Dublin Bus route 128

MintyDoris

Hi All,

Does anyone have any feedback about 128 route from Clongriffan to Rathmines?

Are the travel times stated on the website realistic? Do the buses turn up on time? Is there any bottle necks along the route in the mornings or the evenings? Anything else that would help me to plan my journey?

Thanks everyone

spurious

I usually get this in the North Strand and it's a pretty good service.

There used to be annoying delays as they changed driver in town, but they seem to have overcome this recently and the drivers are generally waiting.

The main bottle neck I see is from about Connolly station to Tara Street in evening rush hour. I don't get it in the mornings, sorry.

KD345

The 128 would be one of the more reliable services. There is a QBC along the Malahide Road and the bus gate at College Green also helps it cross town quickly.

For any cross city bus route there will always be the risk of a traffic problem, but I think things have improved a lot in the last year or so.

MJohnston

Its usually not too bad, although last week it waited for nearly 10 full minutes near Tara Street for the changeover driver, I was annoyed.

Another quirk, I get it from Connolly to Stephens Green, so I get the city centre (50 cent) fare, the drivers never seem to get what I mean at first, and I always get a ticket that bears no relation to where the last stop I can get off at actually is. Maybe thats a problem with the City Centre fare as a whole, I don't know.

Maldini2706

Way quicker than the 29A

Victor

I imagine the main problems are from Amiens Street to College Green.

Southbound, Malahide Road at Fairview can be a problem when the bus lane is used for parking during the day.

Northbound, Upper Rathmines Road can also be congested.

AlekSmart

MJohnston : Another quirk, I get it from Connolly to Stephens Green, so I get the city centre (50 cent) fare, the drivers never seem to get what I mean at first, and I always get a ticket that bears no relation to where the last stop I can get off at actually is. Maybe thats a problem with the City Centre fare as a whole, I don't know.

Unlike the Aviation industry which places a premium on simplicity and ease-of-use on most of it`s systems,the terrestrial transportation modes often appear totally dedicated to making simplicity an impossibility.

Thus it is with the City Centre Fare :rolleyes:

There is no Problem with the City Centre Fare per se,but there is a mighty problem with how Dublin Bus implements it without first bothering to integrate it into it`s current operational structures.

It`s one thing to produce glossy hand-outs complete with spider-map and zone layout( http://www.dublinbus.ie/PageFiles/2512/CCF%20Leaflet.pdf) but when this new innovation simply does not coincide with the long-standing pre-existing infrastructure then it makes for a very fraught customer (and Driver) experience.

Take for example a customer planning on boarding a Number 4 or 7 Bus at Merrion Square/Holles St and travelling to O Connell St

Try as he/she might a Busdriver with a correctly up-dated Ticket Machine will NOT be able to issue a City Centre Fare until the Bus reaches Clare Street (Stage 74)

This sort of issue should NEVER have arisen given the entirely digitized nature of the Ticketing system,yet it exists and is causing daily grief to both customer and staff alike.

Similarly a customer travelling Northbound from the City Centre on a Number 3,11,16 122 or 746 can travel as far as Gardiner St whereupon they will find not one but TWO plates affixed to the Bus Shelter informing them of the End of the City Centre Zone...an interesting and no doubt very welcome extension from the advertised Parnell Square West limit.

However,and this is where contention enters stage left....that same customer,not surprisingly,may be fully confident that they can then make the return journey also on a City Centre Fare....they most certainly cannot,as the Zone(which is supposed to end at Parnell Square West)does not commence until Parnell Square East (That darn Stage 24 again).

That is a considerable difference in location AND fare,as the appropriate correct fare becomes €1.15.....still good value,but NOT what the on-street signage is leading one to believe.

Apart from the quite significant contradictions on-the-street,we also have a significant level of on-bus impediments to what should be the most issued ticket on many cross-city routes.

Put simply,there are too many buttons to push to complete what should be a machine-gun fast transaction.

Drivers first have to manually enter a sub-menu,then locate a line and issue the fare from that position,fair (!!) enough...however should a customer require a change-ticket (a €1 coin is a popularly tendered amount) the driver must then manually exit the sub menu,returning to the main menu before a change ticket can be issued.

So it can be seen that if a number of customers board,each requesting a CC Fare and each requires a Change-Ticket the entire process then becomes a travesty of what the CC Fare was intended to achieve.... an increase in City Centre short-hop journeys by customers keen to exploit the benefits on reduced journey-times subsequent upon major iniatives such as the College Green Bus Gate and Macken Street Bridge developments.

It`s almost as if somebody had decided to make damn sure that City Centre Bus Speeds were not going to get so attractively rapid as to perhaps further depress the revenue streams of any more Multi-Storey Car Parks.....(OK Ok,I know.... thats for the Conspiracy Theories Forum ),

All it takes to get the thing functional and improve the attraction of the CC Fare is firstly a corporate recognition that the Customer requires the kindness of a simple clear Stage marking at each relevant Boarding Stage. (Kinda handy for some Drivers too....)

Secondly the allocation of a main menu ticket issue button,of which there are currently two options available.
One blank button with no allocated use and a second "Feeder" Ticket Button which has no relevance to 98% of the Companys Routes and 100% of the City Centre Zone routes.
This action,at a stroke,would ensure a rapid delay-free issue of the ticket and short-circuit the issue of the Driver "Not getting it" when presented with a CC Fare request.

Operating a bus efficiently in the City Centre is based to a great degree on speedy repetitive ticket-issuing,something which has assumed greater significance with the ever expanding number of routes being squeezed through a reduced amount of City Centre Bus Stop space.

My apologies to the Op and MJohnston for rambling on a bit,but the entire CC Fare issue is,to me,a classic case of a good idea which is given the ability to go very BAD due to lack of appreciation......interest...committment,I don`t really know.

Look after the 50c`s and the €`s will look after themselves ?

KD345

I think the problem above was more to do with drivers not knowing what the 50c fare actually was, as opposed to just finding the button on the machine.

I wouldn't agree that the 50c fare causes daily grief to customers. In fact, I think the 50c fare has been one of the better promoted parts of Dublin Bus in recent years. The pink marks on stops, the information panels and on-board posters were very clear, and lots of passengers seem to understand it. It's a shame that some drivers seem to be unaware of what it actually is.

lucernarian

The problems that customers find at Merrion Square westbound on the 4/7 routes certainly exist. I use it regularly enough, especially during January and February. Some drivers figure it out more quickly than others on how to manually set the bus location to allow city centre fares, even now.

I've also been questioned by drivers on what I asked and whether it was a valid fare for that time or place... as recently as 3 weeks ago.

This is off-topic though.:o

sdanseo

I get the 142 which traverses the city from Conolly to Rathmines too - almost the same way as the 128 does - usually get off in town but the one time I went to Rathmines on it last week it got me there an hour after leaving Malahide....basically 30 mins to go the last 2-3 miles.

AlekSmart

Some drivers figure it out more quickly than others on how to manually set the bus location to allow city centre fares, even now.

And therein lies the rub....what the Driver is doing here is bumping up the stage to 74 so that the machine will issue the CC Fare ticket.

The reality is that the customer is still actually boarding at Stage 73 and not entitled to get a CC Fare IF the Driver is adhering to the Company`s own rules.

It boils down to Dublin Bus purporting to operate a Fare /Stage system whereas in reality it has all but abandoned the principle in favour of....something else...

I think the problem above was more to do with drivers not knowing what the 50c fare actually was, as opposed to just finding the button on the machine.

The CC Fare is merely a new Marketing led wheeze which saw the old Shoppers Fare renamed.

The Shoppers Fare was only available Monday to Saturday from 1000 to 1600 so the CC Fare introduction also involved a considerable time benefit.