USI Nightrider Bus

gottcha_goin

I've heard some rumours that the USI has set up a new bus that will run from Westmoreland Street to Maynooth during the week. Does anyone know anymore details on this?, i.e. times, etc.

Alt_Grrr

doubt its going to happen.

I'd rather USI did something more then push the stereotype that students only care about drinking.

gottcha_goin

Ye I would agree the USI are pretty non-existant when it comes to doing anything for us. Should be more outspoken on the political situtation for one thing (seeing as its going to burden us more in the future).

But I do think a mid-week nightlink service is well overdue. The Maynooth route would serve myself but there are a lot of areas that wont be getting any service!

I think it will be a wait and see approach that we'll have to adopt.

leopoldbloom

We'll be launching the MSU / USI NiteRider in the coming weeks. It will be running Monday - Thursday at 3am. Tickets will cost €5 and can be bought in any of the SU's shops or on the bus.

Watch this space.

Much Love,
AE

LeixlipRed

Quality idea. Will it stop on the way? Can Lucan/Leixlip folk get it too?

chillian17

LeixlipRed wrote: »

Quality idea. Will it stop on the way? Can Lucan/Leixlip folk get it too?

Yeah, Lucan/Leixlip.../Blanchardstown ?

Ms. Koi

chillian17 wrote: »

Yeah, Lucan/Leixlip.../Blanchardstown ?

Doubt it'd be going to Blanch, it's a bit far out is it not?

Rabbit_Heart

that's gonna be well handy, awesome

gottcha_goin

So do I gather that its for NUIM students only??? Also would be interested in knowing what the stops are along the way.

So when exactly is this starting up? Has it already?

Redsoxfan

gottcha_goin wrote: »

So do I gather that its for NUIM students only??? Also would be interested in knowing what the stops are along the way.

+1

freeze4real

will it be going to blanch?

cython

freeze4real wrote: »

will it be going to blanch?

Unlikely, seeing as the facebook page mentions a stop at Liffey Valley being an option with sufficient demand. Besides, going via Blanch would be a major detour for a bus serving Maynooth, it really wouldn't make too much sense.

Fenny

From the Facebook page:

"Maynooth SU and USI are launching the Route B of the NiteRider on Tuesday the 5th of October.
The bus runs from Westmoreland Street to Maynooth at 3 am
Tickets are available in advance from Londis (John Hume) and the SU front office and cost €5."

So excited for this! Been dying to go out in Dublin this year, but it's a pain organising somewhere for everyone to stay after. Sorted for next week so!

PrivateEye

How'd the first night go? Numbers good? Any extra stops? Anyone puke all over the thing?

I'll get it if it stops somewhere on my way home. It's actually on the way too, the mainroad out from town(West Dublin represent!).

brennra

its a brilliant idea, and is meant to be working, however 4 of us bought tickets on campus yesterday, we were on westmoreland st for 2.40 last night... we left it at 3.25 cause the stupid thing never came and had to pay 50euro for a taxi back to college!! well done maynooth! what a brilliant college ye are!

LeixlipRed

And no response to any of the questions on this thread since the initial announcement weeks ago. Super stuff.

Alt_Grrr

brennra wrote: »

its a brilliant idea, and is meant to be working, however 4 of us bought tickets on campus yesterday, we were on westmoreland st for 2.40 last night... we left it at 3.25 cause the stupid thing never came and had to pay 50euro for a taxi back to college!! well done maynooth! what a brilliant college ye are!

To be fair to the University, they didn't organize the bus.

As the name suggests, its a USI/NUIMSU idea. Which I still rate as a very poor idea in the first place. Surely there is questions to be answered here.

banquo

brennra wrote: »

its a brilliant idea, and is meant to be working, however 4 of us bought tickets on campus yesterday, we were on westmoreland st for 2.40 last night... we left it at 3.25 cause the stupid thing never came and had to pay 50euro for a taxi back to college!! well done maynooth! what a brilliant college ye are!

Can you email me the details about this to communications@nuimsu.com?

banquo

brennra wrote: »

its a brilliant idea, and is meant to be working, however 4 of us bought tickets on campus yesterday, we were on westmoreland st for 2.40 last night... we left it at 3.25 cause the stupid thing never came and had to pay 50euro for a taxi back to college!! well done maynooth! what a brilliant college ye are!

Glorious leader has since resolved this.

funky penguin

Any explanation as to why the bus never showed?

LeixlipRed

Any more on whether the bus stops along the way? Most of my mates are from Leixlip and I don't like them all sleeping on my couch

LeixlipRed

leopoldbloom wrote: »

We'll be launching the MSU / USI NiteRider in the coming weeks. It will be running Monday - Thursday at 3am.

Tickets will cost €5 and can be bought in any of the SU's shops or on the bus.

Watch this space.

Much Love,
AE

Tickets down as 3 euro on the USI website.

banquo

LeixlipRed wrote: »

Tickets down as 3 euro on the USI website.

Thanks! The website is wrong. /emails

ghostdancer

the poster on the USI website also says that tickets have to be bought in the SU beforehand.

is that right, or can you just pay on the bus? seeing as often you wouldn't know if you're going to end up in town or not...

banquo

You can pay on the bus, though it's easier for them if folks pay in advance so they know how big a bus to send

PrivateEye

LeixlipRed wrote: »

Any more on whether the bus stops along the way? Most of my mates are from Leixlip and I don't like them all sleeping on my couch

+1. If it stopped somewhere near my gaff, I'd get it once a week tbh.

LeixlipRed

People posted these questions months ago and they still haven't been answered which is mildly annoying.

banquo

Still waiting for statistics for the semester to see if the demand is there. So we'll know second semester.

LeixlipRed

Demand to stop en route?

banquo

To see if people are getting the bus at all. It's up to the bus company mostly, we don't pay they, just convince them to drive the route in the hope they'll make a profit from it.

LeixlipRed

Yeh but can someone hop off at Leixlip or Lucan or something? On the nitelink route as such? The route the bus already takes?

PrivateEye

To see if people are getting the bus at all.

Rob, know of a few people who want to get it but won't if it ain't gonna stop along the way. Worth keeping that in mind. The numbers probably don't represent the demand atm.

Friend gets this service to UCD and hops off on the way home with one or two others happy as larry. If it's on the route, why not.

Lucan

KIP.

banquo

Tell you what, Monday is bedlam for me but hopefully before Wednesday I'll be able to find out exactly what the craic is.

ghostdancer

this isn't running anymore.

went to the SU to buy a ticket and they told me they're onsale in Londis, (even though the USI poster says to buy them from the SU), also said that there needs to be 30 tickets sold before a bus even gets put on, lots of people have been left standing in Westmoreland St. after buying tickets.

Londis said they aren't selling tickets anymore, as they've had to refund so many people who have been left stranded in town.

then rang the SU to see what the story was, and was told that it wasn't actually on anymore (after being told earlier to buy the ticket from Londis), and that they had little to do with it, and it's the USI's responsibility.

just as well I decided to try buy a ticket instead of waiting to get one on a bus that would never show...

banquo wrote: »

You can pay on the bus, though it's easier for them if folks pay in advance so they know how big a bus to send

Seren_

ghostdancer wrote: »

this isn't running anymore.

went to the SU to buy a ticket and they told me they're onsale in Londis, (even though the USI poster says to buy them from the SU), also said that there needs to be 30 tickets sold before a bus even gets put on, lots of people have been left standing in Westmoreland St. after buying tickets.

Londis said they aren't selling tickets anymore, as they've had to refund so many people who have been left stranded in town.

then rang the SU to see what the story was, and was told that it wasn't actually on anymore (after being told earlier to buy the ticket from Londis), and that they had little to do with it, and it's the USI's responsibility.

just as well I decided to try buy a ticket instead of waiting to get one on a bus that would never show...

That's a bit ridiculous. Thank god you didn't end up waiting in town though, no way home at that time like! Maybe send a letter into The Print about it?

Is there going to be an email or anything from the SU to let people know what's going on with it? It seemed like such a good idea but from what I've seen with the USI lately, I'm not terribly surprised :rolleyes:

banquo

Your Text Here wrote: »

That's a bit ridiculous. Thank god you didn't end up waiting in town though, no way home at that time like! Maybe send a letter into The Print about it?

Always recommended.

squishykins

I know a load of people who do wanna get it (myself included), but have heard all these stories from people who were left stranded so don't even try. If it was definitely gonna be coming when it said it would, it would get a lot more business

lordgoat

Just so people know, if there's a group of ye in town even 4 you can arrange a price with a taxi driver of E30, (well that's what my friends have gotten the last few times) so for < E8 each (with 4 people) you can get from town to your doorstep.

Just make sure you arrange the price beforehand.

LeixlipRed

So that's the only main manifesto point gone already? Can we recall him?

leopoldbloom

LeixlipRed wrote: »

So that's the only main manifesto point gone already? Can we recall him?

Who?

The niterider service was awful. We decided to withdraw our support from it as they were extremely unreasonable and inflexible, and had a tendency to leave groups of students stranded on the streets in the wee hours.

At present we do not have access to the all student email system so we cannot send such a thing, much though I would like to.

LeixlipRed

It was a shambles alright. Were you aware before you got into this that students who bought tickets in the belief there'd be a bus at the end of a night would be left stranded if tickets didn't reach certain sales? If you were that's a disgrace. It's even more of a disgrace if you didn't inform people of that fact. You certainly said nothing about it on here. The SU should reimburse students for costs of taxis home as well. Complete joke.

banquo

We weren't aware of this.

We were told that the bus company preferred pre-purchased tickets so they could know what size a bus to send.

When we started getting complaints from Nuim students that the bus never showed up we looked into it. It turns out that they wanted a minimum number of students to have pre purchased tickets before they'd send a bus out. So suppose they want (for example) 30 students to have pre bought tickets, but only 20 did - no bus would come and no communication to the 20 who bought tickets. So we've pulled our support. No more tickets for sale on campus or advertising the service.

Edit: forgot to mention that it was only extremely recent learned about the minimum requirements, never would have supported it if we'd k own from the start.

Seren_

/furiously takes notes

LeixlipRed

Fair enough. Confused about why you wouldn't have established all these facts in the first place. Reimbursement of students affected? Or ask the bus company to do so if you were left in the dark?

Seren_

Here's an email I received from a member of the USI exec on the matter:

Hi Shauna,

The intention of the Niterider service was to allow students in eastern colleges inexpensive journeys home after nights out in Dublin. The service was designed, in essence, to run itself as opposed to requiring a person to constantly oversee its operation. However, the company running the service did not want their drivers handling money. Accordingly, they asked USI to provide an officer to collect money every night at 3am. Disagreements on this matter resulted in buses not showing up on nights they were supposed to.
Clearly this affected many students in Maynooth and I wish to extend my sincerest apologies to those inconvenienced because of the service.

I wish to make it known that any failing on the part of the Nightrider service falls solely on my shoulders and none of the blame ought to be apportioned to Maynooth Students’ Union. I will say, however, that I think a revised and reformed model of the service may be viable in the in the near future and I will be offering a revised service to any interested colleges.

Given that we are entering the exam period in many colleges in the Eastern Area, it is my intention to purposely delay bringing a revised model forward until the New Year.

If you have any further questions I would be more than happy to answer them.

Regards,

John

I would also like to say on my own behalf that I didn't put any blame on the SU over the matter in the email I sent, just in case people may read it as such. For those who don't know, the email is from the USI Eastern Area Officer, John Logue. Read more about this in next week's The Print

LeixlipRed

And reimbursement of students affected will be apportioned from our weekend team building junket fund

That sentence is curiously missing from the above

banquo

I think reimbursements are appropriate.

LeixlipRed

Good man Rob. And if it is solely the USI's fault, get them to pay for it.

banquo

To be completely honest, my time this week is almost 100% The Print (so get your angry letters in now!). But I'll do what I can to see how possible a refund is. For example, proof of purchase might be a problem - I imagine that had I bought a ticket a month ago it would have been long binned.

Liability is also an issue - who picks up the tab? Is it the bus company or USI? Have to see the contract. And a company isn't legally obliged to hand over a refund with zero proof of purchase, and if it's USI to pick up the tab how to we know who's claim is legit with no proof of purchase. So its - unfortunately - not that simple.

Though I do think that if you bought a ticket and the bus didn't show and you weren't informed of under what circumstances the bus might not show up then you *definitely* deserve a refund. So I'll see what I can do, no promises on the timeline though.

leopoldbloom

In terms of a refund, anyone with a ticket can get a 100% refund of the face price from Londis in John Hume. As for refunds of taxi prices, I'll ask the operators and check out the contracts, but would not be optimistic.

We do apologise for the calamity that the service was, and a simple withdrawal of support at the very least ensures no-one will be stranded again.