New Dublin Bus GT Class

bk · 09-09-2012 11:00am

It is a real pity they went for these type of RTPI screens, rather then LCD type you see in Amaterdam.

The LCD type show the next 4 upcoming stops, guving passnegers plenty of time to prepare for thier stop, which would have eliminated the issue of the English place name appearing too late.

the groutch · 09-09-2012 7:24pm

- less seats downstairs for the elderly/disabled
- very narrow stairwell & a pointless camera at the bottom of the stairs
- the sign upstairs is a waste, as alot of the stop names don't really tell you anything, the main people who would use it are tourists who are looking for landmarks/hotels, not road names. and it's in Irish for at least half the time, making them hard to use.
- the middle doors MIGHT save a bit of time during peak, but people will try use the middle doors. when using it for the first time today, there was such a delay in the middle door opening that I ended up sprinting to the front door instead to get off before anyone else got on. it will also lead to higher fare evasion.

all in all there's been alot of money wasted (which should have been used to keep fares down), and has if anything disimproved the service.

dfx- · 10-09-2012 1:10am

etchyed wrote: »

Sorry, when bus enthusiasts talk like this, I really don't understand it. Not trying to be snippy; I genuinely don't understand. Why do you prefer an AV? What's inimitable about it?

Everyone has their favourites...usually the older buses. Lots of people think the AVs are poorly built, less power and prefer the older Olympians which have more power or the Wright buses like this GT and the VG before it. Some like or dislike the KCs and KDs, Ds etc for various reasons including sentimentality - maybe a particular bus type served their area in school or served it until the very end etc. Personal preference.

LordSutch · 10-09-2012 2:41pm

I remember well well those Bombardier buses first made an appearence in Dublin (back in the late 70s I think)?
Wow I thought they were really cool, with their high revving automatic gearboxes

)

starviewadams · 10-09-2012 3:21pm

Used to love the old single decker VA and AD classes,remember when they were first brought in on the 78a and 25a back in the mid 90's.They seemed much faster and cleaner then the old KD and RH's they replaced.

dublinman1990 · 10-09-2012 3:42pm

Here is a short video showing a GT moving along O'Connell Bridge on the 7 towards Mountjoy Square.

It is a bit long because it shows two VG's in it as well.

Run_to_da_hills · 11-09-2012 5:22pm

This dose not look good, :eek:

schemingbohemia · 11-09-2012 5:33pm

Yeah 1 bus breaks down, the whole thing is a shambles, waste of money blah blah blah

joegriffinjnr · 11-09-2012 9:07pm

Yeah 1 bus breaks down, the whole thing is a shambles, waste of money blah blah blah

Ah come on now, there only in service about a week. If I bought a new car today and it had some sort of failure next week, I would be asking questions.

dublinman1990 · 11-09-2012 10:05pm

That estate agents in the photo looks familiar.

Did that bus broke down at George Street in Dun Laoghaire?

Run_to_da_hills · 11-09-2012 11:07pm

dublinman1990 wrote: »

That estate agents in the photo looks familiar.

Did that bus broke down at George Street in Dun Laoghaire?

Yep, outside Argus.

starviewadams · 11-09-2012 11:46pm

Didn't one of the first Bombardiers off the production line in Shannon back in the early 80's break down just as it was leaving the factory for a press call with the Minister for Transport?they had to use a tractor unit to push it out the factory door to the awaiting press.

At least the GT made it a bit further!

schemingbohemia · 12-09-2012 10:37am

I was on one of these for the first time yesterday - a 7D - not best pleased with it running 20 minutes late, but.

Found the bus comfortable, thought the LCD for the stops good but seemed to show the irish version for longer than the english version but both showed up in enough time to let you know where you were - if you were sitting where i was, if not the muppet standing in the wheelchair bay would have blocked your view!

Bad things - no-one using the middle doors apart from 1 guy! The Drivers need to get on top of this asap and tell people to get off at the middle doors instead of the front, and refuse them if needs be. There should also be audio announcements telling people to exit by the middle doors, the visual announcement is too infrequent. Once people have had their heads done in with an audio announcement every 5 minutes, they'll soon cop on.

Losty Dublin · 12-09-2012 11:27am

joegriffinjnr wrote: »

Ah come on now, there only in service about a week. If I bought a new car today and it had some sort of failure next week, I would be asking questions.

Do you know why it was declared failed? There are many non mechanical reasons that can halt buses.

Bradidup · 12-09-2012 4:32pm

schemingbohemia wrote: »

Yeah 1 bus breaks down, the whole thing is a shambles, waste of money blah blah blah

If I spent €900,000 on a new bus I would not expect this to happen.

KD345 · 12-09-2012 5:09pm

Bradidup wrote: »

If I spent €900,000 on a new bus I would not expect this to happen.

You wouldn't expect what to happen? Do you actually know what the nature of the breakdown was?

miller50841 · 12-09-2012 5:30pm

KD345 wrote: »

You wouldn't expect what to happen? Do you actually know what the nature of the breakdown was?

Bus cost around €300,000 to €350,000. where did €900,000 come out of

This happens a lot with new buses as electronics can give trouble for the first while ABS trouble, doors not opening closing, door brake fault, sensor fault, indicator fault, wiring loom problem, battery problem, ecu fault.
There are endless faults that could occur.

dfx- · 12-09-2012 6:00pm

Was also on my first of these yesterday, was hoping for an AV..

GT3, no annoying call out of the stops. It seems smoother to accelerate than a VG or EV. Filled very quickly though and this was late off-peak service, seats are fine. I can't imagine how they cope with the peak services.

Asked the driver whether to get off in the middle or front, driver said the front. The middle is for emergencies..

miller50841 · 12-09-2012 6:26pm

dfx- wrote: »

Was also on my first of these yesterday, was hoping for an AV..

GT3, no annoying call out of the stops. It seems smoother to accelerate than a VG or EV. Filled very quickly though and this was late off-peak service, seats are fine. I can't imagine how they cope with the peak services.

Asked the driver whether to get off in the middle or front, driver said the front. The middle is for emergencies..

Middle door is an emergency door but they are on all buses with 2 or 3 doors but it is ment to be used most of the time as it will speed the service up a bit.
Some drivers wont use it all the time but dont worry they will see it will mean they finish quicker so think it will dont see what the big deal is though sure its a door just like the front one and as posted before loads wont pay or pay the right fare as the driver wont notice them.

Run_to_da_hills · 12-09-2012 6:52pm

miller50841 wrote: »

Bus cost around €300,000 to €350,000. where did €900,000 come out of

Probably when you add up the surveylance devices and extras.

These buses have HD rear traffic traffic cams.

miller50841 · 12-09-2012 7:01pm

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Probably when you add up the surveylance devices and extras.

These buses have HD rear traffic traffic cams.

Sure db ask for a bus that is very low spec and missing loads also the old shape so costs would be down a lot the camera systems would not be very expensive as bought in bulk and have got a lot cheaper than years ago.

Rock of Gibraltar · 12-09-2012 7:14pm

dfx- wrote: »

Was also on my first of these yesterday, was hoping for an AV..

GT3, no annoying call out of the stops. It seems smoother to accelerate than a VG or EV. Filled very quickly though and this was late off-peak service, seats are fine. I can't imagine how they cope with the peak services.

Asked the driver whether to get off in the middle or front, driver said the front. The middle is for emergencies..

It seems very retrograde to have a middle door that's not passenger operated, Dutch buses have a button which the passenger presses when he or she wants to alight at the stop. The button is automatically disengaged when the bus is in motion.
A leap card reader should be also be placed by that door so you can have tag-on tag-off, the rails by the doors already have the necessary wiring in place.

I don't buy this argument that non fare payers will hop on at the middle doors without paying without the driver noticing. I'm willing to bet that every other country in the world which uses buses uses more than one door, what makes Dubliners so special that makes them incapable of using these buses properly?

Mr Simpson · 12-09-2012 7:21pm

miller50841 wrote: »

Middle door is an emergency door but they are on all buses with 2 or 3 doors but it is ment to be used most of the time as it will speed the service up a bit.

They may be used as an emergency exit, but their PRIMARY role is to speed up dwell times at bus stops.

miller50841 · 12-09-2012 7:35pm

mmcn90 wrote: »

They may be used as an emergency exit, but their PRIMARY role is to speed up dwell times at bus stops.

That was my point thats what I was saying

miller50841 · 12-09-2012 7:41pm

Rock of Gibraltar wrote: »

It seems very retrograde to have a middle door that's not passenger operated, Dutch buses have a button which the passenger presses when he or she wants to alight at the stop. The button is automatically disengaged when the bus is in motion.
A leap card reader should be also be placed by that door so you can have tag-on tag-off, the rails by the doors already have the necessary wiring in place.

I don't buy this argument that non fare payers will hop on at the middle doors without paying without the driver noticing. I'm willing to bet that every other country in the world which uses buses uses more than one door, what makes Dubliners so special that makes them incapable of using these buses properly?

You dont use the bus much so cause there is a huge problem with fare dodging people just walk on pretend to swipe their smart card and lots dont seem to notice you place the card to the face of the machine loads do be swiping it back and forth fast then walk on even when it doesnt work.
Lots don't pay the correct fare for their destination and have noticed some drivers ask and some get very argumentative as to why would I tell you and so on

devnull · 12-09-2012 7:47pm

miller50841 wrote: »

Lots don't pay the correct fare for their destination and have noticed some drivers ask and some get very argumentative as to why would I tell you and so on

That is more down to the fare system though.

If you have a flat fare it becomes impossible to underpay.

devnull · 12-09-2012 7:53pm

miller50841 wrote: »

You dont use the bus much so cause there is a huge problem with fare dodging people just walk on pretend to swipe their smart card and lots dont seem to notice you place the card to the face of the machine loads do be swiping it back and forth fast then walk on even when it doesnt work.

The fact is though at the end of the day there are very few inspections on the buses therefore people tend to try and pull off such things as they know the chance of having their ticket checked is virtually zero. And in any case, on the rare chance they do get fined the €100 the fine is nothing compared to the money they save over the course of the year.

If you increase the fine to something like €250 and step up the number of on bus inspections then it makes evading fares much less attractive and being able to benefit from it.

miller50841 · 12-09-2012 7:53pm

devnull wrote: »

That is more down to the fare system though.

If you have a flat fare it becomes impossible to underpay.

This is Ireland people complain that €1 is expensive so dont think someone is going to pay over €2 to go a few stops

Rock of Gibraltar · 12-09-2012 8:09pm

miller50841 wrote: »

You dont use the bus much so cause there is a huge problem with fare dodging people just walk on pretend to swipe their smart card and lots dont seem to notice you place the card to the face of the machine loads do be swiping it back and forth fast then walk on even when it doesnt work.
Lots don't pay the correct fare for their destination and have noticed some drivers ask and some get very argumentative as to why would I tell you and so on

There is a very simple way of eliminating that kind of fare dodging, all passengers enter through the front door by the driver and all exit through the middle door.
Introduce either tag-on tag-off or a flat fare with all tickets RFID, make cash fares a flat €3.
It is easily within the wit of any driver to close the middle door when passengers have alighted and also make sure everyone tags on.

LordSutch · 13-09-2012 7:43pm

Rock of Gibraltar wrote: »

There is a very simple way of eliminating that kind of fare dodging, all passengers enter through the front door by the driver and all exit through the middle door.
Introduce either tag-on tag-off or a flat fare with all tickets RFID, make cash fares a flat €3.
It is easily within the wit of any driver to close the middle door when passengers have alighted and also make sure everyone tags on.

And just to add to these ideas, why not have a pair of 'One way' turnstile bars on the middle doors, rather like the ones on the Dart ticket machines wherby you can only go one way, and in this case EXIT - That would solve it.

Hard to believe that the Middle door issue on CIE/Dublin Bus is still going on, after several decades.

New Dublin Bus GT Class

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