Dublin Bus to scrap the 90 and 91 buses from Heuston

aodh_rua

Some bad news emerging for rail commuters. Some commuters got a leaflet yesterday stating that Dublin Bus planned to discontinue the 90 and 91 services from Heuston to the City Centre from next Monday. I spoke to Dublin Bus a couple of times during the day, and the position is that they are withdrawing both services as part of cost-cutting. There is a temporary delay in introducing this because of the ongoing talks with their drivers, but this won't affect the decision.

I think this is a disgrace. The services are used by thousands of commuters along the Kildare route, and they will now have to pile on to the already overcrowded red line Luas and the remaining 92 bus. This will greatly reduce flexibility, passenger comfort and access to the City Centre.

It's amazing that this busy route is being withdrawn to save cost. It seems pretty clear that the commuters are being squeezed out because Dublin Bus couldn't get enough out of Irish Rail to cover the cost of those using combined tickets.

It also comes on top of dropping passenger numbers, price rises and pay-parking - you'd swear they didn't want people using public transport.

I'm involved with the Kildare Rail Users Group, and I've been in touch with the other groups to see if we can find a co-ordinated repsonse. If you want to get involved, let me know.

More here

KC61

What will or will not happen is not cast in stone, as there are union/management talks next Monday.

It is quite possbile that some of the buses may be switched to the 92 which probably needs them in the peak hour. I don't know if this is the case, but it could well be.

Until we get formal confirmation (rather than unofficial leaflets) we don't know. Other commuters were told that the 142 and 41X were being cancelled, but as we now know the driver duties were swapping around and the routes were to continue, but that's not what the drivers (not through any malice, because they were unaware of the overall picture) were telling passengers.

None of us are as yet aware of what exactly is planned, as there could well be swapping between routes in addition to cutbacks.

aodh_rua

KC61 wrote: »

What will or will not happen is not cast in stone, as there are union/management talks next Monday.

It is quite possbile that some of the buses may be switched to the 92 which probably needs them in the peak hour. I don't know if this is the case, but it could well be.

Until we get formal confirmation (rather than unofficial leaflets) we don't know. Other commuters were told that the 142 and 41X were being cancelled, but as we now know the driver duties were swapping around and the routes were to continue, but that's not what the drivers (not through any malice, because they were unaware of the overall picture) were telling passengers.

None of us are as yet aware of what exactly is planned, as there could well be swapping between routes in addition to cutbacks.

Agreed on the need for formal confirmation - but the spokesperson I talked to sought clarification before he got back to me. He said that they did not expect that the talks would result in the re-instatement of either route. Hopefully there will be an increase in 92 capacity, and perhaps with some agitation the impact can be minimised.

KC61

I would certainly be very careful in the manner that this is presented - at the moment there is nothing agreed. So, I would advise a "watch and wait" brief. Personally, I think that once the morning peak has concluded (after 10.30 or so) the 92 would be sufficient, but in the morning peak I would be very surprised if there is a noticeable decrease in buses from Heuston. That would make no sense.

During the rest of the day loads on the 90 are not great, despite my experience last weekend (outlined in another thread but repeated here):

Incidentally, while on the topic of the 90, I would like to relay my experience last Saturday afternoon. I arrived at Heuston Station at 1735 on a train from Portlaoise. The 1740 90 was waiting outside the station and I and several others boarded it. The majority of people went for the LUAS.

A tram arrived and everyone boarded it and it left. The bus departed about a minute later, and had overtaken the tram just before Museum stop. I exited the bus at the stop just at O'Connell Bridge, and strolled to Easons (I emphasise strolled), went in, purchased two magazines, and came back out of the shop, and lo and behold what was stopped at the traffic lights? The very tram that had left Heuston before the bus!

If ever there was a case for Dublin Bus marketing the service poorly this has to be it. The continuous North Quays bus lane makes that journey faster by bus every time, yet people in this still herd themselves onto the tram like sheep. It really amazes me that people cannot grasp that something on rails is not necessarily faster than a bus.

serfboard

Given the numbers of people who get on the Luas, I'm not surprised.

Can Dublin Bus can accurately tell the load factors on the buses? How much detail do the ticket machines/readers tell them?

_Kaiser_

KC61 wrote: »

If ever there was a case for Dublin Bus marketing the service poorly this has to be it. The continuous North Quays bus lane makes that journey faster by bus every time, yet people in this still herd themselves onto the tram like sheep. It really amazes me that people cannot grasp that something on rails is not necessarily faster than a bus.

But the tram is big and shiny and a novelty to the people arriving up from "de country" :rolleyes:

More expensive too as I recall..

loyatemu

the tram should be faster - it ridiculous to spend hundreds of millions on a light rail system and then give it so little priority its slower than the bus it was designed to replace (its slower than walking too between Jervis and Connolly)

Polar101

I wonder if Irish Rail will have to change their "..change here for Intercity, LUAS and 90 bus services" Connolly station announcement to "change here for Intercity, LUAS and <BEEP> bus services".

Victor

Can we keep all speculation to one thread - I nominate this one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055497051