Changes to Bus Services in Tyrrelstown (Cancellation of 40D)

devnull

If you remember on this forums some months back there was a post that mentioned that the 40D was going to be canceled and the 38's extended to Tyrrelstown. This was denied by all in Dublin Bus including senior management and local area managers.

Unfortunately drivers have been informing passengers this is true as they have been told that the 40D will be canceled in a memo which has been sent from head office ahead of the announcement of the changes brought in by the network direct project which will be announced in the coming days.

Dublin Bus have decided to keep the long drawn out, indirect and infrequent 38C route and have decided to axe the 40D. They claim that this is because the 38C is on a QBC when the 40D is not. This is despite that the 40D route is 20 minutes quicker from Tyrrelstown off peak and even quicker during peak, is very reliable, does not take short cuts, does not encounter vast quantity of traffic and is generally well resourced. In other words everything the 38C is not.

Indeed the Network Direct project, as seen from the Lucan thread, is clearly now permanently broken as the project will now bring the people of Tyrrelstown less frequent buses via a more indirect route, and it will also not go into the estate, leaving some people a 20 minute walk out to the main road to catch the bus in addition to the longer journey time. It also goes against EVERYTHING in the Delloite report, which I will now quote.

The 40D is the busiest of all the 40 group services. It has 44 journeys from Parnell Square compared to the 72 on Route 40, yet carries 11% more passengers. 12% of passengers travel to the common section with the 40C in Finglas, and 77% of passengers travel to/from the unique section beyond Finglas towards Tyrrelstown.

And they proposed that this should happen:

 Morning Peak: Every 12 minutes Tyrrelstown – City non stop from Glasnevin
 Morning Peak: Every 12 minutes City-Tyrrelstown all stops
 Inter Peak: Every 30 minutes Tyrrelstown-City all stops
 Afternoon Peak: Every 15 minutes Tyrrelstown-City all stops
 Afternoon Peak: Every 15 minutes City-Tyrrelstown non stop to Tolka Valley Road.
 Evening: Every 45 minutes Tyrrelstown-City all stops
Seven peak vehicles would be required.

However Dublin Bus, who keep quoting this report for the basis of their review are now TOTALLY ignoring what they say they are basing this review on. Therefore Dublin Bus are completely now out of control.

Route 40d and local services will be provided by Route 270 and Route 236 to the Blanchardstown Centre. Route 40d’s alignment will be adjusted to offer faster journey times to the City Centre. It will operate via Ballycoolin Road, Mellowes Road to Finglas Village and then direct to Parnell Street. The timetable will be restructured to provide even frequencies between departures.

Somewhere along the line it went from being a perfectly good route with plans for improvement, to a route that was going to be withdrawn against the wishes of almost every one of the 1,000+ people who use the bus every day in the area, pretty much like what is happening in Lucan.

Dublin Bus have announced that they will now extend route 270 which serves Blanchardstown shopping centre to Tyrrelstown, and will increase the frequency of the 236 by a huge amount which also connects Tyrrelstown with the shopping centre. Unlike for the last few years this route will now run at weekends. Currently loadings on this service are around 10 or so max. Indeed Dublin Bus refused to extend this service a while ago despite public demand saying it could not generate the needed passengers.

However unfortunately ever since Urbus came on stream, Dublin Bus now finds that it can extend the 270 to Tyrrelstown at every hour and the 236 every 20 minutes at peak times. Yet they are canceling the route that people in the area use, the 40D to what it seems to try and drive Urbus out of business by using the buses on a route that hardly anyone uses.

I think I will go back to using my car.

KC61

Devnull - based on previous experience I would tend to wait for an official announcement before taking this as gospel (and I don't know what the truth is) - remember last year when drivers were telling everyone at Heuston that the 90 was being withdrawn and that they would be stranded, but totally ignored the fact the 92 was increased in frequency?

As is the nature of most companies, employees do not know the whole story and I'd really find it staggering if a highly successful route such as the 40D were withdrawn.

As for the 236/270 -v- URbus, that is totally dependent (like the other changes) on receiving approval from the NTA.

thomasj

What Phase were the 40d meant to be part of? Phase 1 blanchardstown or phase 2 finglas?

devnull

KC61 - maybe but nobody that residents in the area have spoke to has denied it and Dublin Bus are keen not to talk about the matter despite they claim they are keen to have feedback on any chances.

One resident in the area called the garage who were told that they could not answer this query anymore because of the fact that they are not allowed to since the project has started, whilst the network direct office are not answering any emails, and have simply just changed their phone number to a voicemail system.

As seen in the Lucan thread, even if residents complain and object to the proposed changes, Dublin Bus do not want to talk to them.

ThomasJ - It was supposed to be part of the Finglas phase but late on was drafted into Phase 1, because the 38C which is very infrequent serves Tyrrelstown via Blanchardstown and is in phase 1 whilst the 40D was originally in phase 2.

thomasj

The network direct phoneline has always been a voicemail.

Ring the 8734222 no or send them an email, I got a prompt response to an email I sent last week!

devnull

People have already tried that number - they have been told to leave a voicemail as HQ cannot do anything and that in any case, there are many other buses that serve North Finglas. (Tyrrelstown isn't in Finglas)

Emails have been sent over the last couple of days and I sent another one last night so we will wait and see.

angel01

What is worse in my opinion if you do phone HQ to ask any questions,they say they will put you through to someone to answer your query and put you through to that voicemail. That is highly annoying.

KC61

devnull - the only people who can answer a question such as this definitively is the Network Direct Project team, as they are managing the process. Not drivers, not the garages, not the normal enquiry line. Anything you hear from any of the above is hearsay.

I would imagine that at the moment they are tied up with the actual detail of organising new driver rosters (and agreement to them), new timetables, getting NTA approval for the changes and at the same time have a fairly large volume of emails/messages from the public to deal with as well!

I'd wait and see if you get a reply.

devnull

Even stronger rumours going around tonight.

They have now also removed the page which stated the route would continue. It was there last night.

KC61

With respect devnull - you are still speculating about something that could turn out completely differently (we just don't know).

Engaging in this sort of stuff does no-one any favours until you actually get some official information!

devnull

And it could turn out to be totally true and this is a messageboard to discuss such things. Once again speculation like this will always happen because that DB are not willing to officially comment.

One resident was told today that they removed the page on the website as they believed it contained inaccuracies about certain route changes that were planned. Isn't it funny that a page is up for months suddenly disappears soon as the fact it is posted they may have made a huge u-turn over something they have previously printed.

The fact is if Dublin Bus actually answered emails that were sent a long time ago, and rang people back who left messages, which they are also not doing, then there would be no need for speculation. I read in the Lucan thread that someone got a reply TWO MONTHS after their email was sent to the Network Direct office. That is unacceptable.

dub_commuter

The whole way the network direct process has been handled is becoming a farce, with the fact that so many areas seem to have had changes from what was originally proposed so people in a number of areas have no idea what is going on, with people who depend on bus travel to get to work, and some of which needing certain bus lines, it is no wonder that tensions are running high.

The whole way which this has been handled by head office is awful. By telling customers to phone them with any views, and then operating a voice mail system so they can pick and choose who they call back, rather than actually speaking to someone screams of Dublin Bus going on the defensive, else they would task people with communicating with the public.

Dublin Bus and the people who are making these decisions need to make the service and the process so customer friendly, as pointed out by others on this board, since the changes were first revealed in April, the project has gradually come to the situation which it is in now, in which once again the communication skills have been lacking.

If that page has been took down because of what has been posted on here and someone in Dublin Bus wants to save face when the u-turn is posted as suggested by the original poster, then that is very regretable indeed, especially if Dublin Bus are not willing to answer the questions about the routes concerned but are able to remove a page.

schemingbohemia

dub_commuter wrote: »

The whole way the network direct process has been handled is becoming a farce, with the fact that so many areas seem to have had changes from what was originally proposed so people in a number of areas have no idea what is going on, with people who depend on bus travel to get to work, and some of which needing certain bus lines, it is no wonder that tensions are running high.

The whole way which this has been handled by head office is awful. By telling customers to phone them with any views, and then operating a voice mail system so they can pick and choose who they call back, rather than actually speaking to someone screams of Dublin Bus going on the defensive, else they would task people with communicating with the public.

Dublin Bus and the people who are making these decisions need to make the service and the process so customer friendly, as pointed out by others on this board, since the changes were first revealed in April, the project has gradually come to the situation which it is in now, in which once again the communication skills have been lacking.

If that page has been took down because of what has been posted on here and someone in Dublin Bus wants to save face when the u-turn is posted as suggested by the original poster, then that is very regretable indeed, especially if Dublin Bus are not willing to answer the questions about the routes concerned but are able to remove a page.

I'm only going to reply to the bit I've bolded above, this actually helps in reducing the "nutter" quotient, if DB had someone answering calls on this, they'd probably get through 3 or 4 calls a day. Where messages are left properly prepared answers can be given, it's going to be tricky for 1 person to have the answers to every specific route included in the network review, so this approach makes sense - not saying that a 2 month delay in responding is acceptable by any means, it's not.

Also as KC61 has stated, this is all based on hearsay and is a bit previous.

J_Dublin15

This whole thread I believe has been caused by a member of DB staff from another garage who was intent on causing trouble who was yesterday evening screaming words to the effect that the 38C would stay and the 40D was canceled, whilst he shouted at other staff and said goodbye to them all.

Hopefully he will be dealt with using standard procedures, because that kind of behaviour is embarrassing for any company to be linked with.

KC61

With due respect devnull and dub commuter - there is hardly an army of staff doing this -as schemingbohemia says they have to actually do the implementation work as well, attend meetings etc. You simply cannot expect an instant response. I would agree that two months is too long but I can also imagine that the volume of submissions has been fairly large too!

The reason I am counselling against the speculation is that last year a lot of simply inaccurate information got posted here on foot of driver rumours, and people were unnecessarily worried or upset, only to find out that the actual changes were nowhere near as bad as they had been suggested. It is far better to wait until the whole package of changes is announced rather than getting yourselves and other users potentially unnecessarily upset about hearsay changes that may not actually happen.

Polar101

Wouldn't make a lot of sense, since the 38C doesn't serve the business parks which provide a large number of the 40D passengers. Since it would be completely silly, I find it hard to believe.

devnull

I agree it does not make sense!

It could be incorrect, but I think the problem here is that this project was announced in April, and here we are nearly September and still we do not have a solid set of proposals - it just doesn't seem to be handed well, if there is six phases and it's goging to take 5 months a phase this network review is going to take 3 years!

If there is a staffing issue with regards to not being able to reply to customers in a quick enough time then they should get other staff to help out, in any business it is obvious if someone is overworked you need to throw more staff at it, it's called making things more efficient, hopefully Dublin Bus will learn from the way this has been handled.

From what another posted has now posted it seems that perhaps people have jumped the gun, but if the staff member did act in the way that has been described then that is not drivers telling people, that's someone making a huge song and dance and intent on causing trouble and they are the ones who are making the people un-necessarily worried.

Cookie_Monster

for a project of this magnitude not to have a proper customer service in place is stupid. Should be a 48hr return time guaranteed. But then again this whole project has turned into a shambles.

Not meeting deadlines
political interference
little or no public information
not replying to feedback or queries
watering down changes till they are meaningless or worse than current
etc etc etc

Stevek101

This is bad as the time drivers in Phibsboro were stoning their own buses. If any staff need to be removed it should be the troubles makers.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0428/dublinbus.html

dub_commuter

Why do we need to bring that strike into it with all the information and misinformation that was spewed out from both sides?

I believe in the huge thread before we came to the conclusions that both sides were exaggerating their position and I doubt it if stones were thrown as people who were in the depot at the times it was supposed to have happened I believe said they saw none of that.

Stevek101

Regardless its just points out the kind of attitude some of the drivers in the company have. If they can throw stones I'm sure they'd have no problem providing false information to customers to stir some trouble up.

It is a shame the Network Review is being held up, misconstrued and potentially destroyed for the customers by the actions of so few.

Pacing Mule

Resident On Tyrrelstowns website wrote:

I got emailed this reply from info@Dublinbus.ie


Dear ******,

Further to your query, I can confirm that Route 40d will remain. When Network Direct begins in Finglas, Dublin Bus will examine a minor realignment of Route 40d that will improve journey times.

Kind regards,

Project Office Network Direct

This resident mailed them after seeing this very thread and got the above response. AFAIK his email was answered within 24 hours.

KC61

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

This resident mailed them after seeing this very thread and got the above response. AFAIK his email was answered within 24 hours.

I think that this does go to prove my point about speculation based on rumour.....

angel01

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

This resident mailed them after seeing this very thread and got the above response. AFAIK his email was answered within 24 hours.

My friend has been waiting over 48 hours for a phonecall so it seems they don't care about phone calls..