Dublin Bus in the rain

LiamD

Today (raining heavily) I was sitting upstairs just behind the stairs on an older RV type bus and was surprised at the amount of water on the floor. As the bus braked and accelerated a stream of water shot up and down the bus (photos attatched). There was even rubbish floating up and down the edge of the bus. Luckily the bus wasn't very full so I could put my bag (full with books and laptop because of exams) on the seat beside me and keep my shoes out of the puddle.

This was at 4pm so the bus would be going back into town (and presumably out again) at rush hour when the bus was likely to get very full. Anyone using the bus at rush hour won't have the room that I had to protect their belongings so their shoes / trousers / bags are definitely getting wet. If I hadn't noticed the problem and put my bag on the ground my laptop and college books would have been ruined by the water seeping into my bag. Would Dublin Bus replace it for me? I doubt it!

Has anyone else noticed this? How did that much water even get in? Surely we're entitled to use public transport without having our possessions ruined.

Westwood

more then likely it was urine or puke.

Pigwidgeon

yeah i've noticed this before coming home from school, only on the older buses for some reason though

January

Open windows and leaky lights. Oh and people drying out if they're soaked, the water drips onto the floor.

Red Alert

The RV's have quite a steep gulley on either side so the water seems to race faster on them than the other types. Also for some reason the drivers tend not to run the heaters on the RV continuously (whereas they seem to on the newer types), so the bus doesn't dry out. Add the condensation into the mix too. Yuck!

loyatemu

I noticed this before and its yet another example of why the bus is low-grade second-class transport in this city

TirEoghain

Probably something to do with the fact that the RV is a rather old design of bus. While Dublin Bus have been buying the Alexander RH type bodywork on buses from 1990 to 1999 (RH 1990-1993, RA1994-1996/7?, the remainder RV), this type of bodywork has been in production by Alexander since long before that.

There were other more modern buses available, but Dublin Bus opted for the Alexander RH type right up to 1999 before they changed over to the ALX400.

Whether or not this is a problem on other types of buses I have no idea.

Red Alert

I have a feeling the AX/AV's have a drain port at the back also for rainwater. Other than that, the RV's are a very comfortable bus upstairs.

TirEoghain

I'd say the main source of water in the RV is the sliding windows that the rain can blow straight in through, while the AX/AV have hopper windows, so if the window is open, the rain will still be kept out as it would have to get up and over the window to get in.

r3nu4l

Did you inform the driver OP? What did s/he say?

This is really nothing new, I remember this happening quite a lot in the mid-90's and to be honest the amount of water you've shown there in the photos is nothing compared to two specific occasions I remember

LiamD

r3nu4l wrote: »

Did you inform the driver OP? What did s/he say?

This is really nothing new, I remember this happening quite a lot in the mid-90's and to be honest the amount of water you've shown there in the photos is nothing compared to two specific occasions I remember

No, I didn't inform the driver. I know it's easy for me to moan on here about it but I wasn't sure about the reception I'd get if I did mention it. He was probably aware of it anyway, because it had been at the terminus in town before I got on it and correct me if I'm wrong but don't the drivers have to do a quick walkthrough of the bus at the end of each journey?

My main issue with the water is that it could really damage people's belongings / clothes. It happened to me before so I know to watch out for it, but if I didn't it would have cost me well over a grand to replace my laptop and those books. It's not nice to have to sit for an hour in traffic with a 10 kilo bag on your lap to prevent it getting wet! At rush hour the bus is always chocker with the 9 to 5 crowd and that much water could easily damage fancy shoes and suits.

I get the bus every day and recently I've noticed a good improvement in the bus route I use (more frequent etc) but we used to get the nicer, newer AV / AX buses the majority of the time. Now we get mostly these older ones which aren't as comfortable. Obviously I'd prefer more old buses than no buses at all, but I'd like it even more if they took one or two of those half full triaxles off the 46A and gave it to us! Unfortunately I think most of the RVs in Ringsend are 99 D so they're not due for replacement for another few years.

Red Alert

I think the tri-axles you're talking about were a new allocation for that route as opposed to coming off the 46A. Not every route does that well from new bus allocations either. Also many of the 'top up' buses on the 46A seem to be the new EV ones which is a bit unfair on everyone else.

TirEoghain

Red Alert wrote: »

I think the tri-axles you're talking about were a new allocation for that route as opposed to coming off the 46A. Not every route does that well from new bus allocations either. Also many of the 'top up' buses on the 46A seem to be the new EV ones which is a bit unfair on everyone else.

Ringsend don't have any VT class buses. The OP was just saying that he would prefer that Donnybrook gave a couple of thier VT's for whatever route he is talking about. I think the OP's only hope of getting newer buses is that when the new allocation of EVs and Wright Geminis come on board that the 99 RVs get cascaded to replace older ones and in turn that his route get AVs.

corktina

slightley off topic...but when i was in the Smoke t'other day, I looked in vain for fleet numbers on the buses...are there any?

Heart

Dublin Bus fleet numbers are on the front corner by the door, however unlike Bus Eireann the number in the reg. plate still matches the fleet number too.

Xylophonic

LiamD wrote: »

I get the bus every day and recently I've noticed a good improvement in the bus route I use (more frequent etc) but we used to get the nicer, newer AV / AX buses the majority of the time. Now we get mostly these older ones which aren't as comfortable. Obviously I'd prefer more old buses than no buses at all, but I'd like it even more if they took one or two of those half full triaxles off the 46A and gave it to us! Unfortunately I think most of the RVs in Ringsend are 99 D so they're not due for replacement for another few years.

The 99D RV's came from Harristown to replace the older RA class buses. With the 50, 56A now lowfloor, and the 74, 74A lowfloor, there are less lowfloor (AV/X) buses for the 15/AB etc...

IanCurtis

I think most of the water comes from umbrellas propped up against the seat.

It's a bit annoying all right, but I wouldn't put anything on the floor no matter what.