Bus Eireann routes 109/109A Changes

After my 2 hour 15 minute journey from Virginia to O'Connell St yesterday my days of taking the 109 to Dublin are going to be seriously reduced. Im just going to drive in future whenever I have to head down to Dublin on a weekday morning.

At least coming home yesterday evening was a lot better but that was because I got the 5pm 30 Bus. It got me to Virginia for 6.30.

I was then going to Ballyjamesduff so decided to wait for the 187 service from Kells that was due in to Ballyjamesduff for 6.35. It eventually came at 6.55.

Flinchwhip wrote: »

Received from Damien English TD:

The position of Bus Eireann is as follows.

'In relation to the 109, we will be applying by the end of this week to the NTA for a licence to operate a peak morning departure from Navan via the Port Tunnel, and a peak evening departure from Busaras to Navan via the Port Tunnel. If and when we have the licence, we put these services in as soon as possible.'

The timeline on the NTA's own website for decision on applications for a licence are for commercial operators & can take up to eight weeks. In relation to the Public Service Obligation Routes like Navan, once Bus Éireann make a decision to make an application to amend a route, the NTA expect to be able to make a decision on this swiftly, within days rather than weeks I have been told.

Hopefully there will be closure on this next week or early the week after. Can you keep me informed from your end?

Regards

Damien

A good weeks work,but one which needs to be followed up with a second wave....I'm of the opinion that up to 25% of the current departures could/should be making use of this expensively provided State Asset,the Port Access Tunnel.

For crying out loud,what was it designed and constructed to achieve.....?

My next concern would be what skulduggery went on to suddenly remove the dei-facto 1730 via DPT in the first place,who objected ? and on what grounds ?

Given the NTA's new found powers and independence,they should have,in the interests of the passengers,told the objector to take a hike.

There is a market for Limited Stop-Express services out there,and it's a lucrative one too !

Commuter109 wrote: »

on the plus side, the 6.30 has used the port tunnel for the last two nights, i dont think its official (not according to the time table anyway), but it is making a serious difference.

Like Mal's predictament above, to date this bus has gone out via Cabra to pick up nobody en route and some evenings was taking an hour and 20 to get into the centre of Navan.

Last two evenings it has done Bus Aras to last stop in Navan in 50 minutes flat

Yesterday it left at 6.30 on the dot and we were at the M3 toll in 29 minutes, the fatest I've ever witnessed

I intend to email BE to express my delight with the PT route for the 6.30, and seeing if its going to become a permanent feature and would suggest anybody else using it does likewise!!

Without doubt Commuter109,an excellent and proactive response.

It is abundantly clear that sections of BE management remain so firmly entrenched in the past that they cannot recognize a Pot of Gold when they stumble across it.

Last two evenings it has done Bus Aras to last stop in Navan in 50 minutes flat

This is seriously marketable journey time,which if allied to a good quality vehicle and generally comfortable journey is more than capable of attracting a Car Driver to at least try the coach a couple of times weekly.

Currently,Irish Public Transport has few such opportunities and when they arise they need to be fully grasped and sweated for all they are worth....failure to do so,is in my opinion either down to negligence or sabotage...take your pick ?

I would also suggest Commuter 109,that you cc your communications to the NTA and the relevant politicians such as Damien English....this is one case where incompetent or plain ol disinterested management cannot be allowed to sabotage an opportunity which is important to both Staff and Passengers alike.

Commuter109,all I can say is don't give up.

Keep it calm and clear but keep the written communication going,particularly with the NTA,and I would also suggest,the Quality Bus Network Office,who also have a significant responsibility in this.

The posts in this thread,when taken as a narrative,illustrate very clearly the Actualité,as opposed to what a significant number of Public Transport Administrators wish to believe it is.

The single bare statistic of c.14 departures during a 2h.30m evening peak,with 13 of these being deliberately prevented from accessing a major Billion € Traffic Relief project (DPAT) is enough to merit a note to the "Troika" on waste-of-resources grounds alone.

It is nonsense,it is anti-consumer,it is anti-efficiency and totally against any commercial ethos relating to attracting new business to Public Transport.

Don't Let It Go-Keep on Plugging !!

Did you get in touch with the regional manager, Joe Kenny, directly as I suggested above?

If you're getting generic replies, frankly you need to go directly to the manager responsible.

Commuter109 wrote: »

cced Joe.kenny@buseireann.ie (and NTA etc) assuming it was correct address, got back an undelivered status message re J Kenny, from what i can make out, if it was the right address, but his mailbox was possibly full i.e " insufficent system storage"

Asked the geezer oprating [EMAIL="info@buseireann"]info@buseireann[/EMAIL] to confirm joe Kennys email and in essence he politely refused, suggesting i use the [EMAIL="info@buseireann"]info@buseireann[/EMAIL] address and state "for the attention of Joe Kenny in the subject box!

It has only made me more determined !!!!!

Just on a quick point I'd suggest dropping the capital J from Joe.....as in joe.kenny@buseireann.ie

Might work ?

Can anybody tell me if there is a "direct" 17.30 to Navan that skips Blanch and Johnstown?

According to the website timetable there are three 109s departing at 17.30: (1) skips navan and goes to Kells
(2) takes the port tunnel goes via the Ardboyne to Navan
(3) goes via Johnstown to Navan

Thanks to this thread (and not BE) I know that the Port Tunnel route has been suspended. I asked BE if they were replacing the port tunnel route and they pretended the the port tunnel route never existed. But it's still on the PDF timetable!

The only 109s at 17.30 I've been on have gone via Johnstown. It seems to me that the second bus to Navan hasn't been replaced at all - is that the experience of others?

The timetable officially changed on Friday February 3rd for the 17:30 express to operate via the Port Tunnel.

The 18.00hrs route 30 Expressway journey Dublin (Busáras) to Swanlinbar (Co. Cavan) also generally uses the Port Tunnel.

This Expressway service is not scheduled to pick-up or drop-off between Busáras and Dunshaughlin and, as such, the route it follows between these two points is immaterial.

This journey operates every day, including Sundays. Schedule hereunder:

Dublin (Busáras) d 18.00
Dunshaughlin (Gogan's) d. 18,45
Navan (Mercy Convent) d. 19.05
Kells (Parochial House) d. 19.25
Virginia (Main Street) d. 19.40
Cavan (Bus Station) d. 20.00

It continues to Swanlinbar (arrive 20.45) via Butlersbridge (Bypass), Belturbet (Diamond), Ballyconnell (Slieve Russell Hotel),
Ballyconnell (opp. Courthouse) and Bawnboy.

One would never think that given the situation on the ground when some drivers don't even seem to know the route they are supposed to follow!

Yes, people are travelling to Navan etc...on it.

In theory if there were a good load of longer distance passengers on it one could be asked to take another bus. For instance, it is the last bus of the day serving Ballyconnell, Bawnboy and Swanlinbar so in the event of say a big event in Dublin understandably passengers to these destinations will be prioritised.

Agree that this doesn't seem to happen as much now, probably because there are a better spread of services plus auxiliary (help) buses.

I've seen counts of spare seats done for the (hourly) 109 to Cavan prior to departure from Busáras to ensure passengers waiting at the Mater, Phibsboro, Ashtown and Blanchardstown stops can be accommodated.

But this can occasionally go wrong with there being at least one instance recently of a Cavan bus taking significant numbers for Dunshaughlin/Navan/Kells from Busáras with the result that a small number of passengers waiting at one or two stops on the way out of the city to travel to points north of Kells (only served by the hourly Cavan service) were left behind.

In terms of the situation outlined whilst buses run through Johnstown/Bailis during the day what about one starting from there in the morning. For instance, start at Supervalu at 7.10am, out to the Ardboyne stop, 7.12, Kilcarne Bridge 7.14, Dalgan Park 7.16, Garlow Cross 7.18 and thence onto the M3.

This would save many people having to walk/be dropped into Navan/to the Ardboyne/Kilcarne stops.

Another bus that could be of use to some depending on their location in Navan and destination in Dublin is the route 107 at 06.50 Navan Square - Athlumney - Kentstown - Ashbourne - Finglas - Dublin - UCD. Not motorway of course but the Ashbourne road tends to provide a good run.
There's also a return journey on this route at 17.40 ex Beresford Place (Liberty Hall): http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1318429076-107.pdf

I would imagine it was (again) driver error.

Unless the NTA officially licence a change and it is in the public timetable then it's not the authorised route.

Unfortunately the public timetable doesn't always give sufficient information for the user to be certain of the route a bus is to follow.

A good example of this in Meath is the 06.25 Drogheda-Navan-Trim and 19.30 return on route 188 between Drogheda and Navan where it is unclear from the timetable whether these journeys route via (i) Duleek and Kentstown; (ii) Rossin and Slane or (iii) the usual route or (iv) a route at the driver's discretion.

It's not an express route and the timetable just shows a line between the places. The route followed by the rest of the services is quite clearly defined but not for these two journeys.

In practice it generally seems to come via Duleek and Kentstown.

But one wouldn't know this from the timetable unless one travelled on it, enquired or saw it.

That article is riddled with inaccurate figures - see the thread here.

The cost of the extra services is more like €800 per day before additional revenue is taken into account.

Geog1234 wrote: »

Hopefully the new train services referred to in that article will be a success.
Ultimately if they don't succeed it potentially could harm the case for future rail developments generally including extending the M3 Parkway line to Navan.
(Am not implying a direct link but just that it could influence policy etc...)

Well... Now that you introduce the idea of rail branch lines...

There's already a train that runs with 100s of empty seats from docklands to m3 parkway at the beginning of the uncngested motorway to navan.
If a train to navan is feasible, then surely a pilot for its success would be an express bus between navan and m3 parkway and then train to the city centre, even if only a t peak times.

If anything, Irish rail as a prime competitor to bus eireann should not be worried about affecting bus eireann profits but rather be maximizing bums on seats for the dunboyne line by providing rail connectivity to navan customers. Especially when the train is one of the few in the Dublin metro area that is running with lots of spare capacity.

EDIT: I'll just add that Bus Eireann and private bus operators have no problem going head to head with rail and attempt to capture travellers who otherwise would travel by rail, but Irish rail NEVER EVER takes the initiative by using bus shuttles of their own or otherwise to provide a service to areas only served by bus.
They should be actively looking to fill that heavily subsidised train to Dunboyne if only to reduce the subsidy from the taxpayer needed to run the line and its empty trains.