What can be done about Bus Éireann?

eth0_

This company is an absolute JOKE.
I was feeling hungover this morning, so, rather than walk 20 minutes to the train as normal I thought i'd treat myself and get the Drogheda->Dublin bus at the end of my road.
I went out for the 6.45am bus, there were three people waiting there for the _half past six_ express bus which hadn't shown. Finally a bus showed up at 7.15am, he was the 6.45am bus but he must have slept in if he was that late (the depot he started from is a five minute drive from the bus stop I was at).

One of the guys who was waiting at the stop got on and asked him what was going on, where was the express bus, the driver just said 'he's behind me' and the man got off. The driver then said to me 'Jesus, he's in a fierce mad mood!' and I replied 'Well I can't say I blame him, he's late for work because no bus has shown up and i'm late for work now as well'. The bus drivers reply? 'Sure I was late for work too, hahaha!'. He didn't seem to understand what I meant when I explained that when I am late for work I don't in turn make about fifty other people (passengers) late as well!

Every time i've gone for a bus eireann bus the past few months they've been atrociously late. Often they don't show up at all (buses every 15 minutes from bus aras between 4-6pm? My arse!)!

Bus eireann are also incapable of changing their routes to suit the traffic. For instance, they never take the motor way at the airport into town, preferring to go via Santry and Drumcondra. There are barely any express buses to Dublin. Another personal gripe of mine with the Drogheda bus is the fact it picks up people within the Dublin county area, areas which are served by Dublin Bus. Specifically I mean Balbriggan and Balrothery. These areas are real traffic bottlenecks in the rush hour and there is a bypass which is never used. I don't see why Dublin Bus don't take issue with Bus Eireann taking their passengers as there is already a frequent bus service from Balbriggan to the city centre and has been for as long as I can remember.

There is just no comparison with their sister company Irish Rail. Trains run on time 99% of the time, they're fast, they're clean and the staff aren't cheeky f*ckwits.

Post your personal gripes here as I am writing a letter of complaint to the head of Bus Eireann and would like to link to this thread. Bus eireann - the Eircom of the roads!

Agent Smith

i have the solution!
petrol + lighter + bus station = soulution!

nah bus's piss em off now. took an hour for a 46a bus to get to town for foxrock on satarday, 5 mile journey.... i could have walked it in less.....

eth0_

Having experienced Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann, I can definitely say BE are 100 times worse than Dublin Bus.

It's rare on a weekday at rush hour to be waiting long on a DB bus, I found it was mostly on a Sunday that buses didn't show up or were excessively late.

John R

Bus Eireann are not allowed to operate an express via the M1, they have to operate all services through the old routing. They had an application to improve the Drogheda - Dublin service to 20mins frequency all day and 40 mns frequency to Dundalk operated by new double deckers but the Department of Transport turned them down. They then gave a licence to another operator to run peak only express services from Drogheda via the M1.

The Dublin Bus 33 from Balbriggan takes a different route than the Drogheda bus.

From the Airport into the city the motorway is not necessarily quicker than the Santry road because of the port tunnel works.

eth0_

Originally posted by John R
Bus Eireann are not allowed to operate an express via the M1

Eh? The last few times I caught the express it went down the motorway at the airport roundabout. I'm not sure if this is the M1 - i'm not a driver :-)

Why can't they alter their route? I mean God forbid they run to a timetable, which they might be able to do if they were bypassing all the bottlenecks on the traditional route?

John R

I was referring to the new section of motorway from the Airport to Drogheda.

They can alter a route only if given approval by the DoT, as I said a private operator applied to run via the M1 so in the spirit of their pro-privitisation stance the DoT favoured them over BE regardless of how it affected the public.

Slice

Yea, the Dundalk service to Dublin is a joke, it's frequent enough but it takes two hours to get to Dublin when it only takes one hour on the train and less on the motorway. and it stops everywhere, even the express bus seems to stop all over the place.

It seems to defy logic that the department of transport should reject proposals to improve the service. One of the great benifits of the M1 is being overlooked for public transport uses in this instance.

I have greater issues with Bus Eireann, Busarus could be so nice but instead it's a filthy dump and their fleet isn't much better with most busses being rickety and old except on the main routes. What's more the leg room on the busses aren't meant for long journeys since they prove to be so uncomfortable - you'd need to be very short to be able to travel comfortable with Bus Eireann. Their staff, although friendly, are just too laid back and have no concern for efficiency at all.