Why don't Irish buses announce their stops?

vorbis · 03-01-2008 4:37pm #1

Apologies if this has come up before.

I was on Dublin bus there at the weekend and noticed that it doesn't announce the name of each stop over the intercom. Why???

I'm from Cork so don't know Dublin. This meant I was asking the bus driver every so often was my stop coming up. Surely, having a voice say the name of the next bus stop over the PA "Leeson Street next stop" for example would be easy to add. You could record all the names in a day.

I won't even begin to ask for a digital display at bus stops a la London that showed real time information on the minutes left till the next bus arrived

But sure announcing the stop name is something Dublin bus can do.

paulm17781 · 03-01-2008 4:45pm

vorbis wrote: »

But sure announcing the stop name is something Dublin bus can do.

You seem to be forgetting the quality of customer service with this company.

Some drivers will announce the bigger stops but it is generally a service for people who already know where the stops are. :mad:

cold_filter · 03-01-2008 4:47pm

Also the bus doesnt stop at every stop if there's no one there or no one wanting to get off.

John R · 03-01-2008 5:30pm

paulm17781 · 03-01-2008 5:40pm

John R wrote: »

add in an M-16 to deal with the scangers smoking fags, hash and junk and you would have the perfect commute survival kit.

Do you know when DB plan to deploy this?

Saruman · 03-01-2008 5:43pm

To be honest, i have often been on a bus in the past and someone gets on and simply asks the driver to let them know when their stop is. Usually they sit up the front so he shouts over to them and sometimes will announce over the intercom.

As long as he remembers to announce it i doubt he will tell you to get lost... though you never know with some bus drivers.

seanabc · 03-01-2008 5:54pm

I was on one bus a couple of days ago and the driver didn't know the names of where he was going! He knew the route all right but people would ask which would be the nearest stop for x and he'd start spluttering.

Luckily enough there was a passenger standing just beside him who knew the route and was able to help people.

In fairness, I never saw it as bad as that before and I suppose it's possible he could have been on knew or on loan from some other route. The drivers usually have an idea of where they're going.

Speaking as a culchie I found getting a bus on an unfamiliar route to go off and view flats or whatever when I moved up to Dublin first to be a nightmare because of the lack of information about where you are. If you don't know where you're going you're better off asking the driver to let you know when you're there. I've always found that to work.

mike65 · 03-01-2008 5:57pm

John R you did'nt have to edit the whole thing, my point was not to abuse someone who is not familair with another town/city. Manners cost nothing.

Mike.

vorbis · 03-01-2008 6:19pm

what really gets me is that if memory serves, the LUAS has a map of all stops (not that many), a display that shows the current stop, signs at stations and if memory serves me right announces stops (could be mixing up with underground)?!!

Its from one extreme to another!

thegills · 03-01-2008 6:26pm

2 things
1) 90% of the bus drivers can't speak English
2) If DB tried to introduce something innovative the boys would go on strike.

mike65 · 03-01-2008 6:33pm

It would'nt take a leap of technology to have a scrolling sign inside all buses but then it proberbly would'nt work for long.

Mike.

MiniD · 03-01-2008 6:37pm

thegills wrote: »

2 things
1) 90% of the bus drivers can't speak English
2) If DB tried to introduce something innovative the boys would go on strike.

Your 2 points are completely incorrect.

Dublin Bus is currently upgrading a lot of their bus stop information, so it is starting to get a bit better. Of course, there needs to be more done, and I think we need an independent transport body who will oversee all modes of transport. Some of the Luas maps mentioned above don't include bus routes which stop right next to the Luas stop. It's this kind of stuff which gives public transport it's negative image.

There was a bus trailed last year on Route 25A. This bus was programmed to announce stops as the route progressed. I'm not sure what the outcome of the trial was, but with the new real-time system being developed for Dublin Bus, perhaps this will be part of it.

armada104 · 03-01-2008 7:00pm

There is one bus driver on the 10 route who seems to have taken it upon himself to announce all the stops. And I mean all of them. He's not Irish, I think he may be Indian or Pakistani, but he knows the names of the stops off by heart, and calls them out every time. It's great for pasengers not familiar with the route, if a little irritating for those who are. Irritating because it draws your attention to just how many unnecessary stops there are on the route. Three on Waterloo Road alone!

The point is, however, you get used to it and block it out after a while, and it is useful for new passengers. You'd have to wonder about the safety implications though.

shltter · 03-01-2008 7:10pm

vorbis wrote: »

Apologies if this has come up before.

I was on Dublin bus there at the weekend and noticed that it doesn't announce the name of each stop over the intercom. Why???

I'm from Cork so don't know Dublin. This meant I was asking the bus driver every so often was my stop coming up. Surely, having a voice say the name of the next bus stop over the PA "Leeson Street next stop" for example would be easy to add. You could record all the names in a day.

I won't even begin to ask for a digital display at bus stops a la London that showed real time information on the minutes left till the next bus arrived

But sure announcing the stop name is something Dublin bus can do.

Apart from the fact that it would be irritating as hell if you had to listen to it 5 days a week on your way to work on then on the way home again

It would not be as simple as recording the stops and playing them back as the system would have to know where it was so it would require GPS or some id chip in each stop

meanmachine3 · 03-01-2008 7:17pm

seanabc wrote: »

I was on one bus a couple of days ago and the driver didn't know the names of where he was going! He knew the route all right but people would ask which would be the nearest stop for x and he'd start spluttering.

Luckily enough there was a passenger standing just beside him who knew the route and was able to help people.

In fairness, I never saw it as bad as that before and I suppose it's possible he could have been on knew or on loan from some other route. The drivers usually have an idea of where they're going.

seanabc just in case you hadn't noticed bus drivers are not taxi drivers
most passengers think we know dublin like the back our hands, i'm sorry to disappoint most of you but this aint the case.i've had my own route for a long time and i still dont know were most places are in between. all i know is how to get from one termini to another.if i can help someone i wil and mostly that means asking locals on the bus for such a place, and to be perfectly honest i dont know any other routes (where they go) in the depot i work out of and i dont want to either.

Red Alert · 03-01-2008 7:55pm

I'm sure many of the dublin buses have bad/non working PA systems due to lack of use anyway.

A Dub in Glasgo · 03-01-2008 8:25pm

I don't remember being on any bus anywhere which tells you what the next stop is

Slice · 03-01-2008 8:34pm

I've never been on any bus in any city that announces the stops either. I've always found the DB drivers very good at announcing the stop if you ask them to in cases where you don't know where you're going...

dumbyearbook · 03-01-2008 8:42pm

A look on googlemaps and a check of the route stops on dublinbus.ie would get you by if you get stuck with a driver who was'nt certain/could nt speak to you in your native language/couldnt be ar***

But sure typical arrive in a city you dont know with no map no clue where your going and rely on someone trying to do their job ( which is not to give out directions ect. ) when i moved to Dublin first i had to get buses for a good while but got as familiar as possible you dont wing it and if you do and it does nt work out for you then tough!!

Alun · 03-01-2008 8:43pm

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I don't remember being on any bus anywhere which tells you what the next stop is

I seem to remember the ones in Stockholm doing this ... it's hardly rocket science now is it?

Calina · 03-01-2008 8:45pm

Quite a lot of European city buses have - at the very least - scrolling signs that tell you what the next stop is. In those cities, where they also use older buses, which may not have the scrolling signs, they announce the next stops.

As to why it's not done in Dublin, obviously I don't know for sure but if I had to guess, I'd throw the following ideas out.

1) in other European cities, each individual bus stop has its own name. This is not the case in Dublin. This is easily facilitated because by and large, there is a ten minute walk from one stop to the next. In many parts of Dublin, there's a 150m walk, total. Naming every single bus stop in Dublin is something I wouldn't want to bear thinking about.

2) because there has historically been an assumption in Ireland that it's not necessary to provide information because anyone who needs to know already knows, viz road signposting up to the mid1990s in this country. Thankfully this is changing, so that you have improved (far from perfect) signposting, and all the Luas stops appear to have names.

As to what could be done? Well Dublin Bus could do a slightly better job on naming major stops and the drivers can call them out. By that I mean not calling them after businesses which may or may not shut down. There are one or two in Drumcondra and Dorset Street AFAIR which are symptomatic. As there are too many bus stops in Dublin - in my opinion - I don't think it's feasible to name all of them.

Realistically I'd like to see fewer bus stops although I suspect if Dublin Bus did that, quite a lot of people would go ballistic so I see it happening sometime after hell freezes over.

Ham'nd'egger · 03-01-2008 8:53pm

meanmachine3 wrote: »

seanabc just in case you hadn't noticed bus drivers are not taxi drivers
most passengers think we know dublin like the back our hands, i'm sorry to disappoint most of you but this aint the case.i've had my own route for a long time and i still dont know were most places are in between. all i know is how to get from one termini to another.if i can help someone i wil and mostly that means asking locals on the bus for such a place, and to be perfectly honest i dont know any other routes (where they go) in the depot i work out of and i dont want to either.

Just to expand on this; a driver who would work a regular route (Marked in, as Shltter would call it) would realistically only know his route and any other route that he may work on. Knowing what businesses and shops are en route, and side roads etc is not part of their brief, and it is asking a lot to know all of this on the off chance that you may need to get somewhere. Other drivers may be driving on different routes from day to day and would do well to know what way they are taking, let alone the landmarks nearby.

If you do need to get somewhere that you are not sure where it is, try and ask for directions before you depart, consult the OSI street map (€12) or hail a taxi; please don't take it out on Dublin Bus and their drivers

Calina · 03-01-2008 9:00pm

thegills wrote: »

2 things
1) 90% of the bus drivers can't speak English
2) If DB tried to introduce something innovative the boys would go on strike.

I would be stunned if 1 was true. I do however find that Irish people - who statistically are not good at foreign languages - are very fast to making comments about foreigners not having good enough English. Perhaps one of the DB lads here can correct me, but I doubt it's possible to get a job in DB without some competence in English.

Regarding 2, strikes are last resort tactics. We actually - comparatively speaking - don't suffer from that many of them in Ireland.

shltter wrote: »

Apart from the fact that it would be irritating as hell if you had to listen to it 5 days a week on your way to work on then on the way home again

It would not be as simple as recording the stops and playing them back as the system would have to know where it was so it would require GPS or some id chip in each stop

Technologically, the solutions exist. The reason it might be irritating in Dublin is - as I've already said - that there are far too many bus stops on the network in Dublin and they are generally too close to each other. But that's what iPods are for and anyway, frankly it's nowhere near as annoying as mobile phones are.

dumbyearbook wrote: »

But sure typical arrive in a city you dont know with no map no clue where your going and rely on someone trying to do their job ( which is not to give out directions ect. ) when i moved to Dublin first i had to get buses for a good while but got as familiar as possible you dont wing it and if you do and it does nt work out for you then tough!!

Uhem, just cos there's a smilie at the end of that sentence doesn't make it somehow...right. Most buses in Paris and Brussels, plus other places I've been have routemaps in the bus. Obviously this is feasible because the routes have fewer stops and are largely shorter as they are integrated with a far more comprehensive transport system which isn't screwed up by generalised gridlock and poor city planning, but ultimately the net result is it's a lot easier to navigate those places than it is to navigate in Dublin.

Small things could make things much easier, such as the OP's suggestion. It's what providing a public service entails.

murphaph · 03-01-2008 9:25pm

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I don't remember being on any bus anywhere which tells you what the next stop is

Berlin, Munich and Cologne are three cities that spring to mind immediately. I haven't used buses in any other german cities but the kit they use looks standard (I think AEG make it) and most of the buses are older generation MANs and Mercs which have had the displays and GPS gear retrofitted as it wouldn't have existed when those buses were built.

Of course, german bus routes tend not to have stops every 40 yards. It would be difficult to name many Dublin Bus stops as they are so close together. In Germany they are sensible: If you are riding the bus on an arterial road they don't keep telling you the next stop is "x strasse", instead they tell you the name of the nearest intersecting street, which is much more useful if you don't have a special public transport map.

Major bus stops in many german cities often have proper real time GPS linked PIS boards. It's all integrated.

fricatus · 03-01-2008 9:32pm

Prague likewise... the next stop is announced via a recorded announcement and one of those red-LED* type signs.

Like some others said, the bus stops seem to be further apart than in Irish cities - in fact they seemed to be about as far apart as tram stops. Still though, longer walk to bus + fewer stops once on board = shorter overall journey time (perhaps).

* Description may be laughably inaccurate...

A Dub in Glasgo · 03-01-2008 9:41pm

I remember my 60 minute 4 mile commute on the 13 bus 15 years ago. It would have driven me nuts if I had some driver or autobot announce every stop all the time.

I get the commuter train into Glasgow Central every work day and the Passenger Information Systems are prevalent to comply with the RVAR regs, it drives you nuts on a day to day week to week month to month year to year basis.

murphaph · 03-01-2008 9:43pm

The Kylemore Road between Ballyfermot Church and the railway is a joke with stops that close and they have all been upgraded to the solid steel frame ones which must cost a bit. I know Adshel or somebody pays for them as they function as advertising hoardings but for God's sake-what a waste.

murphaph · 03-01-2008 9:49pm

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I remember my 60 minute 4 mile commute on the 13 bus 15 years ago. It would have driven me nuts if I had some driver or autobot announce every stop all the time.

I get the commuter train into Glasgow Central every work day and the Passenger Information Systems are prevalent to comply with the RVAR regs, it drives you nuts on a day to day week to week month to month year to year basis.

IME german buses don't audibly announce next stops as they do on their trams and trains, they just display it on a panel suspended in the ceiling. I presume blind people have a harder time with this system. IIRC some cities use a little chime each time the next stop changes so blind people familiar with the city can just count the chimes to time their alighting.

This one must be at the terminus too:

God we're so far behind the civilised world it isn't funny. This page describes location based services such as video screens in buses which can show you local advertising-local to the actual stop you are at! The first paragraph makes me cry...

Vorbei sind die Zeiten, in denen sich Fahrgäste um statische Perlschnuranzeigen drängen mussten, um sich einen Überblick über den Linienverlauf zu verschaffen und die Haltestellen bis zu Ihrem Ziel abzuzählen

...which translates as.....

Gone are the days when passengers relied on static route schematic from which they had to quickly remember the stops to count to their destination

....if only we had such information of old at all our stops today. Stage 25.....:(

corktina · 03-01-2008 10:08pm

automatic systems are availble but dont expect the driver to do it, he has enough to do as it is....oh, and dont moan when the fares are increased as a result of the extra investment required

dumbyearbook · 03-01-2008 11:32pm

Calina wrote: »

Uhem, just cos there's a smilie at the end of that sentence doesn't make it somehow...right. Most buses in Paris and Brussels, plus other places I've been have routemaps in the bus. Obviously this is feasible because the routes have fewer stops and are largely shorter as they are integrated with a far more comprehensive transport system which isn't screwed up by generalised gridlock and poor city planning, but ultimately the net result is it's a lot easier to navigate those places than it is to navigate in Dublin.

Small things could make things much easier, such as the OP's suggestion. It's what providing a public service entails.

You left my point out about the googlemaps bit there 'prior planning prevents poor preformance' is all im saying, the smiley face was cause i thought i was a being clever you know yourself (obviously). I think its a good idea to look at a map if your going somewhere and not rely on a bus driver for directions this was in line with the posts prior to mine. The system is not there so you could prepare if possible beforehand thats all FYI i didnt once say they were'nt a good idea i agree electronic signs are a great idea, but if all else fails ya know i was suggesting an alternative thats all.

oh and ahem i hope that flu of yours clears up it is going around is'nt it?, id sugest honey and lemon ahem ahem

BuffyBot · 04-01-2008 12:04am

Announcements do get VERY tiring when you've to deal with them day in, day out. Display signs, however, can be very useful.

Why don't Irish buses announce their stops?

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