Dublin bus route 84x

Aquitaine

I was on the 84x yesterday evening coming from town. This guy getting off the bus started arguing with the driver regarding where the bus was to stop. I couldnt believe how rude he was - he was shouting at the bus driver - your wrong, your wrong' and once of the bus continued to throw insults.
I think it was the customer that was wrong not the driver - practically every day on that bus someone argues with the driver about the bus stops - i dont think they understand the meaning of X - express! it just doesnt stop everywhere.

ian_m

I'd say express bus drivers get that every day. I don't think Dublin Bus make the routes and stops clear enough.

mikedragon32

A few of the drivers on the 84X route don't seem to know where the bus is supposed to stop either, but that's not to say the customer can't be wrong either.

The most common problem with the 84X seems to be people taking the Newtown bus instead of the Kilcoole bus and vice-versa.

Fratton Fred

Aahh, the expresso services are great. The 46x from Dun Laoghaire to the airport takes only 90 minutes, whereas the usual route, the 746 takes an hour and a half:rolleyes:

jimmycrackcorm

I thought the idea of th X busses was to restrict who gets on, not who gets off. At least that's how it works on the 25X.

Aquitaine

Well if your going to stop at every bus stop then your going to have a hard time stopping people getting on at every bus stop - and then its not an express service anymore

ian_m

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

I thought the idea of th X busses was to restrict who gets on, not who gets off. At least that's how it works on the 25X.

not who gets on and off.
its where people get on and off that is restricted.

SickCert

As a regular driver on the route i hear this all the time.
Im fairly harsh, official stops only.

The ticket machine does display the stops but it was programmed by a fool.

Stillorgan, Brewery rd and Whites cross simply show up as 'Stillorgan rd'.
The Enniskerry stop is displayed as 'N11'.
And three stops are shown to be on the Southern cross BUT theres 4!

The manager at Donnybrook wants the Newtown 'X's pulled so watch this space.

cast_iron

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

I thought the idea of th X busses was to restrict who gets on, not who gets off. At least that's how it works on the 25X.

Ah yes, but it's how you read it. It stops people getting on at non-major stops on the way out of town, but when it gets to the suburbs (where people want to get off), it stops at all the stops (as they are relatively equal value).
Vice-versa for the x's into town. The 25x may well be somewhat unique that way (eg. the 46x operated on a different principle altogether), but it works well.

AlekSmart

Cast_Iron is correct,the Express Bus principle DOES work.
However,Its success is entirely dependent on exploiting the value of that EXPRESS principle.
Threre is little doubt but that Dublin Bus have failed to impliment or capatalize on its virtues.

We should not be hearing sob stories of short-hop passengers being discommoded by the non-stopping issue as the bloody 84X should be FULL of passengers heading beyond Cabinteely at the very least !

Just take a peep at the chaotic situation on the major arterial routes into Dublin and ask why Dublin Bus (And The State !) are not going for the jugular here and getting at least 5% more Long Distance Passengers on routes such as the 84X.

Instead as Sick-Cert sez sections of misguided management are actively seeking ways to take X services off in order to bolster short-hop services such as with the 7E concept.

Cheap,Comfortable,Fast and Reliable Express Services from the Outer Commuter belt can provide a very worthwhile addition to Public Transport....go for it !! :rolleyes:

jrar

Express services DO work, but as usual there's more than one way to skin a cat i.e. express can mean taking passengers from the initial stages of a route and whisking them to the terminus at the other end with little or no stops in between.

An alternative approach could be along the lines of that which I saw used in Budapest as far back as 20 years ago.......route 7 (black) stopped at every bus-stop on that route from the outer SW suburbs (Kelenfoldi) to the centre of Pest. However, there was also a route 7 (red) which only stopped at every 6th or 7th stop usually at points of transfer with other transport modes (trams, metro, mainline stations, etc.). That way, if you don't want to make your way to or from an express stop, you use the local runabout service, and vice-versa. Worked very well as I recall - even as a tourist, one quickly cottoned on that if the plate on the bus-stop didn't indicate any red routes, then it wasn't an express stop, but just for regular services.

SickCert

Part of the problem is the bus doesnt stand out from the average AV. Just an X on the number.
15yrs ago they have had a different colour scroll and Cityspeed normally with Minimum fare displayed below.
Around 7yrs ago that became Xpresso OR Expresso depending on which bus you had also with a different colour scroll (pre-2000 fleet). The modern fleet is just bog standard.

As for the manager. The day of the big PR drop out in the stix! I went up above to point out the printing errors to the ex trainman manager and he was talking removing the Newtowns then.
Some of the locals have discovered that this is the quickest way to Bray in the mornings, 8mins to Kilmac then 10mins to Bray on a 145.

mickoneill30

I know Dublin Bus could make it clearer but the customer isn't always right. I got on the 41X one day last week. The driver constantly shouted (as we were getting on) that we were going through the port tunnel and the first stop was swords. As we took off down the quays a guy got up to get off. The driver asked him where he was going. Whitehall. :rolleyes:

I used to live in Sydney. You should try the bus drivers there. Same problem with the markings on the bus but the drivers really used to take it as a personal insult to anybody daring to ask them if they stopped at certain stops (this was as they were getting on).