pre-booking. On multiple occasions Jj kavanagh refused to give me a refund and maintained they gave me credit on my next trip but they never do it's just LIES.

Total scam - left us in Kilkenny when the bus departed way to early - bus driver saw us and refused to stop and now they’re lying about it. Saying we were late. Total scam on tourists !!! Do not use them x

Every single time I take the 139 bus it is extremely delayed. An awful experience every single time. If the bus timings were live this would help greatly as to not have many people standing out in the rain and the cold for up to 45 minutes waiting for a bus they’re not sure is even going to come.

Best friend se hi

I got the bus from Portlaoise to Kildare Village and on the return trip got up just before my stop to let the driver know I was getting off. He roared at me to "Sit down please" and before I had a chance to sit down in the front seat he roared again "Sit Down" like he was talking to a dog. He totally humiliated and embarrassed me in front of all the other passengers. All he needed to say was would I mind sitting down due to safety concerns. These drivers need lessons in how to deal with customers in a polite manner as we are the ones keeping you in your jobs by using this service. Very disappointed

Worst bus service in the whole world.
Always late or no show

I had an extremely disappointing experience with this company. On 23rd November 2025 at 19:30 at the Dublin George’s Quay (Ulster Bank) stop, the driver refused to let my small 11 year old Shih Tzu on the bus, even though he travels inside a closed pet bag, is calm, and has an emotional support certificate.

At first he just said, “I can’t take your dog.” After calling someone from the company, he came back saying he could only take guide dogs, completely ignoring the fact that my dog had official documentation and that I had already traveled with the same company from the airport under the exact same conditions with no issues. One driver allows it, another refuses it, totally incoherent and unprofessional.

He even laughed during the call, didn’t explain the situation properly, showed no empathy, and left us standing in the rain with no solution. We also mentioned it was the last option for us to go back home to Carlow. My dog wasn’t going to bother anyone, he stays quietly in his bag on my lap, but the driver simply didn’t care.

This lack of respect, consistency, and mindfulness towards passengers is unacceptable. The company urgently needs to revise its policies and train drivers to apply them coherently and respectfully.

bus time for 9.55PM on 14th of november friday at roscrea location had a bus driver who passed me & my partner and the little one whos 7 with extreme asthma running down the hill right at the corner where bus stops 3 mins away tops, in the cold weather and rain,he saw us and sped up as we heard the engine rev more just after he had looked at us directly after flagging him down im sure with the time and location given you know this bus driver young and a good bit of weight on him alot have complained the same driver believe it or not, by the time people get on and off and luagage and 3 mins running at the corner we should have caught him but he sped up like we said and an old woman was very upset by this, in the cold & rain and im personally going to put this up on my business page the paper and tipp fm this is how much that this bus driver and jj kavanaghs who employed him annoyed not just me and my family and the little ones asthma and how the bus driver seen us and sped up after running and flagging him down 3 mins away, but what annoyed me the most was the old woman she looked so cold wet and sad this is not just direspectfuly awful but very unprofessional and bad for business we should of had time, we were seconds away as he pulled of again we seen him 10-15 feet away, those seconds could have stopped all of this for more reason the one, as if he couldnt wait any longer jj kavanaghs is always late??? one day i waited two hours? and its never on time always late or later? so yes he could of stopped, im not the only one waiting to see him and trust me if this man is not gone i will do all the above and file court proceedings, how dare you, i will be patient this is just the start of it, ill share this experience to fine detail everyday and repost the same review every day on and off this review site with great passion until i die, im all about princapil you messed with the wrong guy and his family & that poor old woman, i expect an appropriate responce from jj kavanaghs if not this will make things worse by right been one of the victims who choose to speak up. also time is ticking.

That award is not worth the paper its written on the awarding body clearly do not know the lies and deceit of this service and company , on the 6/11/25 my self and my partner were waiting for the service to Dublin airport the 4pm journey with pre booked tickets we saw the coach approaching from the roundabout by shaws in Waterford City, we stepped forward with our bags but the coach drove past Dooleys in the outside lane without stopping my partner managed to catch up the coach due to the traffic lights changing he knocked on the door the driver would not open the door but asked him to go to his window in the mainstream traffic he showed him our pre booked tickets explained about our flights in Dublin he said there was nothing he could do and drove off in traffic, we missed our flights in Dublin to Liverpool had to board a train to Dublin get a bus from station to airport spend all night in the airport book additional flights to get home and pay the parking charge for our car that had not been picked up the previous evening, I raised a formal complaint with the company in a email which I then had to follow up for a reply, I received a email this evening from Paul one of the company's managers who said the bus pulled into Dooleys picked up 4 passengers and 4 tickets, complete lies we were standing waiting and moved forward to let the driver know we needed picking up but the driver ignored us and drove past, this is appauling service and driver misconduct from a company who are advertising this award for customer care, I've used this service for years as my family have, I will seek futher evidence in cctv footage of the bus speeding past the Dooleys stop, I was left completely out of pocket for a failed service I can only think the Driver allowed other passengers on board ignoring the protocol for pre booked passengers for the airport.

I need the 139 bus which only comes once per hour in order to get to college. I get it Monday - Thursday and it has not failed to be late EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. It is meant to arrive at 7:38 but instead it always arrives at around 7:51 without fail. If that isn’t bad enough, the lovely bus has driven by me twice in the past month despite me putting my hand out. Now I cant make it to my class on time, many thanks to this great company and their incredibly punctual buses 😐😐. Seriously, what do they expect you to do when this bus comes ONCE every HOUR and it drives by you?? It also was extremely full for weeks during September to the point where I was standing nearly every day & instead of running more buses during this time they just did nothing about the issue. I’ve also watched it leave TUD at 3:57 even though the bus was meant to get there at 4 & saw people miss their bus. I watched the same driver who ignored me today drive by a lot of people who were waiting for the 139 at Blanchardstown shopping centre a few weeks ago too.

I had a bad experience with a bus driver on one of their buses. I asked the bus driver would he open the luggage door so I could put my luggage in the compartment. He completely ignored me and didn’t answer.He continued sitting there.I asked him a second time. He then yelled at me in front of customers for absolutely no reason to (as he put it) “Get On”. I couldn’t believe it and was shocked. I have made a complaint regarding his behaviour. I have never encountered such behaviour towards a customer. Such disregard and disrespect towards a customer who treated him with respect. I will rethinking my travel arrangements from now on. A very disappointed customer who will not be using this service in the future.

I've been using the 717 (Dublin/Clonmel) JJ Kavanagh service on a regular basis over the last number of weeks and have been highly disappointed with the service and punctuality of departures. What I've to say isn't much different to the rest of the reviews so I'll keep it brief.

- If you're tight on time you cannot rely on JJ Kavanagh. Their buses cannot even depart from the start point punctually. How can they ever expect to be on time in that instance.

- They advertise having toilets on board. It's a roll of the dice whether it's open for use on any given service. And if it is open for use it will likely be disgusting.

- Their drivers are either the nicest people on the planet or uninterested and rude. There's no in-between.

- Culture in companies feed from the top. It's obvious from my interactions with their office (2 times) and their drivers, that the company culture in JJ Kavanagh drives the poor (government funded) service they provide.

Changing booking details.
I tried to change booking details as the date of my trip to Dublin was changed. For all future dates I tried it kept saying no availability.
Next time I'll be booking the train.

Highly Highly recommended avoiding kavanaghs, constantly late arriving into Dublin, especially the early morning service, which is the most necessary to be on time, plus they now refuse to accept cash. AVOID KAVANAGHS, Dublin coach are far better

Rang to find out time bus time and whoever answered me was so rude and didnt wait for me to get reassurance on the time table very rude now