Dublin Bus Network Review

bk

Noopti wrote: »

Are some buses just not "hooked up" to the RTPI system? I have noticed a good few times while waiting for a 16/a at College Green, that a 16 will turn up even though there was no mention of it on the display.

I noticed the same with a 13 last night.

Also on the same bus, the driver didn't know how to use LEAP and gave me a free trip!!

Dub13

Noopti wrote: »

Are some buses just not "hooked up" to the RTPI system? I have noticed a good few times while waiting for a 16/a at College Green, that a 16 will turn up even though there was no mention of it on the display.

Speaking of the 16/a, a common sight for me on the RTPI is something like this:
16: Due
16: Due
16/a: Due
16: 2 mins

And then when I get on one, and check the iphone RTPI app 5 minutes later the next 16/a after that lot would be 30 minutes away. Is this "bunching up" of buses caused by traffic or what?

I seen someone posting on this before,it's because if a cross city bus starts say on Parnell sq it takes a couple of min for the bus to get setup on the system.

bk

Dub13 wrote: »

I seen someone posting on this before,it's because if a cross city bus starts say on Parnell sq it takes a couple of min for the bus to get setup on the system.

Not in the case of the 13 I saw last night.

LXFlyer

There are issues that I've seen with:

1) Buses not appearing at all on the RTPI but arriving at the stop - this could be down to defective GPS equipment.

2) Cross-city workings that have been curtailed for operational reasons to the city centre only (such as being very late etc.) and the controller not updating the AVLC to reflect the fact that it has been curtailed. This causes the bus to appear on RTPI as operating the full route while they are only actually operating to the city centre only.

SilverLiningOK

lxflyer wrote: »

There are issues that I've seen with:

1) Buses not appearing at all on the RTPI but arriving at the stop - this could be down to defective GPS equipment.

2) Cross-city workings that have been curtailed for operational reasons to the city centre only (such as being very late etc.) and the controller not updating the AVLC to reflect the fact that it has been curtailed. This causes the bus to appear on RTPI as operating the full route while they are only actually operating to the city centre only.

There still seems to be teething troubles with the RTPI, especially with recent timetable changes. Was waiting in Suffolk Street yesterday for 14 or 15 (formerly 128 & 15) and discrepencies between displays and destination boards. Display was showing 15 terminating in Eden Quay, where the drivers change but destination board was showing otherwise. Knowing the bus is coming is useful, but destination is important too with these recent amalgamated cross city routes.

The RTPI may be trying to do too much, with dual language and other symbols. Keeping it simple might be more effective. There really is no need to have info as gaeilge. I know some people might be up in arms over this, but real time info is great when it's clean, simple and not too crowded.

The RTPI is a great advancement to waiting for buses especially in tricky weather. Now at least if you miss a bus, you can do something else if you know when the next one is.

LXFlyer

Yes I've noticed that too. The on-street signs were as of this morning still displaying the old termini for the 15/a/b and 140, while the iphone app and Dublin Bus website were correct.

AlekSmart

SilverLiningOK wrote: »

The RTPI may be trying to do too much, with dual language and other symbols. Keeping it simple might be more effective. There really is no need to have info as gaeilge. I know some people might be up in arms over this, but real time info is great when it's clean, simple and not too crowded.

The RTPI is a great advancement to waiting for buses especially in tricky weather. Now at least if you miss a bus, you can do something else if you know when the next one is.

This aspect is turning out to be a MAJOR issue for most Public Transport users,to judge by the numner of negative comments I am getting.

It appears that the need to scroll/alternate to the Irish translation plus the excessively crowded nature of the resultant screen is making the display illegible for a significant number of people (Many with underlying eyesight problems,who are reluctant to wear spectacles or contacts).

However,it seems that it was deemed more important to rigidly enforce the provisions of the Official Languages Act to placate a few strident individuals than to facilitate the majority of Public Transport users....same old story really I suppose ?

Dyr

The Official languages act is grand, the problem is that RTPI is being turned into bilingual bullsh*t by DB :pac:

Posy

lxflyer wrote: »

Buses not appearing at all on the RTPI but arriving at the stop - this could be down to defective GPS equipment.

This happens every day with the 14. In the evening, it will frequently have the next bus due in 35 minutes, then 5 minutes later one arrives. It happens in the morning too, buses arriving out of the blue. It's usually a nice surprise! :eek:

I like the dual language on the RTPI screen.
I don't find it hard to read. However, some of the busy stops can only display the buses due in the next 7-8 minutes because the same stop might have about 8 routes.

markpb

Posy wrote: »

This happens every day with the 14. In the evening

If you have time, it might be worth emailing DB and NTA when this happens. If you can give them the bus number (for example, this bus is VT25 - on the front left of the bus under the indicator) and the route it was operating so they can check it out. It's possible that they don't know a particular bus has a dodgy unit.

A2000

Im at the 40 stop southbound on oconnell st. No bus for 24 minutes then at 13.54 13.55 & 13.58. Or 3 in 4 minutes

looking northbound they are due at 13.53 13.54 14.10 14.11 & 14.34 with buses running close together and then gaps 20-30 mins.

stop

VT30 just passed me out of service but wishing me a Happy Christmas.. no gaeilge in sight!

AlekSmart

stop wrote: »

VT30 just passed me out of service but wishing me a Happy Christmas.. no gaeilge in sight!

Ceart go leor...That'll be off-the-road this evenin,thats for sure !!

This sort of thing has to be stamped out !!!

shels4ever

anyone know whats going on with the Number 13, over 40 min wait for bus form 1:20 today, with 2 no show busses. The service on this route is becoming a joke.

paddyandy

Something new to tell me Lies.....New electronic Bus sinage. The Government should bring in measures for lies .Put fines on them..Great Revenue there !!!!

stop

Anyone know why so many southbound 15s are displaying Clongriffin?

dublinman1990

stop wrote: »

Anyone know why so many southbound 15s are displaying Clongriffin?

I understand that all the Ringsend buses do not have Stocking Avenue displayed now as with the 74 bus. Some Harristown buses have the same problem.

I had seen one bus going through displaying 15 - Clongriffin near Tara Street earlier tonight.

dublinman1990

Did anyone see a VG (Volvo Gemini) in O' Connell Street displaying the number 1 from Pigeon House to Parnell Square at around 5 O' clock this evening. I was in Kylemore Café having my dinner and didn't see the registration number.

I would be very surprised if I did see that tonight.

I think some drivers use route 1 as an Out Of Service substitute - I've seen quite a few.

dublinman1990

It is usually an EV (Environmental Volvo) that I have seen sometimes displaying route 1, I thought it was running an actual service by the looks of it.

Even in Blackrock yesterday I had seen an RV (Royale Volvo) with a sign displaying 999 on the side and back. It displays ''999 - Out of Service'' on the front which always makes passengers . The bus was either going to be used or on the other hand been used on the 17 bus from Blackrock to Rialto.

dfx-

shels4ever wrote: »

anyone know whats going on with the Number 13, over 40 min wait for bus form 1:20 today, with 2 no show busses. The service on this route is becoming a joke.

There were plenty westward, but nothing from 1340 to 1410 northbound and again until 1500. The 69 rescued as many as it could again. Pretty appalling.

Also the RTPI causing confusion and bemusement on Dame St southbound at 1500. 9s and 122s appearing and disappearing and reappearing and recalculating and counting down and appearing from nowhere and all the while, not a single actual bus in sight. A 68A appeared from nowhere (not on RTPI) to help out. Appalling really.

BenShermin

Parents this evening were forced to wait 40 mins on o'Connell Street for a southbound 40 all the while "As Serbhis" buses passing them with "Happy Christmas" on the displays! The bus they're on now has gone from Lord Edward Street to James's Street not letting any passengers on and instead leaving them to wait for the next bus. Absolutely fecking disgraceful!!!

I've already stopped using Dublin Bus to and from work over the Notwork Destruct farce in Ballyfermot. I'm thinking in 2012 I might give the company the two fingers completely and walk/cycle to and from town for my leisure trips. Back to a 1980s bus service for 2012 fares.

LXFlyer

Most of those out of service buses are going from Phibsboro Depot to start peak hour journeys on the 25/66/67 at Merrion Square and the Blanchardstown routes at Baggot Street lest you think otherwise.

It doesn't excuse a 40 minute wait, but frankly the traffic at Liffey Valley has been mental all day so that is not helping.

The_Wrecker

Karsini wrote: »

I think some drivers use route 1 as an Out Of Service substitute - I've seen quite a few.

So use it to shorten a cross city route to CC only.

CIE

Karsini wrote: »

I think some drivers use route 1 as an Out Of Service substitute - I've seen quite a few.

Dublin has to be one of the few cities where "Route 1" is not a major bus route.

Cookie_Monster

CIE wrote: »

Dublin has to be one of the few cities where "Route 1" is not a major bus route.

I presume this will be fixed when ND is done and the renumbering is taken care of...

Bazzer2

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I presume this will be fixed when ND is done and the renumbering is taken care of...

Is this re-numbering plan actually true? I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere officially.

As Network InDirect was being rolled out, some routes numbers were changed, but others were left as they were.

46a could easily have been changed along the way to a simple 46; 46e to 6, 56a to 56.......... you get the idea.

patrickbrophy18

Bazzer2 wrote: »

46a could easily have been changed along the way to a simple 46; 46e to 6, 56a to 56.......... you get the idea.

Agreed. The numbering system is confusing and quite misleading at times. Classic case is the 17 and 17A which couldn't be more different if they tried with the 17 operating entirely on the south side and the 17A operating entirely on the north side. Unless, they were supposed to be merged at some point in the past. However, this would be madness due to the resultant enormous journey length. As such, these numbers should be completely changed.

Also, the 7D has little or absolutely nothing to do with the number 7. The number 8 and 7 have a lot more in common with each other. Frequency and loadings aside, the 7D and 8 should be merged into one route (the new 8) which, from CBC Monkstown onwards, covers Monkstown Avenue, the Monkstown Ring Road, Stillorgan and then the entire N11. The point of this being the removal of a large chunk of duplication with the 46A. The 7B also needs to be renamed to the 7A as the alphabetical gap is no longer necessary.

CIE

patrickbrophy18 wrote: »

Agreed. The numbering system is confusing and quite misleading at times. Classic case is the 17 and 17A which couldn't be more different if they tried with the 17 operating entirely on the south side and the 17A operating entirely on the north side. Unless, they were supposed to be merged at some point in the past. However, this would be madness due to the resultant enormous journey length. As such, these numbers should be completely changed.

Also, the 7D has little or absolutely nothing to do with the number 7. The number 8 and 7 have a lot more in common with each other. Frequency and loadings aside, the 7D and 8 should be merged into one route (the new 8) which, from CBC Monkstown onwards, covers Monkstown Avenue, the Monkstown Ring Road, Stillorgan and then the entire N11. The point of this being the removal of a large chunk of duplication with the 46A. The 7B also needs to be renamed to the 7A as the alphabetical gap is no longer necessary.

The 7B has nothing to do with the 7 and shouldn't be an alpha suffix branch of that route. It's basically the old route 46, running via the Monkstown Ring Road instead of Johnstown Road. The 7A never had anything to do with that routing, too, basically following the 7 via Sallynoggin.

BTW, if you routed the 8 via the N11, it'd then be duplicating the 46A between the city centre and Stillorgan. "Duplication" cannot be helped when it comes to certain main roads; after all, doesn't the 145 "duplicate" the 46A between the city centre and Kill Lane as well? Not sure if people along Monkstown Avenue that would be unused to any bus service (i.e. east of Oliver Plunkett Road) would want the service; perhaps they would prefer to have a direct service to the city centre restored, that was taken away with the re-routing of route 46A?

I never understood using "17A" for the north side route. No sense to it whatsoever. There were plenty of disused non-suffixed route numbers to have used; back when the Finglas-Kilbarrack route was first created, route numbers 9, 43, 57, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 82, 87, and 89 and higher were all not being used. Same with creating "56A" when the 56 was extended past Walkinstown Avenue onto Ballymount Road and further west; why did they bother? (I always thought that a bus going from the city centre to/from Clondalkin via Dolphin's Barn, Crumlin and the Long Mile Road to the Naas Road would have worked back in the 70s; pity it took until the 2000s to actually try that out.)

The 46A as a stand-alone suffixed route will have to be changed at some point too.

Also, some of the more "classic" route numbers that got changed from two-digit to three-digit could make a comeback, perhaps. The old route 22 was surreptitiously re-numbered the 122, and when the 50A to Jobstown became the 50, the route now known as the 150 was the 50 before that. Maybe the 130 can once again be the 30? (but it might be confusing if the 123 became the 23 and the 124 became the 24.)

CIE

CIE wrote: »

I never understood using "17A" for the north side route. No sense to it whatsoever. There were plenty of disused non-suffixed route numbers to have used; back when the Finglas-Kilbarrack route was first created, route numbers 9, 43, 57, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 82, 87, and 89 and higher were all not being used. Same with creating "56A" when the 56 was extended past Walkinstown Avenue onto Ballymount Road and further west; why did they bother? (I always thought that a bus going from the city centre to/from Clondalkin via Dolphin's Barn, Crumlin and the Long Mile Road to the Naas Road would have worked back in the 70s; pity it took until the 2000s to actually try that out.)

I believe this is a relic of the old tram system. A routes went to the northside while the non-A was the southside. For example, the 51 went to Clondalkin while the 51A went to Beaumont.

CIE wrote: »

Also, some of the more "classic" route numbers that got changed from two-digit to three-digit could make a comeback, perhaps. The old route 22 was surreptitiously re-numbered the 122, and when the 50A to Jobstown became the 50, the route now known as the 150 was the 50 before that. Maybe the 130 can once again be the 30? (but it might be confusing if the 123 became the 23 and the 124 became the 24.)

This was done at the time of the City Imp introduction, routes which were changed to Imp operation had their route number increased by 100. Makes little sense nowadays.