Dublin Bus ticket costs

chughes

I've recently become a daily commuter on a particular bus route. The first few times I used the bus I told the driver my destination and I was told how much the fare was. Ever since, I've just asked for a ticket for the amount I had been told.

I notice that when I look at the ticket I've been given, it doesn't show the stop where I actually got on, but an earlier stop. This means that it shows an earlier destination stop also.

How do I explain this to an inspector if he inspected it and I've passed by the destination stop on the ticket ?

Is this just lazyness or incompetance on the part of the driver for not inputting the correct start and finish bus stops ?

Has anyone else found themselves in this situation ?

foggy_lad

chughes wrote: »

I've recently become a daily commuter on a particular bus route. The first few times I used the bus I told the driver my destination and I was told how much the fare was. Ever since, I've just asked for a ticket for the amount I had been told.

I notice that when I look at the ticket I've been given, it doesn't show the stop where I actually got on, but an earlier stop. This means that it shows an earlier destination stop also.

How do I explain this to an inspector if he inspected it and I've passed by the destination stop on the ticket ?

Is this just lazyness or incompetance on the part of the driver for not inputting the correct start and finish bus stops ?

Has anyone else found themselves in this situation ?

see my post below

goingnowhere

Fares are charged from the previous stage point, so that sounds right

foggy_lad

goingnowhere wrote: »

Fares are charged from the previous stage point, so that sounds right

ah yes, my mistake about the stage points being from the previous to the point you board the bus to the next after your destination, so look at the timetable page for your route op and you should be able to work out the stage points and one of them should corrospond with the stop mentioned on your ticket, then see if there is a stage point closer to your stop and if there is then you are being given the incorrect ticket.

chughes

I've just checked the Dublin Bus timetable online and the stop where I get on is listed as a stage.

KC61

What stop is it? And how far are you travelling?

Unfortunately as Dublin Bus driver Alek Smartt is oft noted stating here, the complete lack of any indicator at bus stops that are stage points makes it difficult for drivers and passengers alike to actually know whether it is a stage or not!

It is to be honest another failure on the information provision by the company. It is possible that a driver may accidentally not update the stages on the ticket machine correctly.

I would suggest that you always check your ticket when it's issued and advise the driver that it is incorrect if the wrong stage is used.

chughes

I get on the 33B at the top of North Street, Swords. This stop is across the road from Rock's Funeral Home. I'm travelling to the stop just past the railway station in Donabate.

I have got tickets where it states my journey starts at 3 Swords Main St (Big Tree). The Big Tree is a pub that's now called the Estuary. This pub is actually in North Street and not Main Street. The bus stop is a few yards from this pub.

However, usually my tickets state that I've started from a stage further back along the route. If you look at the timetable for the 33B on the Dublin Bus website, my stop is listed as a stage.

KC61

Again this boils down to having accurate stage names and bus stops clearly displaying that they are a stage point.

Part of the problem here is that there is a stage point at the Pavilions, and then the next actual stop is two stages in one go because there is no stop between Pavilions and the main stop at Taylors! This stems back to the route terminus being relocated and the stages not being updated properly. Hence the drivers probably don't realise that the stage needs to be updated twice.

All I can suggest is that you inform the driver when he issues the ticket.

Carawaystick

The stage system stops at Lissenhall.

back in the day, dublin bus tickets used to state the name of the furthest you could go for the fare you've paid. has this changed?

foggy_lad

Back in the day drivers used to know their routes and did not need to read the bus stop information to know where they were! It is incredulous that any driver would not know the stage points for their route, it is after all part of what they get paid for!

KC61

foggy_lad wrote: »

Back in the day drivers used to know their routes and did not need to read the bus stop information to know where they were! It is incredulous that any driver would not know the stage points for their route, it is after all part of what they get paid for!

To be honest it isn't that surprising, and it is more a company issue rather than drivers.

Firstly there are no indicators on any bus stop of whether or not it is a stage point.

Secondly the company do not provide staff with any indication of stage points other than the timetable listing.

Thirdly some stage points are named after businesses that are long defunct, such as O'Briens Shopping Centre in Maynooth or "The Big Tree" Pub in Swords.

The system needs an overhaul (and I am just referring to the specific issue of the fare stage points), in that it is woefully inadequate for both drivers and customers.

It needs:
1) Clear indicators on every bus stop that is a stage point
2) A full review of stage points so that none are named after businesses and are clearly idenfiable with street locations.

KC61

Carawaystick wrote: »

The stage system stops at Lissenhall.

back in the day, dublin bus tickets used to state the name of the furthest you could go for the fare you've paid. has this changed?

Not on the 33b. When it was redesigned to be Swords-Portrane only it was converted to the normal stages.

Only the 33 beyond Lissenhall is subject to the outer suburban fares list.

AlekSmart

KC61 posted...

The system needs an overhaul (and I am just referring to the specific issue of the fare stage points), in that it is woefully inadequate for both drivers and customers.

The gas thing is that the physical "System" needs nothing,it is already there,pre-existing for decades and working perfectly well for that time also.

What did occur,was a mystifying decision (and it had to be a corporate one) to remove ALL Stage Markings from this System,thus effectively destroying it.

That of itself would have been fine,if it had been accompanied by a publicity campaign advising Customers & Staff that the old order changeth,and from xyz Date the Fare-Stage system was finished.

But no,instead we processed new recruits through the Training School,earnestly drilling them on the intricacies of a Fare-Stage system which had,by then,been throughly erased.

New Drivers from all over the world,Africa,Asia,India and even Europe :eek: were given lessons in Dublin Geographia,with the focus on locations which,as KC61 points out no longer exist !!...Its reminiscent of (Tom) Darby O Gill and the Little People

As we adopted a bright new corporate identity,with all manner of dreadful purple prose about the benefits of it being hi-vizibility and easy for partially sighted folk to use,we then erased,with no little effort the essential elements of operating a Fare-Stage system.....Why ?....Madness...? Stupidity ...?....Bloody Mindedness...?...Lack of Interest ....?....Letraset withdrawing our Credit line...?

Take your pick.:(

Bear in mind if yiz will that EVERY Dublin Bus Stop is now logged and identified with a location-specific code...it`s either in sticker form or a small metal plate or both.

It is therefore even easier now to identify the EXACT location of a Stage,yet it is proving far more difficult than explaining the Theory of Relativity to a baboon to integrate (theres that word again :mad: )the two.

Instead we plod exhaustingly onward,pushing the pea uphill with our snout,drivers and passengers engaging in regular arguments or simply being wilfully misled by the abject failure to provide the most basic of information.

Keep It Simple,Stupid...KISS :rolleyes:

KC61

AlekSmart wrote: »

KC61 posted...

The gas thing is that the physical "System" needs nothing,it is already there,pre-existing for decades and working perfectly well for that time also.

What did occur,was a mystifying decision (and it had to be a corporate one) to remove ALL Stage Markings from this System,thus effectively destroying it.

That of itself would have been fine,if it had been accompanied by a publicity campaign advising Customers & Staff that the old order changeth,and from xyz Date the Fare-Stage system was finished.

But no,instead we processed new recruits through the Training School,earnestly drilling them on the intricacies of a Fare-Stage system which had,by then,been throughly erased.

New Drivers from all over the world,Africa,Asia,India and even Europe :eek: were given lessons in Dublin Geographia,with the focus on locations which,as KC61 points out no longer exist !!...Its reminiscent of (Tom) Darby O Gill and the Little People

As we adopted a bright new corporate identity,with all manner of dreadful purple prose about the benefits of it being hi-vizibility and easy for partially sighted folk to use,we then erased,with no little effort the essential elements of operating a Fare-Stage system.....Why ?....Madness...? Stupidity ...?....Bloody Mindedness...?...Lack of Interest ....?....Letraset withdrawing our Credit line...?

Take your pick.:(

Bear in mind if yiz will that EVERY Dublin Bus Stop is now logged and identified with a location-specific code...it`s either in sticker form or a small metal plate or both.

It is therefore even easier now to identify the EXACT location of a Stage,yet it is proving far more difficult than explaining the Theory of Relativity to a baboon to integrate (theres that word again :mad: )the two.

Instead we plod exhaustingly onward,pushing the pea uphill with our snout,drivers and passengers engaging in regular arguments or simply being wilfully misled by the abject failure to provide the most basic of information.

Keep It Simple,Stupid...KISS :rolleyes:

Sorry Alek I did not mean the fare system - just the provision of information!

devnull

The trouble is, I've noticed today that the new timetable sheets in the trueform style but on old style carousels, don't even list the stage points at all, yet they leave half of the sheet of paper in most cases completely blank.

Also the 7 display at Trinity I noticed today has the trueform style stops, but does not even have a stage map any more which they at least used to have, just a bear timetable now.

The window displays, in bus shelters, did always used to have stages on them, but a lot of these have now been replaced by network direct posters and now have no timetables, or has anyone seen a newer version of these?

Maybe a nice idea would be to mark stage points on their bus stop maps on the website as well?

foggy_lad

devnull wrote: »

The trouble is, I've noticed today that the new timetable sheets in the trueform style but on old style carousels, don't even list the stage points at all, yet they leave half of the sheet of paper in most cases completely blank.

Also the 7 display at Trinity I noticed today has the trueform style stops, but does not even have a stage map any more which they at least used to have, just a bear timetable now.

The window displays, in bus shelters, did always used to have stages on them, but a lot of these have now been replaced by network direct posters and now have new timetables, or has anyone seen a newer version of these?

Maybe a nice idea would be to mark stage points on their bus stop maps on the website as well?

are they going to change the system from stages to the number of bus stops passed between start and finish of journey?

why else would stage points be hidden from customers? maybe to entrap them into paying the incorrect fare then hitting them with hefty fines?

loyatemu

flat fare FTW!

AlekSmart

Maybe a nice idea would be to mark stage points on their bus stop maps on the website as well?

YIKES...:eek:...Another good suggestion from a customer....Down with this sort of thing I say !!


Mind you Loyatemu then just has to chirp up with another prefectly reasonable and simple suggestion.....

Flat fare FTW!

Any more of this and yiz will get detention !!!

foggy_lad

AlekSmart wrote: »

YIKES...:eek:...Another good suggestion from a customer....Down with this sort of thing I say !!


Mind you Loyatemu then just has to chirp up with another prefectly reasonable and simple suggestion.....



Any more of this and yiz will get detention !!!

how about €2 per journey and €1 for the nippers/brats/schoolkids and have a coin slot on the outside of the bus or on the door so there is no loitering in front of the drivers searching for change out of the communion money, might even speed up journey times:)

Flukey

chughes wrote: »

I've recently become a daily commuter on a particular bus route.

If that is going to continue to be the case, then look at getting one of the prepaid tickets. That will solve the problem and the worry. You'll know your own situation best and therefore which of the prepaid tickets suits you. They do work out better if you are a regular user and you don't have to worry about inspectors or how far you are going. You are free to do things like swap buses if a better suited one comes along. So there are lots of advantages.