Bus Éireann Timetables

Victor_Meldrew

According to Bus Eireann's timetable, the Route 020 Dublin - Galway service takes between 3 hrs 30 mins and 3 hrs 45 mins. In reality, having travelled on that service several times, it has never taken anything less than 4hrs and normally takes at least 4 hrs 30 mins. Even late at night, with no traffic, few stops and a fast driver, it takes well over the stated time. I presume other long-haul timetables are equally inaccurate. Why can't Bus Eireann just be honest with their passengers?

Metrobest

Victor_Meldrew wrote:

According to Bus Eireann's timetable, the Route 020 Dublin - Galway service takes between 3 hrs 30 mins and 3 hrs 45 mins. In reality, having travelled on that service several times, it has never taken anything less than 4hrs and normally takes at least 4 hrs 30 mins. Even late at night, with no traffic, few stops and a fast driver, it takes well over the stated time. I presume other long-haul timetables are equally inaccurate. Why can't Bus Eireann just be honest with their passengers?

And another thing: why do all the buses leave 'on the hour' - eg. at 5pm seven buses depart in a convoy. Not only does this clog up the parking bays, it delays the services needlessly. Eg. The Galway bus at 5pm is always oversubscribed - but the second bus cannot park next to it because the 8.15pm bus to Leeds is waiting in the next bay.. Madness. Could they not put on a bus at 5.20 and 5.40? There are obvisouly always going to more than 50 people for the 5pm bus.. Begs the question: Who pays these bozos who manage Busaras? Answer: the taxpayers!

John R

Victor_Meldrew wrote:

According to Bus Eireann's timetable, the Route 020 Dublin - Galway service takes between 3 hrs 30 mins and 3 hrs 45 mins. In reality, having travelled on that service several times, it has never taken anything less than 4hrs and normally takes at least 4 hrs 30 mins. Even late at night, with no traffic, few stops and a fast driver, it takes well over the stated time. I presume other long-haul timetables are equally inaccurate. Why can't Bus Eireann just be honest with their passengers?

Without traffic hold-ups 3h40 is a reasonable time.

Before the traffic in regional towns became a big problem all the BE timetables were very accurate. I used to travel across the country and it was a very rare occourence to arrive late on any route.

The current traffic situation causes havoc with all long distance operators, none of the other Dublin - Galway operators provide more accurate timetables and unlike Bus Eireann they are free to alter their times as much as they like without having to apply to the DoT for approval which can take an indeterminate length of time.


The Dublin - Galway route is a particularly difficult one to change as it has been the subject of several court cases between BE and private operators.

cdebru

Metrobest wrote:

And another thing: why do all the buses leave 'on the hour' - eg. at 5pm seven buses depart in a convoy. Not only does this clog up the parking bays, it delays the services needlessly. Eg. The Galway bus at 5pm is always oversubscribed - but the second bus cannot park next to it because the 8.15pm bus to Leeds is waiting in the next bay.. Madness. Could they not put on a bus at 5.20 and 5.40? There are obvisouly always going to more than 50 people for the 5pm bus.. Begs the question: Who pays these bozos who manage Busaras? Answer: the taxpayers!

its just that busaras is not big enough for the number of buses using it

Metrobest

cdebru wrote:

its just that busaras is not big enough for the number of buses using it

False. It's simply a matter of bad management. At 6pm a bus leaves for Galway from bay 6. Beside it, at bay 7, the next bus scheduled to depart is the 20.15 service to Leeds. After the Galway bus leaves at 6pm the next bus from that bay is the 7pm to Galway. AFAIK, that bay is only used for the Galway buses, which depart every hour. So what happens at that bay in the other 58 minutes when it could be relieving congestion at the other bays, or perhaps a Galway service departing on the half hour at peak times? The letters S,F and A spring to mind.

Traffic

I have to say I am amazed at the operation in Busaras: the throughput of ppl and buses in such a cramped environment.

What we badly need is a new bigger central bus station with all provincial services both private and BE feeding into

Metrobest

Traffic wrote:

I have to say I am amazed at the operation in Busaras: the throughput of ppl and buses in such a cramped environment.

What we badly need is a new bigger central bus station with all provincial services both private and BE feeding into

The reason it's cramped is bad management. The Eurolines terminal in Amsterdam is even smaller, yet it's never squashy. Go figure.

dmeehan

Traffic wrote:

I have to say I am amazed at the operation in Busaras: the throughput of ppl and buses in such a cramped environment.

What we badly need is a new bigger central bus station with all provincial services both private and BE feeding into

where to put it though?

Stark

Got the Dublin - Cork one day, said 4 hours on the timetable, took me 6 hours, god that was hell

enterprise

Stark wrote:

Got the Dublin - Cork one day, said 4 hours on the timetable, took me 6 hours, god that was hell

Take the train! Average journey is 2hrs 40mins.

Victor_Meldrew

and the price is....