Anyway to do something about the buses?

humanji

As with most people who use public transport, I'm not even slightly happy with it. In particular, I have a gripe against the buses in Dublin (I'm making a gross generalisation in assuming they're the same around the country, but this is Ireland after all).

So I was wondering if there is anything that can be done. I have people (in particular, my dad who ends up giving me a lift after I wait an hour in the cold for a bus which doesn't show!) telling me to write a letter to Dublin Bus, TD's, Ministers and everyone else to try and kick up a stink, but it's my lack of faith in politicians that leads me to believe that anything I send will be ignored.

Is there anything else I can do, besides getting a car (which I'm going to have to do sooner or later anyway)?

Wishbone Ash

humanji wrote:

I'm making a gross generalisation in assuming they're the same around the country

No - most of the rest of the country doesn't really have a local bus service!

corktina

i was going to say that...we have a bus to Cork at 7.30 and another some days at 10.30 and one back in the evening and thats it....

humanji

There has to be something that can be done. A sh1tty city service and a non-existant country service really is abysmal in this day and age. Dublin Bus/CIE seem to ignore all complaints and politicians will only tell you what you want to hear in order to get you to vote (and then go off and do the opposite). I guess its just pissing in the wind :mad:

Zoney

humanji wrote:

In particular, I have a gripe against the buses in Dublin (I'm making a gross generalisation in assuming they're the same around the country, but this is Ireland after all).

I used Dublin Bus regularly for all of 2001. Apart from the exact change thing (I kept my receipts and got my £5) Bus Éireann city services are vastly inferior.

Case in point; single deck buses are used on services with heavier loadings than services I used in Dublin that had double deck buses. Every single day on the Limerick City Centre to UL (pop. 10,000) there are crunch times where people are just left standing, and at any other time you can't tell if you will be unlucky and be squeezed in while standing for the whole 15-20 minutes into the city through traffic.

It's easy to see that this is absurd, considering places like Limerick did used to have double deck services.

Bus Éireann also know even less about timekeeping that Dublin Bus. Having experienced Dublin Bus, I know you Dubliners will find that hard to believe - but in Dublin I never waited 20 minutes, then 40 minutes twice, in the one day, on a service supposed to run every 15 minutes. Also with a far sparser amount of buses, BÉ still manage to do the two buses at once trick (and you know people will be waiting a very long time after that!). On one of the occasions where I waited 40 minutes, people had shown up to the bus stop on the opposite side of the road shortly after I arrived. The bus I finally caught would have taken at least 10 minutes to get back out to them. They waited at least 50 minutes on a 15 minute bus schedule.

It is not for nothing that in UL we say that Bus Éireann should have the Greatest Work of Fiction timetable for their "every 15 minutes" affair. The previous "every 20 minutes" one was as unreliable, and the one before was pathetic too (although it was hard to judge, as that was when Groody Bridge was sabotaged* and the entirity of Castletroy near cut off).

Today the buses have no excuse. There are not many delays apart from at regular times of day on the Childers Road and the city centre. These should be timetabled for (they are probably about 10 mins max; not something insane). The buses also need to wait at the Uni when they arrive early. At present they seem to run as fast as possible, and this results in "gaps".

----

*Ah the tale of Groody Bridge. Let me regale you with an off-topic story. At the time, this section of the Dublin Road was the N7. There was a project undertaken to upgrade the road to 4 lane highway between the Groody Roundabout (road to Uni) and the Parkway Roundabout. This involved adding a second bridge across the Groody River, and repaving the old bridge. So they set about building the new bridge, with traffic passing on the old bridge with some disruption. Then came the fatal day that there was instability, subsidence, or something terrible happened to the old bridge. Traffic to that side of the city was almost completely cut off for a couple of hours.

A temporary bridge was built, necessitating an insane chicane over to one side of the new bridge under construction (i.e. the other side of it to the old bridge and at the time the current road). Needless to say, this situation remained for some time... and greatly slowed down traffic. Things were so bad that many people not only gave up on the bus, but walked the 50 minutes to an hour into the city centre as needs be.

Then they opened the new Groody Bridge. This did improve things slightly, but the chicanes remained, as the (now) two lanes of outbound traffic crossed over the bridge intended for citybound traffic, and the citybound traffic crossed over the temporary bridge.

And so things remained for at least a year. The project was essentially completed as far as money was concerned... just the small matter of the bridges not quite working out. Bear in mind, we are still at this time talking about the N7; main Limerick-Dublin intercity route, as well as the local route connecting Castletroy and the Uni to the city. Eventually money was allocated for replacing the old bridge; and even then delays continued, as of course it did have to be pretty much replaced.

mickoneill30

humanji wrote:

Is there anything else I can do, besides getting a car (which I'm going to have to do sooner or later anyway)?

I must be one of the few on a good bus route. The service is great (pretty much every 10 mins) but the traffic constantly shags me up. A trip that takes 45 mins during the summer takes 1hr 15 -> 1.5 hours in the winter. I think if the Quality Bus Corridors were actually Quality then the bus service would improve massively.

I come from Swords -> the city every day. The trip is grand except for the 15 - 30 mins that we have to spend sitting in Whitehall going nowhere because of the huge jams in that area. If the Quality Bus Corridor (do they still call them that anyway) actually had a dedicated bus lane in that area then we'd fly in and I think more people would move from their cars to the buses. People aren't going to switch to buses when they're not moving anywhere either.

Slice

You should definately write to both the minister for transport and your local TDs (preferably seperately). Alternatively your local TDs meet their constintuents on a regular basis, why not go see them in person followed up by a letter querying them for an update. Any of the above would be a whole lot more done than general indifference.

seamus

I think the quality of the bus service in Dublin has improved greatly over the last ten years. I can remember standing at bus stops for an hour or more as kid, on a Saturday afternoon, waiting for a bus to come. I haven't had to wait for more than 30 minutes in at least 3 years now. Admittedly, I don't get the bus all that often.

The big problem in Dublin is the quantity of busses. I've said this before, but there simply aren't enough routes, and unless you live on the N11 or the N81 and within 4 miles of the city centre, there may only be one bus to service tens of thousands of people.
No person within ten miles of the city centre, and in well-populated areas, should have to walk more than ten minutes to a bus stop. I'm not making excuses for people's laziness, but the fact is that people will not walk any further than this, particular when it starts raining and getting cold and windy.

tbh

humanji wrote:

So I was wondering if there is anything that can be done. I have people (in particular, my dad who ends up giving me a lift after I wait an hour in the cold for a bus which doesn't show!) telling me to write a letter to Dublin Bus, TD's, Ministers and everyone else to try and kick up a stink, but it's my lack of faith in politicians that leads me to believe that anything I send will be ignored.

If you don't do it, and no-one else does it, then why would the pols change? Here's a tip - include a postal order for 1 euro with each letter (say it's a donation towards helping with the project) - that means they are obliged to write back, either with a receipt or to return your money. Make sure you raise the issue with the pols when they come knocking. If every person in Ireland rang liveline/wrote letters/harrased politicians, it would rise to the top of the agenda fast.

OTK

humanji wrote:

but it's my lack of faith in politicians that leads me to believe that anything I send will be ignored.

I had a problem with a Dublin Bus route a few years ago. I was catching the bus from a city centre terminus to work. I wrote down the times every day for a month that the bus was meant to depart and the time it actually departed (if at all). Then I wrote to the minister and copied his first secretary and the head of DB. A couple of days later there were some grumpy men on the bus in the morning who were doing a survey on whether we were happy with the service. Then they changed the timetable and laid on extra buses. a couple of weeks later.

I was really happy at the time. I think very few people bother writing.

Slice

OTK: I had a problem with a Dublin Bus route a few years ago. I was catching the bus from a city centre terminus to work. I wrote down the times every day for a month that the bus was meant to depart and the time it actually departed (if at all).

That's a brilliant idea OTK. I wrote to complain about the 19 bus route a few months ago to the Minister for Transport who passed it to the Director of DB. I got a letter back a couple of weeks later to say that there was an up-coming review of DB's bus-routes and that he'd ensure the 19 was included in this review.

bk

I have to seocond that DB is far superior to Bus Eireann local services. I know it is hard to believe for Dublin people, but really they don't know how good they have it compared to outside Dublin. I'm saying this as a Corkonian living in Dublin.

In Cork waiting an hour for the bus (and then two come) is the norm, not the exception. The buses in Cork are also far too overcrowded, with no double deckers, at peak times, unless you get on a bus at a terminus, the pass will simply drive past most stops without stopping at it is already full. Also the buses park in the city center for up to 40 minutes while the drivers change, go to lunch, etc.

In comparison on my bus route in Dublin, there is a bus every 7.5 minutes peak, 10 - 15 minutes off peak. I don't think I've ever have to wait more then 20 minutes on a Sunday and that is unusual. They operate double deckers at peak, single deckers off peak (well managed). They seem to lay on extra, unscheduled buses at peak times. And they don't seat in town all day.

I'm not saying that DB are perfect (far from it) and that there aren't underserved routes on DB. But it is far, far superior to BE local services.

yadayada

yeah I am the same with the 19/19a...complained many times before, makes no difference though! just so annoying standing in the cold for 40 minutes because the driver is to lazy to leave the terminus....I get on at the terminus so I can see him just sitting there?! the mind boggles

daymobrew

humanji wrote:

Is there anything else I can do, besides getting a car (which I'm going to have to do sooner or later anyway)?

Cycle. It has served me well for almost 30 years (I cycled to secondary school, college and to work).
I cycle 9 miles to work. It doesn't do me any harm.

OTK

daymobrew wrote:

Cycle. It has served me well for almost 30 years (I cycled to secondary school, college and to work).
I cycle 9 miles to work. It doesn't do me any harm.

Not yet anyway. I've heard that cycling is twice as dangerous as driving per mile travelled. Are you not worried for your safety, if you are putting in so many miles? I guess you may be halving your risk of dying from heart disease.

Champ

I used Dublin Bus regularly for all of 2001. Apart from the exact change thing (I kept my receipts and got my £5) Bus Éireann city services are vastly inferior.

Case in point; single deck buses are used on services with heavier loadings than services I used in Dublin that had double deck buses. Every single day on the Limerick City Centre to UL (pop. 10,000) there are crunch times where people are just left standing, and at any other time you can't tell if you will be unlucky and be squeezed in while standing for the whole 15-20 minutes into the city through traffic.

It's easy to see that this is absurd, considering places like Limerick did used to have double deck services.

Bus Éireann also know even less about timekeeping that Dublin Bus. Having experienced Dublin Bus, I know you Dubliners will find that hard to believe - but in Dublin I never waited 20 minutes, then 40 minutes twice, in the one day, on a service supposed to run every 15 minutes. Also with a far sparser amount of buses, BÉ still manage to do the two buses at once trick (and you know people will be waiting a very long time after that!). On one of the occasions where I waited 40 minutes, people had shown up to the bus stop on the opposite side of the road shortly after I arrived. The bus I finally caught would have taken at least 10 minutes to get back out to them. They waited at least 50 minutes on a 15 minute bus schedule.

I couldn't have put it better myself, accurate and descriptive contrast.;)
I was in Dublin for quite a while myself, and believe me Dublin Bus in general easily outperforms Bus Eireann.

I can definetly relate to the sardine experience on the UL runs though it can often be up to 40 minutes getting compressed on a Friday.

Though Bus Eireann intercity runs aren't all terrible ... they just have a tendency to "degrade" in the afternoon before returning to normal.
In general the 7.30 - 14:00 trips are good. Try to avoid 14:00 - 18:00. Services generally become more fluent again with 19:00 - 23:00.

seamus

OTK wrote:

Not yet anyway. I've heard that cycling is twice as dangerous as driving per mile travelled. Are you not worried for your safety, if you are putting in so many miles? I guess you may be halving your risk of dying from heart disease.

Statistics can be quite misleading when they're applied in this manner. As is the same with motorbikes, it's possible to take a series of steps (and an ongoing attitude in the way you cycle/ride) to massively drop your risk below that "twice as dangerous" average. I've been cycling 8 miles into work for about five weeks now. I'd say it's actually quite a ways more dangerous than motorcycling - mainly because you can't take command of the road, and you can't accelerate out of danger - but in the event of an accident, you're unlikely to be doing much more than 20mph anyway.

daymobrew

OTK wrote:

Not yet anyway. I've heard that cycling is twice as dangerous as driving per mile travelled. Are you not worried for your safety, if you are putting in so many miles? I guess you may be halving your risk of dying from heart disease.

I've cycled thousands and thousands of miles (my highest was 4200 miles in one year, just commuting!). I have learned from my experiences. I feel that I have a lot of control over my safety e.g. I would not overtake a bus on the left. From what I have seen, many dangerous situations are as a result of the cyclist's behaviour. Car/bus/truck drivers do stupid things too, but they are not always the guilty party.

Chris_533976

In Galway now I have one bus route (5) that goes near me. Usually every 15 minutes peak, 30 off. Never seen two buses at once, but its usually late. Im at the start of the route tho so theres no overcrowding for me.

Often late, by 5-10-15 minutes Thats cos of traffic though and the lack of bus lanes in Galway. Gets really frustrating, especially when its raining. Of course the bus stop is a pole at an angle, and isnt enclosed. Also the timetable at the busstop is out of date, shows the wrong times and the wrong price (1.20 vs 1.30). Very annoying and COMPLETELY unnecessary.

Sometimes though its early (!) and it annoys me far more than when its late, because it doesnt wait. Whether its the previous service being late I dont know, but in any case its bloody annoying.