Swords-Dublin Express Bus Service

AlekSmart

Indeed,jahalpin rather directly puts a finger on a rather nicely simmering little brew.

The current SE bumph appears not to mention the DSFA Free Travel Scheme but one can assume that in the fullness of time it will be accpeted by them.

However,unlike the CIE group companies the Private Operators really do need to ponder awhile over what terms are on offer from the Dept and compare it to what the potential useage of their services will actually be.

I`m guessing here but I rather suspect that the DSFA will be somewhat reluctant to shell out the Full €3 per journey tarriff to SA.
Eventually they will prob compromise on a figure based upon "Projections" of usage and it is these projections which need to be carefully considered.

The DSFA Free Travel scheme has always been one of the areas where the Republic has led the way in public transport but in the present Cowenesque era it may not last much longer simply because it remains one of the most shockingly unsupervised and fraud friendly pieces of work ever designed !

John R

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Not at the moment!

Was that a reference to the strike or has the 142 been re-routed again?

If not then the 142 does indeed pick-up/set-down on the old N1 at the stop just south of the Malahide Road roundabout.

Victor

AFAIK, the social welfare scheme offers a fixed annual fee only.

John R

AlekSmart wrote: »

The DSFA Free Travel scheme has always been one of the areas where the Republic has led the way in public transport but in the present Cowenesque era it may not last much longer

You mean they might do away with the legacy of Saint Charlie? :eek:

Wishbone Ash

John R wrote: »

Was that a reference to the strike or has the 142 been re-routed again?

If not then the 142 does indeed pick-up/set-down on the old N1 at the stop just south of the Malahide Road roundabout.

It was in relation to the strike.

maxheadroom wrote:

You may also use it if you are at a location on a motorway where a speed limit of 80km/h or less applies.

Thanks for that - I wasn't aware of that little nugget of info!

antoinolachtnai

Social welfare passes - basically, they pay two-thirds, on the basis of a survey done now and again.

We're accepting the pass at the moment even though we haven't all the forms back with SW. Accepting the pass isn't really about the money, it's about integrating with and serving the community. (I had to explain this to the Social Welfare man, I don't think he believed me.)

There is a bit of bureaucracy involved, but it's not unreasonable.

Please all try out the new service! We can arrange a bit of a tour on Saturday at 11am, starting in the city centre if anybody is interested.

John R

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Please all try out the new service!

How about a discount for boards.ie members.

antoinolachtnai

Discounts! Ah stop. What does this look like?

Seriously though, the problem with discounts is the administration. Managing vouchers and loads of different sorts of tickets is a real burden on drivers and bookkeepers. It's actually quite expensive to do when you work it all out.

My priority is to do some sort of affiliation deal with Swords based businesses and community groups.

Anyone who wants to meet at Eden Quay on Saturday at 11.30am for a spot of transport tourism can travel for free though. But you will probably have to pay for your own lunch!

Best,

Antoin.

antoinolachtnai

The Swords Express Day Out, tomorrow, Saturday, if anybody is interested.

http://www.eire.com/2007/11/22/swords-express-day-out/

Victor

So a few of us went along today and met Antoin and travelled to Swords - he even bought lunch (your loss!), so I suppose I have to give him a write up.

Reasonably prompt service out and back. A tiny bit of congestion on North Wall Quay and in Swords Village, but the journey out was 30-something minutes and only 27 minutes on the way back into town. It was quiet on the way out, but reasonable numbers on the way back into town, with more boarding at Eden Quay when I got back to town.

Everything was fairly straightforward - although having the cash machine on the right hand side as I entered the bus was novel. One passenger that boarded obviously hadn't used the service before, as she was handing hte money to the driver, but had the correct change and didn't need to ask questions, so the leafleting and other marketing seems to be getting through.

Customer seemed genuinely happy with the new service

Wishbone Ash

Antoin - Good luck with the new service.

Just wondering - how many buses are required to fufill the timetable requirements?

Victor wrote: »

So a few of us went along today and met Antoin and travelled to Swords

I must do my own little undercover travel during the week!

Metrobest

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Antoin - Good luck with the new service.

Just wondering - how many buses are required to fufill the timetable requirements?


I must do my own little undercover travel during the week!

Best of luck with this new service! I really hope you can prove to the public that private buses can do a better job than the Dublin Bus monopoly.

Victor

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Just wondering - how many buses are required to fufill the timetable requirements?

Two at the weekend and I think he said 4 during the week.

Wishbone Ash

Victor wrote: »

Two at the weekend and I think he said 4 during the week.

Thanks Victor.

D'Peoples Voice

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

A new all-day, two-way express private bus service from Swords to Dublin city centre is scheduled to come into operation tomorrow (Monday 19th November).

Does anyone know if they were granted a licence under Section 7 of the Road Transport Act 1932 and if they will be selling annual tickets as a result?

http://www.revenue.ie/pdf/finbil2004p.pdf

Subsection (1) shall not apply[tax relief is applicable] to expense incurred by the body corporate in or in connection with the provision for a director or employee of a monthly or annual bus or railway pass issued by or on behalf of one or more approved transport providers for travel on either or both bus and railway.
(b) In this subsection- ‘approved transport provider’ means—

(a) Coras Iompair Eireann or any of its subsidiaries

(b) a holder of a passenger licence granted under section 7 of the
Road Transport Act 1932

(c) a person who provides a passenger transport service under an arrangement entered into with Coras Iompair Eireann in accordance with section 13(1) of the Transport Act 1950,

(d) the Railway Procurement Agency or any of its subsidiaries,

(e) a person who has entered into an arrangement with the Railway Procurement Agency, in accordance with section 43(6) of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 to operate a railway;

John R

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

Does anyone know if they were granted a licence under Section 7 of the Road Transport Act 1932

Yes.

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

and if they will be selling annual tickets as a result?

Offering annual (or monthly) tickets is one thing, offering them through a scheme to company employees in order to qualify for the tax relief is something else.

No private operator so far has offered tickets under the tax refund scheme, presumably because of the extra time and expense that setting it up and administering it costs.

It just highlights the stupidity of having multiple operators without any central system for ensuring the best service and value for passengers.

It also highlights the stupidity of having needlessly complex tax rebate arrangements. If they really wanted to give people the benefit then they could easily just refund the operators directly for all annual tickets sold, it's not as if anyone bar PAYE workers would be buying annual commuter tickets anyway.

antoinolachtnai

It is not correct to say that no private operator so far has offered tickets under the tax refund scheme.

I agree with the rest of your comments though.

Wishbone Ash

antoin - was this thread part of your research prior to establishing the service?

John R

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

It is not correct to say that no private operator so far has offered tickets under the tax refund scheme.

Go on then... I do love to be proved wrong.

antoinolachtnai

Mortons and Matthews I believe, according to telephone conversations I had last week with reliable sources.

John R

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Mortons and Matthews I believe, according to telephone conversations I had last week with reliable sources.

Ah, yes. Indeed Matthews do, I had forgotten about them.

Victor

Some images from the day.

AlekSmart

Good to see a smooth start to the SE operation.
Interesting to see the Urbus involvement as they have been one of the more impressive of the private licenced operations way out there in North County Dublin.
Does this mean that SE is now an Eirebus operation or is Antoin still the Licence Holder for SE ?
Is there a sub-contract element involved ?

The main reasons for my asking this is the current somewhat odd situation with the Patton Flyer on the Southside,which from Media Reports confirmed by the Dept has operated a full service since July with No licence whatever ?

Oddly enough after the initial Press reports on this,there has been little or no follow up....wonder what the SP is out in the Borough.... ? :rolleyes:

antoinolachtnai

It's a subcontract and our company is the licence holder. Don't know anything about PF other than that it's very popular and the people in Dun Laoghaire think it's great.

Sizzler

I hope I'm wrong for AOL's sake but I think the service could do so much better if it included some of the higher density areas around the town.

Also people who have invested in bus tickets for the year are invaribaly not going to even contemplate using this service till their ticket runs out.

Wishbone Ash

I travelled on this service today and was very impressed.


I got the 8.09am from outside Penny's. About 20 people boarded and we departed at 8.13am. The drivers was 'Robbie' (he had his name displayed). Approx. 7 more boarded at Pinnock Hill and then it was none stop to Dublin. We emerged from the Port tunnel at 8.26am and it was a bit slow from then on particularly on the East Wall Road A lot of passengers alighted in the IFSC area. Reached Georges Quay at 8.43am. A very impressive 30 minutes at peak time!

I got the 3.24pm service home. About 8 boarded in Eden Quay and we left at 3.29pm picking up one more passenger at the IFSC. The left lane of the tunnel was closed. I thought the return driver (no name displayed) drove far too close to the oil tanker in front of us initially but eased off after a km or two. We we out on the M1 proper at 3.45pm and on the R132 at 3.49pm. We reached the pavilions SC at 3.55pm. Total 26 minutes!

I noticed that everyone had the correct fare even though I didn't see any signage indicating that this was necessary.

Both drivers were well groomed and presentable.

The buses were 48 seater Vanhool Arizees. The appeared to have plenty of poke, were comfortable and had seat belts, footrests and armrests.

__________________________________________________

There are a few matters that need addressing in my opinion.

* It would be helpful if the drivers announced when the bus has reached the last stop especially considering that it is a new service and passengers may not be familiar with the route.

* The return bus dropped us off on the Pavilions Roundabout - very inappropriate and potentially dangerous. I don't know whether this was the driver's decision or company policy.

* The bus parks half on the road and half on the footpath outside Ray Burke's former home between journeys. Inappropriate, illegal and potentially dangerous. I noticed a foot patrol Garda taking an interest in this. Again, I don't know if this is a driver's decision or company policy.

And finally, apologies for being pedantic but the word 'Pavilion' is misspelled on the sides of the buses, on the timetable, on the ticket issuing machine and on the tickets themselves. :eek:

__________________________________________________

Overall, it was a very positive experience and I will certainly be availing of it again.

Well done antoin!

penexpers

Metrobest wrote: »

I really hope you can prove to the public that private buses can do a better job than the Dublin Bus monopoly.

There weren't any complaints when the 41x was using the port tunnel.

Sizzler

penexpers wrote: »

There weren't any complaints when the 41x was using the port tunnel.

Exactly, just as quick, cheaper and better route.

mickoneill30

Sizzler wrote: »

Exactly, just as quick, cheaper and better route.

And absolutely packed (the Rivervalley one anyway) and frequently full after stop 4 or 5 of the 11 stops that it stops at in Swords. When I asked if there was any possibility of any extra buses I was told there was nothing they could do. What would a private operator do if his buses were packed every time? More customers = more money. It seems the port tunnel caught them by surprise too and they let a private operator get in an application before them. If only they'd known that the council were building a tunnel into the city. Why can't Dublin Bus be informed about this kind of stuff instead of just coming along one day and seeing a shiny new tunnel.
I live right beside stop 10. I used to have to get up earlier and walk for 20 mins down to stop 1 and then have a nice trip around Rivervalley / Boroimhe for a further 10 / 15 mins (just to get back where I started). And that was still better than getting the non express bus. So before I got anywhere I'd been on the go for 30 - 35 mins watching the people who can't figure out bus routes put out their hands at a full bus around stops 6 and above. I wasn't alone.

As for coming home, have either of the posters above been on the 41Xs during the evening? Gardner St. is lovely at this time of the year. You can spend 20 mins on an average day on your 41X gazing out at it.

As a disclaimer I think Dublin Bus are great, cheap and reasonably reliable. But as a priority I want to get in and out of the city quick. If a private operator will do that better for an extra €1 or €2 then I'll be sitting on that bus.

bk

mickoneill30 wrote:

And absolutely packed (the Rivervalley one anyway) and frequently full after stop 4 or 5 of the 11 stops that it stops at in Swords. When I asked if there was any possibility of any extra buses I was told there was nothing they could do. What would a private operator do if his buses were packed every time? More customers = more money.

In fairness, DB want to buy more buses and put them on all routes, but it is the government that has been blocking DB from expanding it's fleet over the last few years.

The government has been blocking DB because the EU wants the government to open up the market to private competition, but the government has been doing it in a typically half arsed way.