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Dublin Bus Complaints

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  • 19-12-2008 8:08pm
    #1
    PDD
    Registered Users Posts: 1,019 ✭✭✭


    Hi Folks,

    I know its a little naive but what is the most effective way to complain to Dublin Bus and get an actual response from them regarding a situation or circumstances? I've just spent 50mins waiting for 2 timetabled buses (according to Dublin Bus website) that never arrived while 5 buses passed in the opposite direction on the route 2 of which were due to finish at the local terminus (presumably the two that were timetabled). I've tried phone calls and writing letters in the past but all failed to get any kind of response.

    Surely as a semi-public body they must have some kind internal complaints procedure or even better a regulator body. Has anyone ever actually managed to successfully complain to Dublin Bus to get an apology or explanation from them?

    Dave


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    #2
    bazzer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 362 ✭✭bazzer


    Have you realised that this was the last Friday before Christmas? I'd imagine all timetables went to pot for much of the evening. O'Connell Street came to a virtual standstill after 6pm.

    The reason? No bus priority to speak of in the city centre.

    It's just not possible for Dublin Bus to operate 100 percent of services.


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    #3
    Time Magazine
    Registered Users Posts: 8,452 ✭✭✭Time Magazine


    bazzer wrote: »
    It's just not possible for Dublin Bus to operate 100 percent of services.

    They seem to prefer to operate at 50% the whole year.

    OP, I believe they can be helpful if you contact their head office as long as you just want to be fobbed off with a nice letter. Try and actually change something, and you'll run up against a brick wall.

    Or, in my case, they'll just never write back to you. And when you get a TD to ask a Parliamentary Question on the matter, the data will be private. And when the European Commission investigate, they'll be ignored too.


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    #4
    _Kaiser_
    Registered Users Posts: 28,717 ✭✭✭✭_Kaiser_


    I wouldn't bother wasting my time OP...

    I once waited over an hour on a 39 (supposedly every 7 mins) while 14 - yes 14!! - passed in the opposite direction. Rang the depot but no help there ("the controller is out on the road and can't be reached" was a common excuse).

    Plenty more examples of buses (various routes) and trains/DARTs not showing ("leaves on the line" was my favorite :rolleyes:), or leaving early/late - all met by a totally disinterested response whenever I queried it.

    Bought a car as soon as I could afford it and I can't remember the last time I was on a bus! Life is too short for that, and I love my 2L TDI Passat too much to bother with public transport ever again if I can help it. :)

    Said this before, but CIE should try some honest slogans, like: Dublin Bus/IE/Bus Eireann - The choice for those with no alternative! cause that's certainly how they're run most of the time!


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    #5
    dfx-
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 15,665 Mod ✭✭✭✭dfx-


    PDD wrote: »
    Surely as a semi-public body they must have some kind internal complaints procedure or even better a regulator body. Has anyone ever actually managed to successfully complain to Dublin Bus to get an apology or explanation from them?

    Probably not, because drivers/maintenance/administration/chairman/tea lady would threaten to go on strike if you had success


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    #6
    RayM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,973 ✭✭✭RayM


    I once complained about an incident on a Dublin Bus, and received a satisfactory response/apology within a matter of days. The incident involved a particularly ignorant and uncommunicative driver leaving a load of very pissed-off passengers standing beside his bus in the rain at an unsheltered terminus for ten minutes, while a ticket machine was being replaced. The response more or less agreed that it was a bit out of order, and stated that the driver had been "advised by his Operations Manager to use a bit of common sense in such situations in future".

    As far as I know, if you make a complaint to DB via email, they will respond (provided you resist the temptation to launch into a rant, obviously).


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    #7
    Chris_533976
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,082 ✭✭✭Chris_533976


    RayM wrote: »
    "advised by his Operations Manager to use a bit of common sense in such situations in future".

    icon_biggrin.gif


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    #8
    Lizzykins
    Closed Accounts Posts: 637 ✭✭✭Lizzykins


    I've found an email complaint to get the best response. I spent much of 2007 emailing Dublin Bus over the terrible service on the 15 route. Timetabled buses not showing etc. While I never ranted, the tone of despair must have pushed some buttons in O'Connell Street and in Sept 2007 the timtable was revised. I have to say that since then I haven't had one single problem with the bus. I emailed my thanks and appreciation and got a nice response.


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    #9
    bricks
    Registered Users Posts: 443 ✭✭bricks


    Usually the number is on the bottom of the timetable.
    They can then tell you where the bus is.
    And if the driver is genuinly acting the maggot then you've droped him/her right in it.
    But most of the time they are probably just stuck in city centre traffic.


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    #10
    Corruptedmorals
    Registered Users Posts: 4,194 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    It's better this year than last year. Yesterday my 14:25 bus actually arrived and got me into town at 4, it was late and slow but hey. Last year, the exact same Friday, not only did it not show and it was only starting from up the road, neither did the 14:30 from Maynooth, the 14:45 from Captain's Hill, the 15:05 from Maynooth the 15:25 from Castletown and a few others. I eventually got I think the half 4 from Maynooth which arrived at 5 and got me into town at a quarter to 7, when my shift had started at 5. Much more relaible this year, Christmas is a lot less frantic.


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    #11
    Elessar
    Registered Users Posts: 5,239 ✭✭✭Elessar


    I complained to Dublin Bus back in 2006 regarding a bus I was on coming home from work that was choking me to death with exhaust fumes, despite windows being open. I got a call from a manager in DB and he appologised and said the garage had been informed and will look into it. Considering I had mentioned a possible leak and the carcinogenic nature of exhaust fumes, I have no reason to believe it was not looked into.

    The initial complaint was through email on their website.


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    #12
    meanmachine3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 551 ✭✭✭meanmachine3


    just wondering if anyone happened to get a 39 to the blanch s.c. yesterday (sunday). i heard from drivers i kno on that route that it took nearly 2 hours to get from town to ongar and one told me it took over an hour to get from ongar to lidl on the loop. these guys only have about 1 hour 15 mins to do that run from town to ongar. so if my calculations are correct some of the locals out there were waiting between 45mins to an hour for a bus that supposed to run every 10-15 mins. so can someone please tell me what D.B. are supposed to do. wave a magic wand? and suddenly make a 100 buses appear. in case some of you dont know theres a christmas rush on. a very annoying thing out there called traffic does exist and and can cause severe delays and road rage. so if you want to complain ,complain to your local T.D.'s
    as to why theres no legislation to get public transport moving 7 days a week.


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    #13
    bazzer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 362 ✭✭bazzer


    The major problems with the 39 are:

    - The route covers too wide an area.
    - Blanchardstown Village is nearly always choked with traffic.
    - Bus lanes in Blanchardstown Centre are routinely abused by motorists.
    - There are not nearly enough bus lanes in Blanchardstown as a whole.
    - Running times are hopelessly inadequate.

    There was a plan to radically re-organise the route, but it all fell apart at the first hurdle when the Department of Transport (all hail) refused to give Dublin Bus permission to extend the Route 37 into the Centre. This would have forced Dublin Bus to change the status of the 37 from a public service route into a purely commercial one and given the current economic climate, there is no way Dublin Bus can do that.


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    #14
    Gauge
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,818 ✭✭✭Gauge


    I complained to Dublin Bus a few months ago after I waited for a bus from 10.55pm to midnight (the last one was at 11.30pm and they were supposed to leave every 10-15 minutes before that). Two passed but didn't stop, and I had to get a taxi. I didn't get a receipt from the taxi as I didn't actually expect anything to come of my complaint, but it turns out that if I did have a receipt they would have been willing to reimburse me (they sent a €17 bus ticket instead- same thing really). Took about 3 weeks to get a response.


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    #15
    MOH
    Registered Users Posts: 6,464 ✭✭✭MOH


    meanmachine3 wrote: »
    just wondering if anyone happened to get a 39 to the blanch s.c. yesterday (sunday). i heard from drivers i kno on that route that it took nearly 2 hours to get from town to ongar and one told me it took over an hour to get from ongar to lidl on the loop. these guys only have about 1 hour 15 mins to do that run from town to ongar. so if my calculations are correct some of the locals out there were waiting between 45mins to an hour for a bus that supposed to run every 10-15 mins. so can someone please tell me what D.B. are supposed to do. wave a magic wand? and suddenly make a 100 buses appear. in case some of you dont know theres a christmas rush on. a very annoying thing out there called traffic does exist and and can cause severe delays and road rage. so if you want to complain ,complain to your local T.D.'s
    as to why theres no legislation to get public transport moving 7 days a week.


    Surely this Christmas rush isn't unforeseen though? Would it kill DB to at least warn passengers that services might be subject to severe delays?


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    #16
    meanmachine3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 551 ✭✭✭meanmachine3


    MOH wrote: »
    Surely this Christmas rush isn't unforeseen though? Would it kill DB to at least warn passengers that services might be subject to severe delays?

    where do you start the warning. tell everyone in hawkins street that theres going to be delays ,what about dame street which can be alot busier but doesn't have any inspectors then what about every stop in and out of town on that route alone. it's an impossible task. again today talking to a few drivers they were saying it was taking over 2.5 hrs to get from ongar to hawkins street and this was at lunch time. theres normally just one inspector there looking after about 30+ buses. and this is just one of hundreds of routes and termini affected by delays during this christmas period. i'm sure the locals out there know about the delays on the 39's (going slightly of the topic now )as well as the killings trying firstly to get into the S.C. then trying to get parking in the S.C. i was actually going the start a thread about shopping centre car parks and why people dont know what a "no-entry" sign is.:mad: i've seen people driving down these and nearly crashing with the car that is entitled to be there. it's recently happened to myself. i know some might say that S.C. carparks have no legal status.
    bazzer wrote:
    Bus lanes in Blanchardstown Centre are routinely abused by motorists.
    on the contrary these lanes are not being abused one bit because the ones in the S.C. are not legal.


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    #17
    bazzer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 362 ✭✭bazzer


    meanmachine3 wrote: »
    on the contrary these lanes are not being abused one bit because the ones in the S.C. are not legal.

    Then why did the Centre go to the bother of installing them?


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    #18
    Ste.phen
    Registered Users Posts: 2,808 ✭✭✭Ste.phen


    bazzer wrote: »
    Then why did the Centre go to the bother of installing them?
    So people would assume they were and respect them?


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    #19
    PDD
    Registered Users Posts: 1,019 ✭✭✭PDD


    Hi Folks,

    Sorry about the late reply its been a busy Christmas :-) I emailed Dublin Bus last week but as of yet no reply.

    Its a shame that it seems there is just no way to affect any kind of change for such an incumbent and in many ways ineffective organization. Hopefully with this economic downturn they might be squeezed to the point of some innovation and possibly some added pressure when Mortons win their case.

    Dave


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    #20
    skywalker_208
    Registered Users Posts: 1,350 ✭✭✭skywalker_208


    Kaiser2000 wrote: »
    too much to bother with public transport ever again if I can help it. :)

    +1 :)


This discussion has been closed.
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