N11 Busses

km991148

Feck me.. I have heard a few stories about N11 busses.. and I know its been done to death about here.. but I didnt really beleive that some pr!ck would try and teach another road user a lesson for holding them up by using a fecking bus!

Got beeped (for having the audacity to cycle on the road, I know I was tech in the wrong as there was parts of a cycle lane), drew level with me (showing that there actually was space to overtake afterall..) stared me out then floored it (as much as you can in a double decker) and pulled accroos my path and on the brakes into a bus stop. After he 1st drew level I eased off to let him go - I was in a hurry.. but not that much to try and fight with a bus! Had a few words, and he actually accuses me of causing an elderly passenger harm (dont know what he meant probably as he was jumping on the brakes like a loon)..

Anyway.. no harm done, gonna report it (probably to no avail) but where does anyone get off trying to imtimidate someone with a bus, I mean FFS...

(small rant over.. carry on..)..

jefferson73

Unfortunately it's only a matter of time before a cyclist is seriously injured or worse on the N11 at the hands of a bus driver.
I believe the majority of the bus drivers are considerate to cyclists,my experiences have been good, however, there is a minority or an indvidual that is going to have blood on there hands sooner rather than later.
I made a complaint to Donnybrook station on Tuesday after a 46A tried to run me off the road just after UCD.

chakattack

I've had a similar incident with a Dublin bus driver on the N11 and there's a string of similar reports here. I reported it but my efforts to prosecute failed because the guards didn't follow up in time to get the CCTV footage from the bus. It's stored for 3-5 days so act fast and insist that they seek evidence immediately.

To be fair the guard I dealt with took the matter quite seriously and was very understanding when I explained precisely why I made a conscious decision not to use the cycle lane.

If you PM me I can give you details of who I was dealing with. I'm sure if he starts to see a trend emerging it will elevate the issue.

ckeego

Some crazy stuff goes on along the N11..Unfortunately I have to traverse it on all my training rides. That said, I was out today on the Kilmac to Callary to Roundwood road and was forced up on the ditch by a Tour Bus (One of 6!!) that passed me and to a man, they ALL overtook going into corners and on solid white lines...Pure danger..BEWARE!:mad:

chakattack

jefferson73 wrote: »

Unfortunately it's only a matter of time before a cyclist is seriously injured or worse on the N11 at the hands of a bus driver.
I believe the majority of the bus drivers are considerate to cyclists,my experiences have been good, however, there is a minority or an indvidual that is going to have blood on there hands sooner rather than later.
I made a complaint to Donnybrook station on Tuesday after a 46A tried to run me off the road just after UCD.

Absolutely, in my experience of cycling all over Dublin, Dublin bus drivers are very good and some of the most considerate and predictable drivers on the road.

Either there is one psycho on the N11 or more probably based on the number of these incidents, the drivers at Donnybrook have some sort of game going on.

km991148

obviuosly there are good and bad road users everywhere, but the attitude was ridicuous.. one manouer like that on some absent minded cyclyst/someone not as confident or close passing as cyclist hits a pot hole and its game over..

@chakattack - if u pm those details that would be good.. although no chance of anything happening as I only got pic of rear reg plate and remember that the driver had a tash.. (I would be the worst witness if anything real happened..)

xz

ckeego wrote: »

Some crazy stuff goes on along the N11..Unfortunately I have to traverse it on all my training rides. That said, I was out today on the Kilmac to Callary to Roundwood road and was forced up on the ditch by a Tour Bus (One of 6!!) that passed me and to a man, they ALL overtook going into corners and on solid white lines...Pure danger..BEWARE!:mad:

That road can be dangerous at any time, the speed that traffic goes on that road is frightening. In fact, just back from Club Races along there and the risks some of the drivers were taking to overtake the riders just beggared belief.That road is a bit narrow for those tour buses,especially from Kilmac to Calary.

seanhunt

I cycle the city to loughlinstown stretch of the n11 a lot and had some pretty close calls with the buses, especially coming down the hill all the way to ucd. A few times some of em have belted by with a little more than a centimeter from the end of the handlebar, espeacially coming into a green lit junction. Scary. Would never go off the cycle lane tho, its a lovely flat road most of the time but its too dangerous. Cocky drivers when the cycle lane cuts through a third turning lane are the worst tho, gave one fella who cut me off the finger one afternoon when i passed him later at a set of lights and he literally mounted half his car on the cycle lane and chased me down, luckily a police checkpoint further up the road detered him further but it was a nervous journey after that. Anyhows yea buses can be fun too tho, not so much anymore but used to race them to bray just to make the commute interesting.

AstraMonti

I have reported 3 times abusive behavior by N11 bus drivers and nothing happened, totally nothing, not even a call back by a supervisor to tell me they are sorry.

chakattack

AstraMonti wrote: »

I have reported 3 times abusive behavior by N11 bus drivers and nothing happened, totally nothing, not even a call back by a supervisor to tell me they are sorry.

The Gardai will take it more seriously.

monument

Reporting something to Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann just lets them know about it, but it's really bad behaviour from a driver you should be making an official complaint.

If you go this way you can still can make an complaint to the gardai later. Or as other posters has suggested you can go straight to the gardai.

In all cases remember to write down as many details as possible as soon as you can -- what they did, what section of road they did it in, the bus route no, time of day, date, bus no if you can see it, the licence plate, driver description etc

fenris

Straight to the Gardai is the only way, that is what I should have done when I was run off the road by an out of service bus beeping the whole time on the N11. There is no point in going to dublin bus, the agenda there is damage limitation to the company which translates as you going away after a little rant and nothing being done internally.

If you are serious go to the Gardai, there may not be enough to get any thing done at the time but the report will help to show a pattern when someone eventually gets maimed or killed, taking the "we didn't know" excuse away and exposing dublin bus to legal recourse from the victim / victims family.

ckeego

Ridgeway coaches! Dem is the boys you wanna be watching out for from Kilmac to Roundwood..

Oh and Kevin Devlin tipper trucks too..

It seems that if you save some Cornflake tokens (or even eat enough Centra breakfast rolls) some of these morons get HGV licenses.:eek::mad:

SerialComplaint

ckeego wrote: »

Ridgeway coaches! Dem is the boys you wanna be watching out for from Kilmac to Roundwood..

Oh and Kevin Devlin tipper trucks too..

Why don't you let their office know what the drivers are up to? I reported a van driver for McCambridges bread to their head office for a dodgy overtake a few weeks ago. The car on the opposite side of the road had to break when he overtook me on a bend with a continuous white line. One of their directors phoned me back, and they had obviously taken it very seriously, and used it as an opportunity to warn ALL drivers about their engagement with cyclists. Funnily enough, the same van passed me more recently in a very civilised manner, though I can't be certain of cause/effect here of course.

ironclaw

Why would you be in contact with a bus? From my experience on the N11 most, if not all of the stretch, from Donnybrook to Cabinteely is cycle lane'd well away from the bus corridor. Unless you are like some cyclists I've come across that insist on using the bus lane.

Agreed however it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed.

km991148

ironclaw wrote: »

Why would you be in contact with a bus?

Most f the cycle lanes up the N11 are sh!t (either through poor maintenence or cr@p design - i.e. giveways to busstops/driveways/sideroads - also anyone turning right is instantly screwed). This has been covered many times.
Therefore many cyclists are tempted to use the road (particularly as they are almost at traffic speed ~25-30km/h). This is what happened here - the point is using a bus to teach a smaller road user a lesson isnt on - would you put the foot down and drive at a jaywalker, because they held u up? Would you speed towards someone overtaking on the opposite of the road who mis juged and stayed longer (flash lights/beep I guess..). Paid drivers should no better - they have definately sat a test and should take a bit of pride and responsobilty in their work.

desertcircus

ironclaw wrote: »

Why would you be in contact with a bus? From my experience on the N11 most, if not all of the stretch, from Donnybrook to Cabinteely is cycle lane'd well away from the bus corridor. Unless you are like some cyclists I've come across that insist on using the bus lane.

Agreed however it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed.

I tend to use the cycle lane, but there are a few reasons I have no problem with anyone else choosing to ignore it:

-Bus stops sitting on the bike lane and people milling around wearing headphones.
-Roots breaking up the tarmac between Whites Cross and Brewery Road.
-Cars pulling into the bike lane without looking to turn onto Brewery Road.
-Grime and gravel on the section between Brewery Road and Stillorgan.
-The bus stop at Stillorgan village - I know I've mentioned bus stops, but that one takes the biscuit.
-The horrible up-down bouncing from the Stillorgan Park to Foster Avenue, where the lane changes in height by six inches every ten feet.
-The fact that the bike lane just after UCD can't physically be accessed from the road for a good three hundred metres.
-The pointless weaving at RTE.
-Blind junction on the way to Donnybrook village.

That's just the way in. The way back is a bit better, but there's still problems there: the bus stop at Stillorgan that literally can't be reached unless you jaywalk across the carriageway or walk down the bike lane, the relentless up-down again between Whites Cross and Foxrock Church, and the foot-wide ditch straight across the bike lane that's been there for a year. A YEAR.

Sorry for the rant, but that cycle lane is a pain in the arse. I've switched completely to using the coast road instead.

Bluefoam

The section from RTE to UCD is actually a drain with a cycle lane painted over it