Dublin Bus after 5pm in Santry nor service

AlekSmart wrote:

The other aspect is that for simplicity and ease of operation a Flat Fare regieme would be almost a pre-requisite

As I have posted here before, a flat rate is the only workable way to run the bus service when smart card comes in. Tagging out to get the stage or zone applied is a dreadful prospect, it will cause as much time wastage as the current cash fumbling.

Flat fare is the only situation where street ticket machines could be made workable given the reticence of the Irish public to use any time saving equipment. Just witness the queues at ticket offices in rail stations and particularly Busaras where there are unused ticket machines right beside. Busaras is particularly amusing; watching a massive roped-off queue slowly shuffling right past the lightly used ticket machine always confirms my low opinion of the Irish public everytime I am there.

To make it of any value there would need to be areas of pay before boarding only; the city centre for one and other heavy traffic areas such as shopping centres. Without it being compulsory the very same 20% of time-wasting cash fumblers will still insist on boarding the bus and causing needless delays and any benefit from the other people changing from quick cash payments to on-street payment will have little effect on dwell times.

Of course the ugly face of our patently anti-bus city leadership would be a big problem in this again. The complete ban on any bus shelters along O'Connell Street doesn't bode well for any attempt to provide adequate on-street ticketing and of all streets that is the one of the locations that needs it most.

shltter wrote:

The Parnell Square situation is made worse because it is the handing over area if some of the routes had a different handing over area it might make the situation a little better

Parnell Square (west) seems very wide to me. Wide enough put in perhaps one car lane (on the right), and splitting the rest into two bus lanes with an island in the middle. Buses terminating and laying over could use the left lane with cross city buses using the middle lane. Of course this too would require the removal of the parking

O Connell St is the centre of the city and it is not surprising that people want to go there or that DB takes people there

I could be wrong but I think that's slightly blinkered thinking. Lots of people go to OCS because its a) easier to change to another bus there and b) the easiest way to walk to the south city from the northside.

Look at the Routings for the LUAS for example the decision to stop one of the Luas lines up in Stephens Green has been lambasted and the new Airport route will run under O Connell St.

Because people looking to change from the green line to the red line or to the bus network have no simple interchange. People coming in from Sandyford and wanting to get to Santry have to walk from Stephens Green to the north end of OCS. How many commuters on the green line actually work in OCS compared to the number who get buses to continue their journey?

MiniD wrote:

The other problem which exists here is the amount of cars on the road and no priority for buses. I sometimes think we need a London style congestion charge for Dublin at peak hours.

The wonderful people in DCC have said that a congestion charge is not on the books for another few years. More agressive bus priority measures would be a start. Hell even making the existing bus lanes work propely would be a start. It's amazing to see right across the city the places where only a half hearted measure has been done. The in-set bus stops on Ardlea Road are a joke, not least because they're exactly the same length as the buses that serve them. No parking enforcement, no real road closures for bus only roads *sigh*