Bus Éireann - a disgrace.

DoubleJoe7

Here's a story for you all;

Last night, after finishing work I went to get the 5.45 bus from Cork Bus Station. It was headed to Mitchelstown, via Glanmire, Watergrasshill, Rathcormac and Fermoy, my stop.

Upon joining the line, admittedly too late at about 5.45 I was told that the bus was full, that I'd have to wait until the 6.00 clock bus to Dublin, which leaves from the same stop at the station. So, near the top of the line now I wait. Whilst talking to people at the stop, also headed to Fermoy, they explain that people headed to Glanmie were loaded on first, regardless of place in the q, as the later busses wouldn't stop there.

The 6.00 bus arrives. The inspector comes out and informs us that people headed to Dublin would be allowed on first, again regardless of where they are in the q. Then he loads each town on the way based on distance, Port Laoise to Mitchelstown at which point we were informed that the bus was full, and that even though the commuters headed to Fermoy were at the top of the line, we'd have to wait until the 6.30 bus to Kilkenny.

The same happened at 6.30, with 2 buses to Kilkenny - regardless to the fact that we were at the front of the line for 45 minutes, and now 4 buses, we weren't getting a seat. We were told to wait for the next bus to Fermoy - at 9.30. Nearly 4 hours after we had qued. Infuriated we left for the 7 o'clock Aircoach, without a refund from Bus Eireann.

Why is this policy acceptable? Or even logical? Why were 4 bus loads of people - nearly 200 people - allowed to skip past us in the line?

No answer was given by Bus Eireann.

Time Magazine

That's completely unacceptable. As far as I know if you're delayed in your journey by that amount of time you're entitled to at least a part-refund.

rubicon

Hello

I was in a similar position. On getting a bus to Dublin, the driver tells me that it is the next bus that goes through the town I wanted to get off at. This was not true, i waited for 2 hours and approximately 8 buses stopped & told me the next one each time. On ringing Bus Eireann, they tried to deny what I was saying despite the timetable online. After being transferred around for ten minutes, I finally got someone who admitted that their driver 'must not have known' that he had to go through the town.

I could go on.... with other incidents that I had but really couldn't be bothered with them anymore

DoubleJoe7

Just to point out that I wasn't alone in this predicament and hat there were about in total 15 of us wanting to go to Fermoy.

dame

That is absolutely disgraceful. If there were that many people, surely Bus Eireann could have put on an extra bus? I'm sure a lot of you are regular commuters so couldn't Bus Eireann add an extra bus to their timetable, that will always go to Fermoy? You're right not to let it go OP. If something similar happens again take names of people affected so you can write letter on behalf of you all, or better still take signatures for a petition demanding the same service as other towns on the route (ie that you will get a bus without waiting 4 hours from time you sart queueing).

Mossy Monk

Bus Eireann are ***** for doing this

should be a first come first serve regardless of destination

Danno

Bus Eireann should be privatised. Any Bus company that still uses 1996 timetables to link Dublin and Cork deserves to go out of business. Of course us gombeens of taxpayers will continue to happily fund this outrage...

cast_iron

I would fully agree with the way they loaded the bus - in principle.
But not when it means those at the top of the queue are denied a place.

However, what happened you was terrible. You really should have demanded that you weren't going to let another full bus leave without you (and the rest) on it.
Easy said now, I know.

thefinalstage

Danno wrote:

Bus Eireann should be privatised. Any Bus company that still uses 1996 timetables to link Dublin and Cork deserves to go out of business. Of course us gombeens of taxpayers will continue to happily fund this outrage...

If it was privatised a lot of unprofitable routes would be taken of the timetable and leaving a lot of people without any bus' at all.

Ham'nd'egger

While everybody ought to get where they want to as quickly as possible, if I was waiting for that Dublin service and I knew that a few short hop commuters were sitting on that bus for a fraction of the trip over a long haul pax, I'd be more than a bit peeved. Harsh as it may be, I feel they have justification for doing this in the greater scheme of things.

2funki4wheelz

Hamndegger wrote:

While everybody ought to get where they want to as quickly as possible, if I was waiting for that Dublin service and I knew that a few short hop commuters were sitting on that bus for a fraction of the trip over a long haul pax, I'd be more than a bit peeved. Harsh as it may be, I feel they have justification for doing this in the greater scheme of things.

Justified if it left the other passengers with maybe a 30 min wait at most. But 5.45 to 9.30 is ridiculous. Policy like this only helps if there is a regular service or a replacement extra bus (i.e in an ideal world).

If the short hop commuters got there in time to get in line before others, tough, that's how queues work, you wouldn't know where they were getting off anyway if you didn't make it on the bus.

It happens on city bus services all the time, people may be only going to 2 stops but they can easily hop on before other commuters and fill up a bus(and the minimum fare argument is irrelevant with monthly tickets/passes etc).

Make express buses if it's such an issue, don't schedule stops and then not let passengers board.

I'd definitely be looking for a refund.

_Kaiser_

Regardless of how far the passenger is going, they have a right to be served the same as everyone else at the time scheduled.

If DB (oops.. I mean BE - all the same though really! :rolleyes:) want to better serve the Dublin run they should be putting on extra buses for that service, not asking people who've waited and queued to just stand there like idiots.

I'd ring/write to BE quoting times and the story you've told us. In future I'd also get names and bus registrations as well. Let us know how you get on.

Ham'nd'egger

2funki4wheelz wrote:

Justified if it left the other passengers with maybe a 30 min wait at most. But 5.45 to 9.30 is ridiculous. Policy like this only helps if there is a regular service or a replacement extra bus (i.e in an ideal world).

If the short hop commuters got there in time to get in line before others, tough, that's how queues work, you wouldn't know where they were getting off anyway if you didn't make it on the bus.

It happens on city bus services all the time, people may be only going to 2 stops but they can easily hop on before other commuters and fill up a bus(and the minimum fare argument is irrelevant with monthly tickets/passes etc).

Make express buses if it's such an issue, don't schedule stops and then not let passengers board.

I'd definitely be looking for a refund.

True, there ought to be more buses and less waits between services, but my point still stands; you can have empty seats from Fermoy to Dublin or full seats of Dublin bounds passengers in departures wanting seats on a bus; which one makes sense to a carrier and the long haulers will get priority all the time. Pity you had to wait 4 hours for another bus though, sounds odd that there is a gap like that in the running orders.

And while you mention city services, there are Minimun Fares and limited stopping services (Expresso) on a good amount of Dublin Bus services, all of which are aimed to keep short hop pax out of seats intended for the long distance commuter.

With regards to a refund, I don't know if you will be able to get one as they had a service running to accomodate you, albeit hours later that what you wanted. But certainly, give it a go and let them know you are unhappy with this and see what they say.

Victor

Danno wrote:

Bus Eireann should be privatised. Any Bus company that still uses 1996 timetables to link Dublin and Cork deserves to go out of business. Of course us gombeens of taxpayers will continue to happily fund this outrage...

It is a new timetable, there used to be only 4 direct buses per day, now theres about 8.

The DoT control the timetables, no the bus companies.

I did Dublin-Cork-Dublin recently and one bus did express, the other local.

DoubleJoe7

Hamndegger wrote:

While everybody ought to get where they want to as quickly as possible, if I was waiting for that Dublin service and I knew that a few short hop commuters were sitting on that bus for a fraction of the trip over a long haul pax, I'd be more than a bit peeved. Harsh as it may be, I feel they have justification for doing this in the greater scheme of things.

But it'd be close to 10.30 by the time I'd have gotten home - the same time roughly those who were going to Dublin would get in. How is that fair? Why shouldn't those who were at the back of the queue for the Dublin bus who, under a fair system wouldn't have gotten on, have to get the Aircoach like I had to? I was there before them. Don't see why they can arrive at 6 and get on ahead of me.

Ham'nd'egger

DoubleJoe7 wrote:

But it'd be close to 10.30 by the time I'd have gotten home - the same time roughly those who were going to Dublin would get in. How is that fair? Why shouldn't those who were at the back of the queue for the Dublin bus who, under a fair system wouldn't have gotten on, have to get the Aircoach like I had to? I was there before them. Don't see why they can arrive at 6 and get on ahead of me.

Well, if you had have got their seats, they would have probably have got t into Busaras at 11,12,1AM or even on the next day's bus. Put yourself in their shoes, getting into Dublin and missing transfers because somebody went down the road, how would you honestly think they would feel? End of the day, they had further than you to go, and it's only fair that a long haul traveller gets looked after first.

Red Alert

How exactly would a privatised company be better? Grow up.

A private company has two buses, say. For talk's sake let's say they're 53-seaters (like the SI, SP, VC bus eireann models). 55 people want to board, they're certainly not going to make an overall loss on putting on the second bus (fuel, driver etc).

_Kaiser_

Hamndegger wrote:

Well, if you had have got their seats, they would have probably have got t into Busaras at 11,12,1AM or even on the next day's bus. Put yourself in their shoes, getting into Dublin and missing transfers because somebody went down the road, how would you honestly think they would feel? End of the day, they had further than you to go, and it's only fair that a long haul traveller gets looked after first.

I disagree. First come, first served. Every passenger is subject to the same terms and conditions and fare structure, and last I checked there wasn't the "two tier" service level you seem to be suggesting.

This is simply some inspector misusing his authority. Not maliciously no, but the fact of the matter is every passenger that has paid their fare and queued with the rest, deserves the same chance of getting a seat as the person behind them - regardless of their destination.

What should have happened here is an extra bus being called for the "local" run if it was required.

eth0_

Hamndegger wrote:

Well, if you had have got their seats, they would have probably have got t into Busaras at 11,12,1AM or even on the next day's bus. Put yourself in their shoes, getting into Dublin and missing transfers because somebody went down the road, how would you honestly think they would feel? End of the day, they had further than you to go, and it's only fair that a long haul traveller gets looked after first.

Then the OP would have had to wait til "11, 12, 1AM or eve on the next day's bus". THAT is not fair.

Bus Eireann can hire out private buses at the drop of a hat. Which is what they should have done in this case.

My own pet peeve with Bus Eireann - had to get the bus from Dublin to Drogheda in December with a friend who uses it for commuting. It took 1 hour 45mins. This is a bus that left at 7pm. If I drive, it takes 40 minutes! My friend informed me it takes this long every day. I used to commute from drogheda a few years ago and it was a one hour journey. When will these retards wake up and put on EXPRESS buses? 80% of their customers at rush hour are going Drogheda > Dublin city centre. USE THE MOTORWAY!

Also, if a route is also served by Dublin bus, BE shouldn't serve it. Example: Balbriggan. Ideally there should be more Dublin Bus services for Balbriggan> city centre, so these people don't have to get BE (which is a more expensive service). Then the BE buses can bypass Balbriggan altogether.

Hagar

On the face of it boarding the passengers travelling to the furthest destinations seems logical but in fact it's not. There is a knock on effect to take into account. Presumably there would have been people in Fermoy or any of the other towns waiting to board the bus for the rest of it's journey who would also have been denied travel because nobody was getting off in Fermoy to leave a vacant seat for them to use. Travel based on a fair queueing system is the only way to do things.

Bateman

Hagar wrote:

Travel based on a fair queueing system is the only way to do things.

Agreed. Anything else has the potential for a lot worse situations than happened here.

Nevyn

There is a private bus that does the run to dundalk in about an hour and it takes the motorway route which prolly why the bus eireann bus do no take that route.
http://www.matthewscoach.com/dublink.shtml

BE certainly need to be more flexible with their buses, no one should be left for that ammount of time and being told not to get on the buses as they arrived.

DoubleJoe7

Hamndegger wrote:

Well, if you had have got their seats, they would have probably have got t into Busaras at 11,12,1AM or even on the next day's bus. Put yourself in their shoes, getting into Dublin and missing transfers because somebody went down the road, how would you honestly think they would feel? End of the day, they had further than you to go, and it's only fair that a long haul traveller gets looked after first.

Or they could have gotten the 7 o'clock AirCoach like I had to?

If they had gotten there in time they wouldn't have the problem - why should I be punished for them being late?

Also, as has been pointed out, what about those who want to go to Dublin from Fermoy? With no one getting off there'd be no place for them on the bus.

dowlingm

I wonder if compensation is due the way it would possibly be on IE - maybe ask on Platform 11 as the regs may be similar to IE's.