Dublin Bus Bank Holiday Services Not up to Snuff

jjbrien

Once again we have a bank holiday. Where people like myself find it impossible to get into work due to Dublin Busses short sightness. Dublin Bus seem to think it is 1986 not 2006 when not many people work a bank holiday.

This is now longer the case with the new european market. We now serve most of the EU and USA and Canada which dont have bank holidays on the same days we have. Will they ever cop on and put extra busses on the road on the bank holiday. I have to work most bank holidays there is one bus that leave the city at 7:20 the 41 which should be able to take me to work but it is always full by the time it gets to my stop casuing me to pay €10 for a taxi.. Does this affect anybody else?

spurious

Sadly this isn't just Dublin Bus.
Public transport in Ireland in general is Dublin-centred and 'civil service' oriented.

Need to get to Dublin from more or less anywhere in the country for a morning meeting? No problem.

Need to get to any other city for a morning meeting? Sure what would you be wanting to go there for.

Similarly, there is a preconception that everyone works 9 to 5 and needs to be going into the city centre in the morning and out of the city centre in the evening.

It's as if those than plan these services never use them themselves, which judging by the size of car parks at Connolly perhaps they don't.

seamus

While they don't put on enough transport, I agree, there's no reason to go mad. It's a bank holiday. It's the equivalent of a sunday, and there are probably just as many people in work. The volume simply isn't there to put on full services.

You'll find that many european countries run heavily reduced services on bank holidays. London and New York are probably exceptions, as underground services tend to run regular (though still reduced) on public holidays.

jjbrien

Ok for me for exapmle I live on the Drumcondra Road which is the main road for the airport. The 41 on a bank holiday leaves town at 7:20 and is full leaving town. So nobody can get on anywhere else. The 41 should have more services especially on a Bank Holiday as everybody want to get to the airport.

shltter

The 41 is an exception because of the airport most other routes dont have anything running that early.
The demand is not there for early morning services on other routes I have just finished a days work and I probably carried about 30/40 people all day.

markpb

shltter wrote:

The 41 is an exception because of the airport most other routes dont have anything running that early.
The demand is not there for early morning services on other routes I have just finished a days work and I probably carried about 30/40 people all day.

It's not quite that simple. Everyone knows DB provide a week service on a bank holiday so they make alternative arrangements like taxis. No-one is suggesting they should provide the same level of sevice as a weekday but a 1.5 hour gap in the morning (41/Sunday) is silly.

ardmacha

But if a service is full then additional services should be added on that route, if not on other ones. There is also a problem on Sundays on some routes, I've been on 46As that are full from Stillorgan and passing people on all stops afterwards. Of course you pass Donnybrook and there are loads of buses parked there doing nothing , while people wait at the stops on the Stillorgan Rd.

shltter

markpb wrote:

It's not quite that simple. Everyone knows DB provide a week service on a bank holiday so they make alternative arrangements like taxis. No-one is suggesting they should provide the same level of sevice as a weekday but a 1.5 hour gap in the morning (41/Sunday) is silly.

The airport is also serviced by the 747 and 748 starting at 7am with a bus every 20 minutes and 25 minutes

Swords is also serviced by the 41C which has a 8:30 dep from swords and the 43 at 9:20

The Airport is also serviced by the 41A at 7:15

Compared to the rest of the city for example where most services dont get started till 9:30 to 10:00 the reason is that there just is not any real demand even at those times most shops for example dont open till midday and even then the demand is light at best.

popebenny16

I sort of agree with that last post. There is no demand really before 12.00 on a Sunday but on the other hand Sunday is fast becomeing as popular a shopping day as Saturday, which is why Dublin City Council have parking fees for Sunday when years ago they didnt.

MiniD

There is no justification for a poor Airport service, be it mid week or weekend, especially a bank holiday.

The first 747 bus to the airport on a Sunday/BH Monday leaves O'Connell Street at 07:35, which would get to the airport for about 8am. This would assume noboddy flies before 10.30am on a Sunday or Bank Holiday, allowing for the 90 minute check in required for some airlines. Using this logic just proves the thinking in Dublin Bus. Sunday mornings see lots of weekend visitors returning home, these are often people who have used Airlink to get from the airport to the city, some may even have bought tickets in advance but when it comes to getting back to the airport they are forced to find alternative forms of transport.

The Sunday start times of Dublin Bus have not changes in years, if ever. Society, on the other hand, has moved with the times and start shifts earlier and finish later, but there is no bus service there to facilitate these people. A lot of early departures on Sundays are packed coming into town, these are main routes like the 7, 15, 16, 25A, 39, 41, 46A, 66, 77 and other busy routes. I have been on these buses while they drive past bus stops with waiting passengers. Some of these routes even pass by the bus garage which is overloaded with vehicles, just no initative to get them on the roads.

I understand the problems Dublin Bus face from Dept. Transport with extending timetables, but not having a second bus picking up passengers is just ridiculous.

To suggest there is no demand there may be true in some cases, but has it ever occured that perhaps if the buses were there, then people may infact use them. I would also apply the same principal to earlier morning services Monday-Friday, where the first departures on routes are packed.

Mimikyu

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jjbrien

shltter wrote:

The airport is also serviced by the 747 and 748 starting at 7am with a bus every 20 minutes and 25 minutes

Swords is also serviced by the 41C which has a 8:30 dep from swords and the 43 at 9:20

The Airport is also serviced by the 41A at 7:15

Compared to the rest of the city for example where most services dont get started till 9:30 to 10:00 the reason is that there just is not any real demand even at those times most shops for example dont open till midday and even then the demand is light at best.

That if fine if you want to pay €5 every day to go to work. I dont work at the airport myself I work in Airways Industrial estate and so do most of the peopl who use the 41 or 33. There is allot of office parks and industrial estates on the way to the airport. I would just like to be able for once to get on the 41 on a bank holiday without it been full. Also the 747 and 748 dont stop on Drumcondra Road Upper.

jjbrien

I have worked for many American companys in Dublin they all have to arrange taxis and private busses on a bank holiday to get thier staff to work. If you ask any taxi man the mouring on a bank holiday is the busest day of the month for him. So Dublin Bus and Irish Rail need to take note and put additional services to areas where they know there is allot of business parks and Industrial Estates.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.