Aircoach Ballsbridge new route from 29 October 2013

devnull · 19-11-2013 1:00pm

AlekSmart wrote: »

I'm afraid Devnull,this is par for the course on the South Side of the City Centre.

I regularly have to re-direct Luggage Laden Aircoach customers waiting at the OUTBOUND Stops on Leeson St/Burlington .

In addition to the inconvenience,it can also lead to dangerous stuff as a panic stricken luggage toting foreign person suddenly legs it across 4 lanes to the approaching Big Blue.

In Aircoach's defence the Outbound Stops ARE identified as being "From Dublin Airport",however it's far from clear enough and needs to be in VIVID YELLOW or some other noticable colour ?

Those stops at least are labelled correctly, even if people don't take any notice of them! THe problem with the Ballsbridge ones is the new stops are on the opposite side of the road to the old stops, TO the airport. The old stops which are still there are set down, and the new calling points TO the airport don't have any stops.

It's pretty bizzare to have stops for set down but not for alighting!

devnull · 19-11-2013 1:04pm

ScottSF wrote: »

Yes the Ballsbridge Schoolhouse Hotel stop TO the airport needs a bit of help. There actually is a rectangular sign across and down the street, but it is attached to a refuse bin and faces in the opposite direction. It is located at the closest Dublin Bus stop (doing double duty).

So if a tourist goes to the Schoolhouse Hotel to head back to the airport, there is no way for them to see the presence of separate bus stop going towards the airport. At the very least there should be a poster on the permanent bus stop telling passengers going to the airport where to wait. I doubt many people will be traveling on AirCoach to Greystones from the Schoolhouse Hotel

Maybe I'm missing something, but there are a group of bus stop poles in the Towns between Dublin and Cork, which have not been removed, there are also some on the Ballinteer route I believe that are still there, and also stops on the set down stops on the Old Ballsbridge route.

Why not move them to the pick up stops on the new route? Why can someone not do this? Are they incapable of carrying them? The way it seems, attaching signs to walls and bins sounds like they want to skimp on paying for bus stops, which is bizare when they have redundant ones they can just re-use.

devnull · 20-11-2013 10:31am

Another happy customer!
https://twitter.com/DitzyJen/status/402968540132933632

AlekSmart · 20-11-2013 1:23pm

devnull wrote: »

Maybe I'm missing something, but there are a group of bus stop poles in the Towns between Dublin and Cork, which have not been removed, there are also some on the Ballinteer route I believe that are still there, and also stops on the set down stops on the Old Ballsbridge route.

Why not move them to the pick up stops on the new route? Why can someone not do this? Are they incapable of carrying them? The way it seems, attaching signs to walls and bins sounds like they want to skimp on paying for bus stops, which is bizare when they have redundant ones they can just re-use.

I wonder if there is a Planning Permission issue here...?

devnull · 20-11-2013 3:19pm

AlekSmart wrote: »

I wonder if there is a Planning Permission issue here...?

Wouldn't that be covered when they got permission to use the stops from the local authority?

Victor · 21-11-2013 1:48am

AlekSmart wrote: »

I wonder if there is a Planning Permission issue here...?

Not planning permission, but possibly a street furniture licence. The smallest thing on a street that would need planning permission would be a phone box or a bus shelter.

devnull wrote: »

Wouldn't that be covered when they got permission to use the stops from the local authority?

Note the NTA, the Garda and the council are all involved in the procedure.

Cipango · 11-12-2013 8:34pm

When taking the AirCoach from Vincents Hospital/Merrion Road, where exactly is the stop?

There is a Dublin bus stop across from the Merrion Inn pub but there is no Aircoach sign. Is this where the bus stops?

coylemj · 12-12-2013 1:56am

Cipango wrote: »

When taking the AirCoach from Vincents Hospital/Merrion Road, where exactly is the stop?

There is a Dublin bus stop across from the Merrion Inn pub but there is no Aircoach sign. Is this where the bus stops?

It has to be that stop. The Greystones service to the airport used to go up the coast road at the Merrion Gates but now serves D4 instead so stopping at St. Vincent's is a new thing which is probably why there's no sign there yet. There's mention in this thread about confusion regarding other stops missing in D4 but as the 702 Greystones service mentions a stop at St. Vincent's inbound, it must be the stop opp. the MI.

Mezcita · 03-04-2014 10:19am

Guh. Changes to the Greystones route add at least an extra ten minutes onto the journey. That's going through town at 10am. I'd say it would be a lot longer during rush hour.

oceanclub · 22-04-2014 1:42am

Yes the Ballsbridge Schoolhouse Hotel stop TO the airport needs a bit of help. There actually is a rectangular sign across and down the street, but it is attached to a refuse bin and faces in the opposite direction. It is located at the closest Dublin Bus stop (doing double duty).

Anyone have an exact location for this? The Aircoach site still just says "Schoolhouse Hotel" which can't be possible as that's on the wrong side of the road for going to the airport.

P.

munchkin_utd · 22-04-2014 8:11am

munchkin_utd wrote: »

to be honest, its more inexcusable for Air Coach to run services via the city centre with no, not even the slightest, indication of when they actually stop in the city centre.
Grand, during the day its hard to predict. But at night? When theres no traffic or congestion.
I contacted them a few times looking for a hint of a time, and the one answer I got was that there was a bus every hour or something, as in: "go wait in the rain and cold at 4 in the morning and see when the bus comes, and at the worst of it you will wait an hour" - but, being Ireland you wouldnt be shocked if a bus just didnt come so you'd be waiting 2 hours with no clue of when you should be seeing a bus arriving. EDIT: and youre looking to catch a flight at the airport so being late isnt an option.
Oh, and thats me coming from grand canal dock so a good 20 minute walk in the first place.

That said, the new bus via grand canal has a TIMETABLE incl intermediate stops so I could see myself using it.
I dont know why they now have a timetable when for the past decade it was deemed superfluous.
Surely it was a much better business model to not bother with it and have the public standing about in the rain and wind to wait for the bus (and be tempted by a nice warm taxi offering the ride to the airport for the same price).

just to follow up, I got this new service from the Maldron hotel cardiff lane last month.
The timetable which was posted at the stop was ripped down over the weekend but aircoach were on the ball and had it replaced on the Monday morning.
The bus arrived on the button on time (afternoon but outside rush hour) and got to the airport through the tunnel, so obviously very straight forward.

So hats off to Aircoach, it looks like they are finally running a bus service that you can depend on.
And the attention to the timetable is admirable, not just that there is one but that its such a feature of the service that they diligently replace copies of it at their stops.

ScottSF · 29-04-2014 10:07am

The Aircoach site still just says "Schoolhouse Hotel" which can't be possible as that's on the wrong side of the road for going to the airport.

Yes the staff at Aircoach could do a lot better with bus stop signage. They would be smart to become an official contributor to Boards.ie.

Several weeks ago I saw a tourist couple waiting in front of the Schoolhouse hotel for the Aircoach to go the airport. They said they were told by the previous bus driver to wait there for the return to the airport which is clearly wrong. I told them to wait across the street but they were worried since they were told the opposite which maybe was just a misunderstanding.

The bus stop is as you would guess on the OTHER side of Northumberland Road. It is shared with the Dublin Bus # 4/7 stop. The laminated paper sign is attached to the refuse bin and is NOT visible from the hotel. The Aircoach pole sign in front of the hotel still says "Dublin Airport Express" which is confusing since that is the Greystones direction. Sigh...

coylemj · 29-04-2014 11:15am

In fairness to Aircoach, the stops on the outbound legs are all signed 'Setdown Only'. Agree that there could be improvements though.

ScottSF · 29-04-2014 11:44am

coylemj wrote: »

In fairness to Aircoach, the stops on the outbound legs are all signed 'Setdown Only'. Agree that there could be improvements though.

I'm not sure how well the term "setdown only" translates for foreign tourists visiting Ireland. American English would use the term "Dropoff Only" and I'm not sure if a non-native English speaker would accurately interpret this term.

coylemj · 29-04-2014 12:51pm

ScottSF wrote: »

I'm not sure how well the term "setdown only" translates for foreign tourists visiting Ireland. American English would use the term "Dropoff Only" and I'm not sure if a non-native English speaker would accurately interpret this term.

Go to an Italian or French railway station and see how many signs are in English. At least Aircoach can stick to English, unlike DB and other publicly owned transport companies which are legally obliged to confuse non-English speaking tourists with two languages they can't understand.

Cipango · 05-05-2014 1:01am

ScottSF wrote: »

I'm not sure how well the term "setdown only" translates for foreign tourists visiting Ireland. American English would use the term "Dropoff Only" and I'm not sure if a non-native English speaker would accurately interpret this term.

I never really put much thought to it but now that you mention it, why don't they say Drop-Off only? It is much much simpler to understand. Even for native english speakers.

ScottSF · 05-05-2014 5:47pm

coylemj wrote: »

In fairness to Aircoach, the stops on the outbound legs are all signed 'Setdown Only'. Agree that there could be improvements though.

OK I've had a look at the sign in front of the Schoolhouse Hotel and it does NOT say "Setdown Only". I thought it might as that would make sense. It says Dublin Airport Direct which implies that it goes to the airport, am I right?

I've also seen people with luggage waiting directly across the street from the stop (smart thinking at least) which is not the right place either. The AirCoach stop to the airport here is at the closest Dublin bus stop which is not obvious unless you know where to look.

So there definitely could be "improvements" to the signage for sure!

coylemj · 05-05-2014 6:37pm

ScottSF wrote: »

Several weeks ago I saw a tourist couple waiting in front of the Schoolhouse hotel for the Aircoach to go the airport. They said they were told by the previous bus driver to wait there for the return to the airport which is clearly wrong. I told them to wait across the street but they were worried since they were told the opposite which maybe was just a misunderstanding.

ScottSF wrote: »

OK I've had a look at the sign in front of the Schoolhouse Hotel and it does NOT say "Setdown Only". I thought it might as that would make sense. It says Airport Express which implies that it goes to the airport, am I right?

I'm going to suggest a possible explanation for this confusion...

Up to a few years ago there was an Aircoach service which did a loop around several hotels in D4. From town I think it went out Northumberland Road to Jurys (so would have passed the Schoolhouse), out the Merrion Road and right into Simmonscourt Road (Four Seasons), down Anglesea Road to Donnybrook, right onto the N11 inbound, past the Burlo, back into the city centre and out to the airport.

So it would have been possible at that stage to get an Aircoach from outside the Schoolhouse (i.e. on the same side of the road) to the airport. Regardless of what the sign says, the stop right outside the Schoolhouse is now setdown only because the bus (702) is coming from the airport and heading to Greystones so they won't pick up passengers.

ScottSF · 09-06-2014 5:54pm

coylemj wrote: »

Up to a few years ago there was an Aircoach service which did a loop around several hotels in D4.

Yes that is true... the Aircoach used to loop through Ballsbridge on the way from and to the airport which was super convenient. Unfortunately many people still think this is true and there is zero signage at that stop to tell people where to wait for the bus TO the airport.

Today I saw yet another couple waiting in front of the Schoolhouse Hotel for the airport bus, sure they were in the correct spot. The postman who happened to be walking by also thought that was the correct place to wait for the airport bus.

I find it impossible to understand why is it so hard for them to attach a paper sign that tells people to cross the street and walk 100 meters to the Dublin bus stop. They are only going to make their customers angry be forced to take a taxi to the airport. Surely you don't need "planning permission" to update the paper timetable that is affixed to their misleading pole.

When I called them on the phone to make them aware of the issue, I got the typical "I'll pass along your feedback" response. It is highly frustrating when employees do not take pride in their company and take personal responsibility to fix problems.

dowlingm · 14-06-2014 2:45am

Set down is an expression used by Bus Eireann so why shouldn't Aircoach use it.

US rail timetables say "stops only to discharge" which sounds rude to me

Patrickheg · 14-06-2014 7:20am

ScottSF wrote: »

When I called them on the phone to make them aware of the issue, I got the typical "I'll pass along your feedback" response. It is highly frustrating when employees do not take pride in their company and take personal responsibility to fix problems.

In fairness their staff have been told umpteen times about very simple changes that would make a big difference but nothing ever happens.

Could be due to employees feeling unappreciated by management, therefore it's just a means to a wage for them and they no longer show any initiative. Studies have shown employees are more likely to feel this way when working for a multinational versus an indigenous local company especially in the service industry. Your voice is simply not heard as the strings are pulled from another country. Having access to a company owner and receiving something as simple as a "well done" is a great motivator

devnull · 14-06-2014 7:55am

Patrickheg wrote: »

In fairness their staff have been told umpteen times about very simple changes that would make a big difference but nothing ever happens.

Could be due to employees feeling unappreciated by management, therefore it's just a means to a wage for them and they no longer show any initiative. Studies have shown employees are more likely to feel this way when working for a multinational versus an indigenous local company especially in the service industry. Your voice is simply not heard as the strings are pulled from another country. Having access to a company owner and receiving something as simple as a "well done" is a great motivator

Nothing to do with it - clearly there are things that can be improved and affixing a sign to a bus stop is one of them, but to say that is down to the fact they are owned by a multi-national and not an indigenous company is ridiculous. They have their own board, all of which are based in Ireland and the MD is Irish and most of their suppliers are based on the Island.

It can also work the other way around, from the way you are suggesting happened here - my local shop, which in the last few months changed it's name, always defended themselves in comparisons with other non Irish retailers with a response of "But we're Irish" any criticism was met with the same three words, like somehow being Irish means that this makes up for falsely advertised prices, products past their best before date, rude staff and overcooked fresh goods and a deli that left ingredients out overnight and used them the next morning, when someone points out it didn't happen at another retailer: "But we're Irish and they're not". I don't pay for any companies goods or services that I am not comfortable or totally happy with, their nationality doesn't bother me.

For what it's worth the company appear to agree that things can be improved, since they are currently recruiting for two senior manager roles in Ireland to try and address some of these issues. Roles which it appears may well be being funded by the parent company to improve some of the issues that we are seeing discussed over the past few months, I guess time will tell to see what happens, but they have improved over the last six months or so with a new website new app and better social media interaction, even if they can improve more in those area, but it's true that there is still some more improvements needed.

Patrickheg · 14-06-2014 8:04am

devnull wrote: »

Nothing to do with it - clearly there are things that can be improved and affixing a sign to a bus stop is one of them, but to say that is down to the fact they are owned by a multi-national and not an indigenous company is ridiculous. They have their own board, all of which are based in Ireland and the MD is Irish and most of their suppliers are based on the Island.

It can also work the other way around, from the way you are suggesting happened here - my local shop, which in the last few months changed it's name, always defended themselves in comparisons with other non Irish retailers with a response of "But we're Irish" any criticism was met with the same three words, like somehow being Irish means that this makes up for falsely advertised prices, products past their best before date, rude staff and overcooked fresh goods and a deli that left ingredients out overnight and used them the next morning, when someone points out it didn't happen at another retailer: "But we're Irish and they're not". I don't pay for any companies goods or services that I am not comfortable or totally happy with, their nationality doesn't bother me.

For what it's worth the company appear to agree that things can be improved, since they are currently recruiting for two senior manager roles in Ireland to try and address some of these issues. Roles which it appears may well be being funded by the parent company to improve some of the issues that we are seeing discussed over the past few months, I guess time will tell to see what happens, but they have improved over the last six months or so with a new website new app and better social media interaction, even if they can improve more in those area, but it's true that there is still some more improvements needed.

That's quite a defensive post!!

Anyways we can only go on facts. Aircoach are very slow (if they even bother) to act on constructive feedback no matter how simple and logical it is. Either it's bad management(too busy focusing on their shareholders?) or unmotivated employees.

devnull · 14-06-2014 8:10am

I started two paragraphs by saying that things can be improved and you think that it's defensive?

I've always said there are ways they can improve but they have improved over the last 12 months from when they barely knew how to market to save their life, didn't interact at all on twitter and had a horrible website that was always out of date and a mess and had no app and a Cork service that sometimes had toilets and sometimes did not to name a few things.

I agree they need to handle and channel customer feedback and act on it more proactively, but I'm simply saying that whilst they are far from perfect, they are better than they were this time last year.

Aircoach Ballsbridge new route from 29 October 2013

Comments