fcuking dublin bus!

LegacyUser

this is the second time the feckin 17A has made me miss footie practice!

waiting at bus stop for 20 min last night, no sign of bus. this was at 19.40, so it can't be blamed on trafic, fcuking muppets.

at least when the darts late, it's displayed.

_Kaiser_

stp wrote:

this is the second time the feckin 17A has made me miss footie practice!

waiting at bus stop for 20 min last night, no sign of bus. this was at 19.40, so it can't be blamed on trafic, fcuking muppets.

at least when the darts late, it's displayed.

The 17A (and a lot of other routes) has been unreliable since I got it to school as a kid Your best bet is to ring Harristown depot (703 1103) but, as usual with Dublin Bus's shower of incompetent and ignorant staff, don't expect much beyond the usual "traffic" or "yea that bus didn't run" statements :mad:

markpb

Dunno if it happens where you live, but at the bus stops around me there are two 17A timetables: one on the pole (the wrong one) and one in the bus stop (the right one). I know I've waited for ages because of that

LegacyUser

markpb wrote:

Dunno if it happens where you live, but at the bus stops around me there are two 17A timetables: one on the pole (the wrong one) and one in the bus stop (the right one). I know I've waited for ages because of that

the one i'm using is right, as in it's the same one on at the stop, that's on the web.

i just find it ridiculus, that a bus can be over 20 min late, and they still have the nerve to put fares up!

LegacyUser

Kaiser2000 wrote:

The 17A (and a lot of other routes) has been unreliable since I got it to school as a kid Your best bet is to ring Harristown depot (703 1103) but, as usual with Dublin Bus's shower of incompetent and ignorant staff, don't expect much beyond the usual "traffic" or "yea that bus didn't run" statements :mad:

thanks for the number, but i sent an email to dublin bus, i expect usual crappy excuse, better than talking to some dumb muppet in the depot.

markpb

stp wrote:

i just find it ridiculus, that a bus can be over 20 min late, and they still have the nerve to put fares up!

Totally agree, it can be grand one day and utterly crap the next. Dublin just doesn't work if you're not driving into or out of the city centre. Moving sideways wasn't part of the plan at all and the complete lack of bus lanes or bus priority junctions on that route completely cripples it.

Berkel

No excuse I know, but maybe the staff in DB are ignorant becuase they know it is traffic that causes most of their problems! I am sure they are as fed up as regular bus users!!

markpb

Berkel wrote:

No excuse I know, but maybe the staff in DB are ignorant becuase they know it is traffic that causes most of their problems! I am sure they are as fed up as regular bus users!!

Personally I blame the DoT and Minister for Transport for not doing anything. There are lots of things that can be done about the traffic, starting with proper bus lanes but a lack of political will seems to be preventing it.

Stark

stp wrote:

i just find it ridiculus, that a bus can be over 20 min late

Many passengers would be delighted if that was the longest they were waiting, not saying that it's alright. I so agree with that Dart thing, there's been many a time when I spent ages waiting for a bus and by the time the bus came, I would have been quicker walking or better off getting a taxi. You're just standing there thinking the whole time "Well I've been waiting so long, if I walk off now, the bus is bound to come". Dublin Bus were talking about a project a while back that would let you see how long it would be until your next bus. Not sure what happened to it.

markpb

Stark wrote:

Many passengers would be delighted if that was the longest they were waiting, not saying that it's alright.

17A end to end is a relatively short bus route so a 20 minute delay is probably worse than a 40/60 minute delay on a longer route like the 33.

Stark wrote:

Dublin Bus were talking about a project a while back that would let you see how long it would be until your next bus. Not sure what happened to it.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/projects/real_time_passenger_information_system.asp

It's still happening but a (complete) lack of funding from the government crippled it. 2011 is now the expected date.

MiniD

You did right to complain, and you should follow it up. I suspect the 17A suffers the same problems as the 18 and 75, where the route crosses so many major roads where the traffic light priority is for city bound traffic that it ends up being stuck at lights for ages and then runs late, resulting in buses missing their next departure time or indeed bunching, where you have 2 buses arriving at once.

Pop'n'Fresh

Many reason can effect a bus not showing or being drastically late.

1. Unlike the DART, the bus travels on the road which as you've mentioned is effected by things such as traffic. Whether you want to accept that fact or not it's up to you.

2. Sick Day. Bus drivers, just like everyone else, are human and prone to illness. Unfortunately when a driver calls in sick his route isn't always going to be filled. There are high traffic priority routes, which serve a large number of people, and they will always get the spare drivers before others.

3. Reliability. A fact of life is machinery is liable to break down without the slightest notification. It's not feisable to have all '06 buses on the roads so that's just not an option.

Just so you know I don't work, nor have I ever worked, for Dublin Bus or even CIE for that matter. I just get tired of people whining non stop over buses without actually thinking of all the factors that can influence buses staying on schedule.
If you're waiting on a bus to get somewhere at a certain time, call the depot to make sure it's running on time. They can radio the driver and it takes all of 2 minutes to do. I've called Donnybrook on numerous occasions and they have been more than helpful.
At least then if you find out there's a problem you can make other arrangements so you can make your appointment.

Quincy

I was getting the nitelink over Christmas & ye know the way you need to pay with the correct change or with a nitelink ticket, well this girl ahead of me put a 5 euro note into the change thing and the driver refused to accept it saying it wasnt the exact change and she needed to go and buy a ticket and come back. but she couldn't get her 5 euro back cause she had already put into the yoke. she pointed this out to him but he was adamant that she either go and buy a ticket or step off the bus. I stepped in and offered to put 3 euro in making up the 8 euro for the two of us (exact change & all that) but he just ignored me and asked the girl to step off the bus as she was holding everyone up! In the end she bought a ticket at the little yellow bus thats the ticket place and came back! so she ended up paying 9 euro to get home! I gave the driver a piece of my mind when i got off at my stop but he blanked me and gave me the finger when he pulled off! I get so f*ckin furious every time I think about it - aaggggghhhhh - miserable ignorant f*cker!

markpb

PopnFresh wrote:

the bus travels on the road which as you've mentioned is effected by things such as traffic. Whether you want to accept that fact or not it's up to you.

I know I'm getting like a broken record here but decent bus lanes go a long way to solving this problem. A decent RTIS would tell you whether its worth waiting 40 minutes for a no-show bus when walking/taxi would be faster. Neither of these are DBs fault but as a joe soap passenger, why should most people care?

PopnFresh wrote:

If you're waiting on a bus to get somewhere at a certain time, call the depot to make sure it's running on time. They can radio the driver and it takes all of 2 minutes to do. I've called Donnybrook on numerous occasions and they have been more than helpful.

Perhaps Donneybrook are a good example but Harristown depot is not. Staff there are almost without exception, completely unhelpful. If everyone who lived on an unreliable bus route rang the bus depots as soon as they got to the bus stop, the depots would quickly stop answering their phones. Or become even less helpful, if thats possible.

MiniD

this girl ahead of me put a 5 euro note into the change thing and the driver refused to accept it saying it wasnt the exact change and she needed to go and buy a ticket and come back.

I don't see what this has to do with the discussion of bus delays, but the driver was correct not to accept the note, there is signs all around the bus and bus stops reading 'coins only' - if a passenger decides to push a note into a coins only box then that is her problem and she has to accept that she may infact loose her note. The fact you offered to bump up the fare for both of you dosen't change the fact that you cannot pay your bus fare with a note.
Buying a Nitelink ticket in the city centre is very easy, those with notes can buy tickets in shops and from the minibus, and those with coins can pay the driver.

MorningStar

Quincy wrote:

I gave the driver a piece of my mind when i got off at my stop but he blanked me and gave me the finger when he pulled off! I get so f*ckin furious every time I think about it - aaggggghhhhh - miserable ignorant f*cker!

What a pointless waste of your time casuing the issue to be no better. What you should have done was get his details and then complain. If alcohol was involved I doubt people were very reasonable. Why did she put €5 in to the machine that only takes change (are there new ones that take notes?) if all she needed was to put in €4?

Dublin bus should have performance figure that the public can view eaily a daily report of what busese didn't run for example.

spunkymunky

Ive not had to many experience with late buses but like everybody i have fallen foul to DB and always when i have to be somewhere. Like Pop'n'fresh says there are valid reasons and i accepts this, To me the problem is the attitude of the drivers. I would ask them what bus this was if i was waiting a while as a bus might not have run before, or id ask why so late and most time id get a grunt or a 'because'. One time a driver shouting 'what am i suppose to do, fly the in'
A simple, driver is sick so were undermaned, or any decent explaination.

I actually had a driver stop at tyre garage and go in for a wiz!! Just got of the bus locked the door and came back about 7 min later. This was 3 stops from the last stop with about 15 people left on the bus!! he was a a dickhead aswell!!

eth0_

Quincy wrote:

but she couldn't get her 5 euro back cause she had already put into the yoke. she pointed this out to him but he was adamant that she either go and buy a ticket or step off the bus.

Was she blind? There are loads of signs on Dublin bus stating 'EXACT CHANGE ONLY'.

The bus driver can't open that coin hopper, in case you haven't noticed the sign on it, it's electrified. It can only be opened in the garage when the bus comes out off service.

murphaph

eth0_ wrote:

Was she blind? There are loads of signs on Dublin bus stating 'EXACT CHANGE ONLY'.

...and she put in more than her fare! So what's the problem? Happens every day without issue. I've seen those machines taking notes before so it's not a technical matter. That driver was just a d!ckhead by the sounds of it, but can you imagine if DB tried to fire him for being a bollix to the people who pay his wages?! SIPTU and the NBRU would bring the 'system' to its fcuking kness rather than let a waster like that get the sack. Customer service is virtually non-existent in any of the CIE companies, with the possible exception of Bus Eireann (wonder does the fierce private competition on national bus routes have anything to do with that?).

Stark

Notes aren't legal tender in Ireland. Oh wait, that's not right... The bus driver was being a total dickhead alright. Technically I reckon you shouldn't do it, as I'd imagine it would cause problems later on when they pour all the change into a coin sorter. But if she'd already dropped her note in by accident then it was really nasty of him to kick her off the bus.

I remember a few years back when I used to visit Dublin regularly (summer job on the trains), I got stopped a few times for not having exact change even though I was willing to pay the extra 15c or whatever! Thank God they dispensed with that piece of dickery.

MiniD

murphaph wrote:

...and she put in more than her fare! So what's the problem? Happens every day without issue. I've seen those machines taking notes before so it's not a technical matter.

No, these machines can't take notes. The coins are dropped into a safe which is then emptied into a coin sorter. The signs clearly state 'exact change only, no notes' - this is also displayed on almost every bus shelter in the city centre, as I mentioned already, there are so many ways to buy Nitelink tickets so getting on a bus with a 5 euro note is no excuse. To me it sounds like the driver was doing his job.

Stark

He'd have been right to stop her from putting in the note in the first place. But what was done was done, the poster said himself that she couldn't get her note back. Any reasonable person would just have told her to go on ahead.

murphaph

Stark wrote:

He'd have been right to stop her from putting in the note in the first place. But what was done was done, the poster said himself that she couldn't get her note back. Any reasonable person would just have told her to go on ahead.

Exactly-the damage had been done. She shouldn't have put a note in but it was put in so he should have sold her a ticket and told her not to do it again, instead, he was a twat and I've seen t enough times before to know that it happens all too often. You get plenty of ignorant d!ckhead passengers too of course, but the passngers anren't being paid to be professional bus drivers.

John R

murphaph wrote:

...and she put in more than her fare! So what's the problem? Happens every day without issue. I've seen those machines taking notes before so it's not a technical matter. That driver was just a d!ckhead by the sounds of it, but can you imagine if DB tried to fire him for being a bollix to the people who pay his wages?! SIPTU and the NBRU would bring the 'system' to its fcuking kness rather than let a waster like that get the sack. Customer service is virtually non-existent in any of the CIE companies, with the possible exception of Bus Eireann (wonder does the fierce private competition on national bus routes have anything to do with that?).

They'd probably have more luck firing him for accepting notes when he is under strict instructions not to.

Coin only is the rule. It is there for good reasons and it is displayed at the entrance to every bus and lots of other places. Alternatives are provided, particularly in the case of Nitelinks where extra staff are provided just to facilitate those without change.

The woman was trying it on, if she had offered the note to the driver there would not have been a problem, he would have given it back and directed her to the ticket bus. Instead she stuffed it into the farebox. People without a clue will just try to hand the money to the driver, only those who know the system and are just trying it on will immediately stuff notes into the farebox.

It is just typical of attitudes in general these days. Everybody loves telling others what the rules are and having a go at the when they percieve someone else is breaking them but they always have some reason why the rules don't apply to themselves.

WexCan

About Dublin Bus complaints etc etc -

A friend of mine once called up and mentioned that this sort of service wouldn't be tolerated in any other European capital city. The response: "Well in any other capital city, luv, Bertie'd give us more money"

I emailed them recently after a driver decided to pull away from the stop and close the doors while I had one foot on the ground and one on the step. The response: "We must apologise for this, however the driver said that he didn't see you." What kind of lame apology is this? There was a queue behind me, it wasn't dark, and it was on a busy road. I could very easily have fallen off had I not been holding on to a handrail and pulled myself up.

As far as I'm concerned, complaining to Dublin Bus is futile.

shltter

murphaph wrote:

Exactly-the damage had been done. She shouldn't have put a note in but it was put in so he should have sold her a ticket and told her not to do it again, instead, he was a twat and I've seen t enough times before to know that it happens all too often. You get plenty of ignorant d!ckhead passengers too of course, but the passngers anren't being paid to be professional bus drivers.

It seems to me that you want the best of both worlds you complain rightly when you believe that Drivers are not doing there job properly but you also complain when they are.

Coins are only accepted because the driver does not handle the money therefore the driver would not examine the notes to verify that they were genuine it could have been a photocopy or a half of a fiver etc etc

That is not to mention that notes in the box block up the coin counting machines. DB have ticket buses at the main nitelink points for people who do not have change.
If the driver accepted the passenger doing this then she would do it all the time and all her friends pretty soon everyone would be doing it. That is not to mention that perhaps this woman had done this before and been told not to do it again I presume the OP does not board the nitelink everytime behind this woman who knows perhaps this is a regular problem with this passenger.

shltter

stp wrote:

this is the second time the feckin 17A has made me miss footie practice!

waiting at bus stop for 20 min last night, no sign of bus. this was at 19.40, so it can't be blamed on trafic, fcuking muppets.

at least when the darts late, it's displayed.

What do you think happens after the rush HOURs Dublin Bus sprinkles some magic pixie dust so that all the buses delayed in traffic for the previous couple of hours magically appear exactly were they should have been if the traffic jams had never existed or do you believe that traffic accidents breakdowns etc etc cannot happen at 19:40.


Also at that time the gap between buses on the 17a route is 20 minutes in one direction and 25 in the other so where were you waiting at the terminus or somewhere else.

shltter

spunkymunky wrote:

I actually had a driver stop at tyre garage and go in for a wiz!! Just got of the bus locked the door and came back about 7 min later. This was 3 stops from the last stop with about 15 people left on the bus!! he was a a dickhead aswell!!

Well the cheek of the guy imagine he had to take a p*ss or perhaps worse he really needed a sh*t how inconsiderate of him

Personally I think all bus drivers should have there bladders removed and their ar*e sown up and be fitted with a colostomy bag so that they never have to have their work interfered with by a bodily function.

SouperComputer

Oh jasus, the 17A, I feel your pain. I got the bus to "seco" and subsequently to work for a few years.

Used to live beside the terminus in finglas and STILL has waits of up to 45mins. Incredible route.

Do what I did, MOVE!

[edit] I vaugly remember one day complaining to a driver and he got REALLY snotty so I relpied "and you wonder why you cnuts get stabbed!", ah the memories [/edit]

[edit2] I also recall the bus being 40 mins late on the day of my LC physics exam. I got stuck beside some auld lad on the bus asking why I was so pissed off. I explained to him I was late for the exam and he replied "Physics, ohhh you have to be very fit for that dont ye. Fair play!" True story![/edit2]

MorningStar

Stark wrote:

He'd have been right to stop her from putting in the note in the first place. But what was done was done, the poster said himself that she couldn't get her note back. Any reasonable person would just have told her to go on ahead.

Maybe he did try.

How was his shift going to balance without him filling out some special form or hassle to himself?

Any reasonable person knows the machines don't take notes and the signs help too.

Any reasonable person would not shout at the driver instead of just complain to the company.

WexCan

shltter wrote:

What do you think happens after the rush HOURs Dublin Bus sprinkles some magic pixie dust so that all the buses delayed in traffic for the previous couple of hours magically appear exactly were they should have been if the traffic jams had never existed or do you believe that traffic accidents breakdowns etc etc cannot happen at 19:40.


Also at that time the gap between buses on the 17a route is 20 minutes in one direction and 25 in the other so where were you waiting at the terminus or somewhere else.

I think the problem is with lateness in general. If DB find that the same bus is consistently late day after day, why don't they change the timetable. A once off is understandable.

shltter

WexCan wrote:

I think the problem is with lateness in general. If DB find that the same bus is consistently late day after day, why don't they change the timetable. A once off is understandable.

2 reasons I would imagine

1 the buses may make it on time on the majority of the time and you can not just change the time of one bus it would require the whole timetable to be re written

2 since DB dont have any more buses to facilitate increasing the running time without increasing the gap between buses the gaps would be huge and the majority of the time the buses would be sitting at the termini waiting for the departure time

WexCan

Well they do change the whole timetable from time to time, and it often barely reflects the actual running times.

And I personally am not asking for a more frequent service, what I want is for buses to run on time

MrPudding

shltter wrote:

If the driver accepted the passenger doing this then she would do it all the time and all her friends pretty soon everyone would be doing it.

Next thing you know it would be the end of civilisation as we know it. :rolleyes:

I appreciate that he was just doing his job, a defense used my many people throughout history with varying degrees of success. But the fact is, most people do not have a problem with the fact that they are doing there job but the manner in which they are doing it.

The fact that you have to deal with assholes and are sometimes treated like sh1t, whilst intensely frustrating and annoying, is not an excuse to be a prick.

One of the lads posting in this thread, not me, takes calls from a few hundred people everyday. Many of these people are annoyed and give him grief. Were he to reply to or treat these callers in a manner which is apparently quite common with DB drivers he would be sacked. Simple. No excuses.

Why do we keep having to accept excuses for ignorant prick bus drivers simply because they have to deal with ingnorant prick passengers?

MrP

Red Alert

Notes can also jam the coin hopper mechanism (which the ticket machine triggers). That would render the machine unusable for the journey.

A private operator would cancel the service rather than do it free with a broken machine as DB always do.

markpb

Red Alert wrote:

A private operator would cancel the service rather than do it free with a broken machine as DB always do.

What does this have to do with the rest of the thread? Contrary to the opinion of recent Ministers for Transport, DB exist primarily to provide a service, not to make money. Bearing that in mind, cancelling a trip because they can't take in money makes no sense.

If you're talking about privatised bus routes, a proper service level agreement between the DoT and the company should force the company to use the bus even in this case.

Ph3n0m

my favourite dublin bus idiocy is the drivers skipping part of their routes.

example would be: I got the 50 to tallaght, just before citywest.

got the return 50 with the same driver and he avoided kilinarden, however on the journey up he drove through it

I have done this more then once, and more then once I have seen this in action - so its always nice to know that some drivers do take their job seriously

John R

markpb wrote:

What does this have to do with the rest of the thread? Contrary to the opinion of recent Ministers for Transport, DB exist primarily to provide a service, not to make money. Bearing that in mind, cancelling a trip because they can't take in money makes no sense.

It is not just opinion, it is policy. They are under huge pressure from to maximise takings.

markpb wrote:

If you're talking about privatised bus routes, a proper service level agreement between the DoT and the company should force the company to use the bus even in this case.

There is no such thing in this country, the ones that do have licences have the exclusive rights to operate whatever level of service they like on a particular route. There are no agreements required on fares, timetables, minimum service levels, quality of vehicles, etc. By far the worst part of it is that many have bought (for a nominal fee) licences for routes, thrown them into a cupboard and blocked anyone else (including CIE) from running services on that route.

Ever wonder what happened to the AerDart service? The company that operated it pulled out claiming the DART weekend upgrade works had effected it's profitability. Some time afterwards the company sold the buses and the licence to run the service to Aircoach. The buses are now used on some of the carpark shuttles and there is no sign of the service returning, one orbital road in north dublin with much development and a continuous bus lane is now without buses indefinitely.

That is the reality of private bus operations in this country. I don't have a particular gripe with the operators, they are just trying to turn a profit. It is the government who are supposed to look out for the interests of the public but are much more bothered with pushing a half-arsed private enterprise policy to the detriment of all parties.

WexCan

MrPudding wrote:

One of the lads posting in this thread, not me, takes calls from a few hundred people everyday. Many of these people are annoyed and give him grief. Were he to reply to or treat these callers in a manner which is apparently quite common with DB drivers he would be sacked. Simple. No excuses.

Why do we keep having to accept excuses for ignorant prick bus drivers simply because they have to deal with ingnorant prick passengers?

Exactly - anyone in a customer facing job probably has a job description that mentions customer service somewhere. I think the thing is that bus drivers aren't monitored at the same level as, say, call centre staff or retail workers. Ok sure they have a complaints system, but does it work. Has anyone here had a positive experience with the "Public Affairs" dept at Dublin Bus? And I mean positive as in productive, not polite.

Metrobest

Red Alert wrote:

A private operator would cancel the service rather than do it free with a broken machine as DB always do.

You must have an ideological objective to free market economics.

I have travellled many times on the Aircoach. An efficiently run bus service like the Aircoach can afford to run empty buses because it makes money on the full ones. Aircoach has to provide a reliable service or it goes out of business. If they decided suddenly "Let's have a gap of one hour at 11am and 3pm for the drivers' tea breaks and shift changeovers" - Aircoach would lose its good repuation and sink fast.

Private transport companies have to make a profit to survive. That means being efficient, punctual and friendly; it means looking after customers' needs. A private bus operator which behaved like Dublin Bus would not survive in the market.

Stark

Also I have actually gotten a few free Aircoach rides when the ticket machine was broken. So much for cancelling the service.

Calina

Metrobest wrote:

I have travellled many times on the Aircoach. An efficiently run bus service like the Aircoach can afford to run empty buses because it makes money on the full ones. Aircoach has to provide a reliable service or it goes out of business.

Actually, Metrobest, I find the Dublin Bus service from the airport to be a) significantly more reliable timewise both in town and at the airport and b) less expensive. By choice I won't use the Aircoach. I don't consider it an exemplary example of a private operator.

Red Alert

Question for the free-market people among you? Where do all the old buses go? Most went to private operators in the UK to be used in normal service, and a number stayed here for people like Finnegans and Dualway. Now 12 years isn't old or anything, but these UK operators are essentially buying clapped-out buses from elsewhere, tarting them up and then sending them out to fare-paying passengers. That's what'll happen here if that crowd gain a foothold.

Remember, we all OWN dublin bus, it's in our interest to make it succeed. so i don't see why it's in our interest to have various private operators with the help of their friends in Leinster house gain a foothold on the transport system.

the taxpayer's bus company is prohibited from adding to its fleet, a bus comes in, a bus must go. it then ill-advisedly spent an insane amount of money on a new ticket system it didn't need and which doesn't work. Morton's, AMC or anybody else don't have to ask the minister when they're allowed add to the fleet, so why should DB? The marginal cost of having an extra as opposed to a new bus is not that different.

Victor

Quincy wrote:

I was getting the nitelink over Christmas & ye know the way you need to pay with the correct change or with a nitelink ticket, well this girl ahead of me put a 5 euro note into the change thing and the driver refused to accept it saying it wasnt the exact change and she needed to go and buy a ticket and come back. but she couldn't get her 5 euro back cause she had already put into the yoke. she pointed this out to him but he was adamant that she either go and buy a ticket or step off the bus.

Thin blue line. If one tries to pay with a fiver, they all will. Then some junkie wants all the fivers and he's going to stab someone if he doesn't get them.

spareman

Ph3n0m wrote:

my favourite dublin bus idiocy is the drivers skipping part of their routes.

example would be: I got the 50 to tallaght, just before citywest.

got the return 50 with the same driver and he avoided kilinarden, however on the journey up he drove through it

I have done this more then once, and more then once I have seen this in action - so its always nice to know that some drivers do take their job seriously

Sometimes drivers are told to stay out of certain area's at certain times for there own safety and the safety of passengers, If theres a gang of thugs trowing rocks at buses for example, it wouldnt make sense to send targets to the area.

Litcagral

John R wrote:

Ever wonder what happened to the AerDart service? . Some time afterwards the company sold the buses and the licence to run the service to Aircoach. The buses are now used on some of the carpark shuttles and there is no sign of the service returning, QUOTE]


The buses were used to service the Blue Long term carpark only in Harristown. It usually opens for 4 to 6 weeks in peak holiday season only (July/August). Aircoach used the idle AerDart buses as a temporary measure to save having to hire in more buses for such a short period. I presume they were hired at a very reasonable rate as they were parked up anyway. I don't think Aircoach bought the licence for the AerDart route.