Bus Éireann already dropping busses from routes!

vibe666

just in reaction to the news recently that there's some sort of meeting to decide about reducing the fleet.

it's already happening!

it seems like a number of 3rd party contractor buses have already been removed from routes and nobody has mentioned anything about it because technically they're not Bus Eireann so they don't seem to count towards official figures, much like cutting contractor and temp workers from your workforce doesn't count towards employment figures.

my fiancé gets a coach into Dublin from Navan and on Friday evening two buses were dropped from her route home and three buses worth of people were crammed onto a single double decker bus to Navan.

Also, this week, her regular 6:30am bus from Navan has been cut too and the this morning the remaining bus from Navan 10 minutes later was full before it got to her stop and went right past her and everyone else this morning leaving everyone at the side of the road.

luckily she was just getting out of the car when it went past without stopping so she hopped back in and we drove to Dunshauglin (sorry to everyone else at the stop, if I'd thought of it at the time i could have given them a lift too) and had to leave her there, but of course that bus went past there too leaving about 40 people standing there scratching their heads.

I'm assuming she made it in eventually (not heard from her yet) but all this crap on the radio and TV about Bus Eireann 'thinking' about reducing the fleet is complete bullsh1t as it's already happening.

i thought they were supposed to be state run, sort of a for, of & by the people type of thing, not your usual money grabbing private outfit.

it's not like bus travel is even remotely cheap either, the return fare is double from Navan to Dublin what it is from Dunshaughlin to Dublin (€7.40 against €14.80) for an extra 10 miles so you'd expect a certain level of service and this certainly isn't it.

EDIT: after all that, she just got back to me with the following when I asked her if she made it into work okay in the end.

Yes, while I was sitting on the bus waiting for 12 mins for it to leave another 109 passed us and a further bus pulled in behind us – so there are buses just at the wrong times. Therefore all it seems they have cut is their ‘cop on’!

at least she doesn't sound bitter.

Run_to_da_hills

Hopefully this decay in public transport will leave a gap open for private enterprise. We may yet an opening for Circle Line again if they still have their fleet.

AlekSmart

I`m amazed that such unpleasantness could be occurring in the Minister`s own constituency....must be some mistake here.....

vibe666

AlekSmart wrote: »

I`m amazed that such unpleasantness could be occurring in the Minister`s own constituency....must be some mistake here.....

looks like youmight me right.

it turns out that the service in question was provided by a 3rd party called Tully's who went out of business last week and let all their drivers go, rather than something Bus Eireann have done themselves, so apologies there.

my better half phoned them to complain about the lack of service and was told what happened and that they hope to have alternatives in place by next week.

1huge1

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Hopefully this decay in public transport will leave a gap open for private enterprise. We may yet an opening for Circle Line again if they still have their fleet.

Ya like citylink re-opening the galway-limerick-cork route. More of that is needed.

serfboard

1huge1 wrote: »

Ya like citylink re-opening the galway-limerick-cork route. More of that is needed.

Agree with this and the other poster about the Circle Line. If the private operators can be brave enough to invest now and can afford it, Dempsey/CIE are after handing them the ball. Let's see if they run with it.

Cleopatra12

Vibe,
I think you are wrong... I spotted a Tullys bus on the road today carrying pax.

vibe666

my g/f was on one the other day with one of the regular tully's drivers, however the tullys sign was taken off the front so it looks like someone is still using their buses.

however, if it does turn out to be wrong and they are still in business, then it's Bus Eireann who told my g/f and her who told me, so if the info is wrong then it's Bus Eireann's fault for lying to their customers and i think I'm in the clear.

my guess is that either someone took it over as a whole, or some of the drivers are renting the buses themselves and doing nbixers for Bus Eireann or something like that.

Vic_08

vibe666 wrote: »

my g/f was on one the other day with one of the regular tully's drivers, however the tullys sign was taken off the front so it looks like someone is still using their buses.

however, if it does turn out to be wrong and they are still in business, then it's Bus Eireann who told my g/f and her who told me, so if the info is wrong then it's Bus Eireann's fault for lying to their customers and i think I'm in the clear.

my guess is that either someone took it over as a whole, or some of the drivers are renting the buses themselves and doing nbixers for Bus Eireann or something like that.

It is no doubt something along those lines, although you are correct in that cuts have already taken place. A number of peripheral services across the country have been trimmed or removed in the last 6 months but even the dimmest of BE managers wouldn't be stupid enough to pull packed peak hour buses from our busiest route like that. Not yet anyway.

There are two types of services for BE that are operated by hired in coaches.

The type mentioned above where a specific departure or scheduled extra will always be operated by a specific company. These are long term contracts and the operator is made responsible for ensuring the service runs day in day out. It will not appear at all on daily rosters for BE operations so if at short notice they fail to run there is little chance of BE providing cover, we often don't have enough buses/drivers to cover our own rosters as it is.

The other type is short notice cover where certain companies are on contract to provide buses/drivers to cover gaps where we don't have enough to run all our rostered services. they can also be used to provide extra buses at short notice on departures that are unable to cope with demand.

vibe666

thanks for the info Vic. this bus has been running for ages like clockwork every morning within about a 2 minute window without fail.

it used to be run by someone else before tully's took it over but it's been tully's for a good while now.

it does looks like they have cover again, but i guess time will tell as she says they've been getting a very large recurring presence of conductors compared to what they normally would get, so i guess they're seeing what's what and making sure buses are packed to the gills.

one thing i will say though, they better not start on that "more comfortable coaches make for more comfortable yourney's" crap again or i'll be on to trading standard because they pack you in like sardines. anyone even remotely close to 6 feet tall wouldn't even be able to get their legs in straight and anything much over 6 feet and every journey is torture. thankfully at 6'5" it's not something i've had to do for a long time, but the g/f is a 6 footer and she's crippled on some of those buses although others are just about okay.