[Dublin Bus] New Nitelink Timetable

Nevyn

None on a thursday ? Fúck that.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

thebman

Rawr wrote: »

Indeed. Although I preferred taking the more direct 66N back home, the 67N (aka '25A/66/67A'...N) was a welcome affordable link across the county border.

Although cutting Nitelinks, makes sense in terms of less people going out drinking mid-week (if at all), it just serves as a stab in the back for those of us whose daily-life doesn't always end at midnight. Orestes' post above is typical of a person who's got to work late shifts and must have an available bus service.

Without the Nitelinks, an artificial mid-week curfew of c.a. 23:30 has now been imposed. If I decide to go to a friend's home on the other side of the city during the week, I'm now forced to catch the last usual bus. Before, I'd have the freedom to catch an early Nitelink. Unless I can afford a Taxi to Kildare, that freedom is now gone.

That said, I think I remember a few years ago, that the mid-week Nitelinks would only operate during the Christmas rush, and that year-round mid-week service has only been around for a few short years. Yet those short years felt like the service that we always should of had. With Nitelinks it was even possible to still get home after arriving to Dublin Airport on a late flight.

In my opinion the Nitelink should be regarded less as a means of carting drunks out of An Lar, and considered as more of a needed late-night extension of the existing day-time service. If routes really are running empty busses, the likes of the mid-week 67N (merging the 66N and normal 67N) may be the way to go instead of culling the mid week service altogether.

Agree completely. Obviously just seen as the drunk bus in the company and not as a night service. Agree with merging routes rather than killing the service altogether. If they aren't profitable then merging them would probably make them profitable.

shltter

reckoner wrote: »

Disgraceful! Cutbacks my ass, dont hink they realise how profitable some services such as the 67N Mon-Thurs are, serving 4 major suburban areas! Always packed! And i'm a student, screwed!
1130 last but Sun-Thurs! Great service, great country! Monopoly bull****!

As Dublin Bus has withdrawn services from Mon to Thurs i am sure a private operator could apply for a license to operate Mon to Thurs if there is a profit in it.

Maybe Antoin has already stuck in his application


I am sure Dublin Bus is fully aware of which services on the nitelink make money and which don't

shltter

thebman wrote: »

Agree completely. Obviously just seen as the drunk bus in the company and not as a night service. Agree with merging routes rather than killing the service altogether. If they aren't profitable then merging them would probably make them profitable.

It operates as a commercial service attracts no PSO or subvention as such DB can do as they like operate not operate.

If you view it as an essential public service and it is not commercially viable for DB or any other operator . Then you should contact your politicians and insist it is included in the PSO system under the new DTA.

I presume as DB have removed the Mon to Thurs service the way is open for a private operator to operate some or all or an alternative service at least on those nights.

Indeed for a small operator it may be profitable on certain routes given the wage costs of Inspectors and particularly Chief Inspectors who take the money but serve no useful purpose. A lot of nitelink journeys just to pay the chief inspector nevermind anyone else

MOH

There's already private buses on some routes on weekends, as far as I know?

honru

Rawr wrote: »

That said, I think I remember a few years ago, that the mid-week Nitelinks would only operate during the Christmas rush, and that year-round mid-week service has only been around for a few short years. Yet those short years felt like the service that we always should of had.

I remember browsing through an old '90s Dublin Bus pamphlet, mid-week Nitelinks used to run to the same frequency as weekend services until 04:30. Don't know for how long this operated for, but I do recall the mid-week services being culled after the taxi deregulation.

cherrycool

The last Luas is at half twelve, the last bus should at least be twelve. I think the reason Nitelinks are supposedly 'underused' is because they are at bad times; who gets a half twelve Nitelink at a fiver when they can get the bus an hour earlier? There should be one Nitelink during weekdays, at about half one. And if its still not full enough, use the single decker buses. As for starting Nitelinks at midnight; thats ridiculous. No one will pay five euro for that when the last bus is like twenty minutes earlier. They should take all of the midnight ones and use them during the week! You can tell the bigshots who orchestrated all of this clearly don't slum it on Nitelinks with the rest of us

Buffman

I think the new midnight depature is to allow the same bus and driver get back into the city, have a break, and then run the next service. Same with pushing the 03.30 to 04.00. Means that the '00:00, 02:00, 04:00' routes will have only 1 bus/driver serving them. It's all about saving money.

Corruptedmorals

I'm delighted the last Nitelink is at 4 and not 3 though. And yeah, the 67N was never even half-empty. They should have just merged routes and killed off Nitelinks that are serving areas not that far from town, affordable taxi distance.

Metrobest

Dublin is one of the booziest cities in the world. Unlike other places, the city is buzzing at night with people from the suburbs flocking to take advantage of the city centre's famous nightlife. It seems certain that in this climate, midweek nightlinks could have been commmercially viable but Dublin Bus mismanaged the service as always.

There are fundamental problems with the way nitelinks are managed. The first is where they (don't) stop. They should pick up at every stop outbound, just like a regular bus. Nobody wants to go for long walks at night to get to a bus stop. When will Dublin Bus realize this fact?

Second, the fares. Passengers use nitelinks for two reasons - either a substantial cost saving over a taxi, or due to the unavailability of taxis. On weekends, taxis are in short supply, hence the nitelinks are more heavily used. But on weekdays, taxis are easy to come by. All the more important then to have nitelinks stopping in convenient locations.

Regarding price, for many journeys to inner suburbs it's not much more expensive to take a taxi. So nitelinks should have a zone fare system with an inner zone with a fare of 2.50. Dublin Bus seems to think nitelinks are price inelastic, which is a crazy way to run public transport.

Also, it seems crazy that nitelinks don't pick up passengers as they return to the city centre. How much mission-critical revenue is lost by this ridiculous strategy is anyone's guess.

All these factors and more have combined to destroy the economic viability a very neccessary night time public transport service in a European capital city. And it's all thanks to Dublin Bus's shambolic management of the nitelink service.

sdanseo

I'd expect this crap from a prvate company but not from a public body mandated by government to do what they do. They'll keep double deckers on obscure routes during the daytime with literally nobody on them (102 near me for example might have 5 people at any one time between 10am and 4pm) but not the nitelinks. I rarely if ever use the nitelink, because I don't drink - but that doesn't mean I don't think it's absolute bullshít.

If I thought they'd use the money constructively I wouldn't mind. But the amount they'll save in the scheme of things is puny on a recessional scale - plus now they'll have an excuse to lay of more drivers. Not only that but their passengers now have to pay €30 for a taxi.

Although I bet taxi drivers will be having a grand auld party later.

LiamD

I went for a 2am nitelink last night, but it didn't depart until 2.15. It seemed to be the same with the rest of the nitelinks at college green.

Buffman

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

I'm delighted the last Nitelink is at 4 and not 3 though. And yeah, the 67N was never even half-empty. They should have just merged routes and killed off Nitelinks that are serving areas not that far from town, affordable taxi distance.

Yep, they should have tried combining more routes like the midweek 67N (67N/66N/25N), and given that a few months trial before completely axing the midweek service. Anytime I got a midweek 67N there was always a good few on it.

LiamD wrote: »

I went for a 2am nitelink last night, but it didn't depart until 2.15. It seemed to be the same with the rest of the nitelinks at college green.

More time to sober up!:D


Is this a direct result of DB letting drivers go or are the N drivers on overtime?

Anyway, from Monday night onwards you can all look out for me on Westmoreland Sreet, I'll be the one shouting 'ANYBODY WANNA SHARE A TAXI TO CELBRIDGE':D

AlekSmart

Dublin is one of the booziest cities in the world. Unlike other places, the city is buzzing at night with people from the suburbs flocking to take advantage of the city centre's famous nightlife. It seems certain that in this climate, midweek nightlinks could have been commmercially viable but Dublin Bus mismanaged the service as always.
There are fundamental problems with the way nitelinks are managed. The first is where they (don't) stop. They should pick up at every stop outbound, just like a regular bus. Nobody wants to go for long walks at night to get to a bus stop. When will Dublin Bus realize this fact?

I`m not so sure about the City Centre being in a "buzzing" state any longer,particularly outside of Friday and Saturday night.

Whilst the criticisms of the Nitelink service can be understood there is often a failure to comprehend thentype of service Nitelink actually is.

Its a Limited Stop Express SErvice linking the City Centre with the major Suburbs.
Thats what`s on the tin.

Nitelink was introduced as a reactionary measure many years ago now to cope with a public outcry concerning the situation in the City Centre as Night Clubs closed and the patrons came staggering onto the streets in search of one of the less than 2,000 Taxis then extant.

It`s success was immediate and the interest of the usual political suspects waned as the public order crisis was averted.

However the next step never came,namely the extension of regular stage carriage services on a 24 hr basis along the main corridors in BOTH directions.

Plans were well afoot with all drivers recruited since 2002 capable of being utilized on a 24 hr basis, and at least one route the,7 had a form of proposed bill (Timetable) drafted but the required enthusiasm was not there.

A full 24Hr service could still be introduced with alacrity if only the will existed.
For example a flat fare of €2.20 would represent both value and viability and would be well recieved I suspect.

Sadly however the stomach for new and innovative approaches simply does not exist and the Department of Transport will have no truck whatever with anything less than redundancies,cost savings and service reductions.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Is there any chance of this decision being reviewed, reversed or amended ? What about some public outcry like Alex said put the buses on the road in the first place ?

Sod paying for a taxi. I'll be staying in so...

lostexpectation

which night is student night these days weds or thurs, students who might like to the bus late at night

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Larianne

What's the address and person to complain about these changes? :mad:

Nevyn

http://www.giveusthenight.com/

Is a group trying to change things.

Red Sleeping Beauty

lostexpectation wrote: »

which night is student night these days weds or thurs, students who might like to the bus late at night

-Phuqer- wrote: »

There is actually student nights all week long with Thursday being the busiest

Does Dublin actually have student nights ?
Can I ask where and when and how much it is in and how much drinks are?

Is there not a law prohibiting advertising cheap drink or happy hours ?

Red Sleeping Beauty

Thaedydal wrote: »

http://www.giveusthenight.com/

Is a group trying to change things.

Where exactly ?

http://www.giveusthenight.org wrote:

Give Us The Night is an independent volunteer group of professionals within the music industry, campaigning to bring about a change to the licensing laws in Ireland, with particular regard to nightclubs.

Larianne

I'm guessing she means that if the licensing laws were back to how they were before then more people would use the nitelinks.

Red Sleeping Beauty

I just realised that there's also no Sunday nitelinks. That's just miserable from Dublin Bus. A public trasnport service is to service the public . It shouldn't be ran to make a profit. :mad:

Rawr

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

I just realised that there's also no Sunday nitelinks. That's just miserable from Dublin Bus. A public trasnport service is to service the public . It shouldn't be ran to make a profit. :mad:

I always remember Sunday night being the night that never usually had a nitelink. That said...I feel it was always needed....not everyone out late is clubbing.

MOH

Rawr wrote: »

I always remember Sunday night being the night that never usually had a nitelink. That said...I feel it was always needed....not everyone out late is clubbing.

Indeed. The best bit was every bank holiday when people would arrive in the city centre on Sunday night to find no Nitelinks, cue chaotic scramble for taxis.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

reckoner wrote: »

Disgraceful! Cutbacks my ass, dont hink they realise how profitable some services such as the 67N Mon-Thurs are, serving 4 major suburban areas! Always packed! And i'm a student, screwed!
1130 last but Sun-Thurs! Great service, great country! Monopoly bull****!

i live in maynooth, anytime i got the 67n midweek there was always a good crowd on it. i cant go out in dublin mid week unless there is enough of us to get a taxi home

KC61

MOH wrote: »

Indeed. The best bit was every bank holiday when people would arrive in the city centre on Sunday night to find no Nitelinks, cue chaotic scramble for taxis.

Em there has virtually always been a Nitelink service on bank holiday Sunday nights.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Rawr wrote: »

I always remember Sunday night being the night that never usually had a nitelink. That said...I feel it was always needed....not everyone out late is clubbing.

In light of this great dreadful pillaging of our public service, they should at least offer the ol' 2Nitelink a night sham - Last bus at 12 , one nitelink at half 12, the next and the last nitelink at half2

df1985

theres tonnes of student nights in town monday to thursday, too many clubs to mention.drinks range in price from 2euro to about 3.50, it gets very messy!!..........god i miss college.