Network Direct After Phase 1

KC8

I am aware of the extensive network direct thread already in operation and havent commented on it yet - but have found it very interested. But I felt that a new thread is warranted to assess the programme in the cold light of day, 2 months on from the earliest changes. This is not to take away from the other comments and threads - many of which appeared within 24 hours of a new phase being introduced and which highlighted obvious problems (like the 25A/B city centre route and peak traffic problems).

Anyway, here goes:

Stillorgan Changes:
Credit where credit is due: The link to Heuston opens up several options for commuters and must be more efficient than the 92 that only ever had peak time one way loads. The key is to ensure the 10 minute frequency is maintained between services (especially when someone has a train to catch). This is difficult when a route is as long as the 145 but not impossible if intermediate times are used (say Bray mainstreet, Foxrock Church, and UCD). 46A extension is also positive. The Mountjoy Square terminus meant that loadings were less than ideal after St Stephens Green. At least now loadings are healthy throughout the city centre.
Other good points are the more direct route for the 46A in Cabinteely and the bypassing of Stillorgan..
Finally, I initially thought the parallel running of 46A and 10 for a few weeks was an unbelievable waste of resources – how could management be so wasteful!? However, in hindsight, I believe it ensured less confusion than might otherwise have occurred when the 10 was cancelled. Such parallel running should be considered again in subsequent phases, however its not required for more than 1 week!
What could be done better: Clearly there were significant capacity and reliability problems in the early days. From a personal perspective, I haven’t experienced the same problems in recent times, but I may be lucky. I suspect Dublin Bus wish to test tight running times on new services rather than be over generous for union reasons – probably very difficult to reduce running times after a new roster is agreed – easier to extend them. However, this approach exposes the customer to the real consequences. Perhaps a way around this is to have a ‘float’ of a few drivers and buses for the first couple of weeks of each of the next phases to fill in any gaps in service that might occur while running times are adjusted
Unforgiveable mistakes: Bus Stop timetables. Its not rocket science. Not to change them during the hours of darkness in the run-up to new services is just poor. Not to update them within 24 hours is pathetic. Not to have 100% of the timetables updated several weeks later is unforgiveable and should be a sackable offence. Same goes for bus stop identifications. The back of the Deloitte report sets out a timeline and list of tasks to be undertaken prior to the rollout of a new service. Look at the prominence given to timetables!!

Blanchardstown Changes:

Credit where credit is due: The 39A has probably cut commuting times for thousands of people in Blanchardstown by 20 mins in each direction. I remember reading somewhere the Blacnh QBC carries far more than either of the Luas lines so this route shouldn’t be underestimated. 20mins * 2 *5 times a week makes for a lot more family time or what ever takes your fancy. This improvement cannot be underestimated and Dublin Bus should be duly praised.

What could be done better:
NTA and Dublin Bus should be locked in a room with no food or water until the 37 licence is sorted and a meaningful interchange is created in Blanch centre. Again, currently, the customer is the one exposed to the consequences of such in-fighting.
Blanch village is now relatively poorly served. Therefore the key is reliability. Unfortunately a 30 minute service won’t be reliable given the length of route either side of the village. Intermediate times are required. Given the proximity of the Blanch Centre to Blanch village and the Clonsilla Road, I wonder do many people bother to wait for the low frequency 39 anymore. Or do they just walk? If they do, I believe the 39 should be rerouted straight along the Clonsilla Road from Blach Village to Clonsilla Village bypassing the Centre and Hartstown (which is well serviced by the 39A). That could easily increase the frequency from the current levels without the need for more buses or drivers
17A extension over time should be a big success. Same goes for the other orbital enhancements over subsequent phases. The sooner the 220 is cancelled and a higher frequency on the 17A is introduced the better. That is not to dismiss those that rely on the 220 but the comment is made in the context of believing that the change would be for the greater good.
Lesson Street and Suffolk Street stops see major overcrowding at peak times which hopefully wont lead to an accident but it is waiting to happen as buses pull into any free kerb space available (irrespective to angle!). I believe services should be split between the lower end of Dawson Street and Suffolk Street – the same service should not stop at both locations. I cant think of an easy solution for Lesson St.

Unforgiveable mistakes: Same as before re timetables and reliability of services. Previous Boards comments certainly show big problems with the 38/A. I live in Blanch and got a leaflet in the door in advance of the changes – nice map but no timetables – Come on Dublin Bus!!
Finally why aren’t timetables at clockface intervals – look at the 38/A departures from Damastown. I can understand that from the city centre this is not always possible in order to avoid duplicate departures from the same stop, but at the other end it should be easy.

Its too early to talk about Lucan but at least the Leixslip / Cellbridge timetables are now integrated. 25A/B

General comments:
Dublin Bus faces an uncertain future and, in my view, notwithstanding the problems encountered to date, the rollout programme for the rest of network direct should be accelerated. I believe the consultation element of the programme, while good in theory, requires strong leadership and discipline from the Company side. All comments should be listened to and where warranted, modifications should be made to plans. However, just because a certain group are vocal does not, in and of itself, necessitate a modification. I understand why another poster has renamed the programme ‘Network Destruct” but in these difficult financial times we could actually have a better service in Dublin after this programme is completed despite less buses. It is better to have a service that serves most of the people well rather than a service serving all of the people poorly Sorting out the unforgiveable mistakes I have listed above is not difficult, more often than not common sense is all that is required.

Cookie_Monster

Anyone feedback on how the new 63 is fairing, I've past it a few times always looks empty?

xper

Hi KC8,
I think you are being kind to Dublin Bus. I can readily agree with most of what you list under "What could be done better" and "Unforgiveable mistakes". However, when reading the "Credit where its due" stuff, I honestly suspected at first that I was reading PR guff coming directly from the Network Direct team. Your highlighting of the 46A's 'improved' city centre loading in particular reminded me of a bus driver's recounting of a DB manager's delighted comments as he disembarked an overcrowded bus in the first week of changes.

While your experience may be improving more recently, I cannot say the same. There are still major issues unaddressed since day one. In the last week alone, I have experienced the following:
- stood at a N11 bus shelter with no timetable;
- waited 20+ minutes twice in the morning rush hour for an inbound bus to show up and pick up;
- been on a 46A that went through Stillorgan village (!);
- been on an inbound weekend evening 84 that was running on time but still skipped the Bray Station and Cherrywood loops and went Private Hire thereafter.
Some of these occurences obviously didn't directly impact me adversely but they do demostrate the huge unreliability of the new services which I believe is the biggest ongoing problem and is the one that will force customers away in their droves.

My home is within a short walk of the N11 bus corridor. My office is a short walk away from the other end of a 15 minute bus journey. This has been a great beenfit for many years. Now my commute has doubled. I now have to leave my door twenty minutes earlier than before to ensure that I get to work on time because of unreliability and overcrowding on the new services. I am lucky compared to most that my basic commute is so short. Having dispensed with a car several years ago because I could, I also get the bus to various destinations in the city and Co. Wicklow and that part of my life is becoming untenable. If I come out of the imminent budget in one piece, I will be seriously looking at returning to private motoring. The bike is already being pressed into commuting service on whatever days that is an option for me.

I am more familiar with the N11 changes than the Blanchardstown operations but from what I have heard from my friends and colleagues who use the latter, they are going through the same crap as those of us on the southside. One I know has indeed bought a car as a direct result.

The last thing Dublin Bus should do is accelerate the process. They need to pause the process, fix the implemented changes that have not worked and then proceed. They at least need to figure out the basics of how to update all of corridor's bus stop timetables in one night - that is entirely possible.

The_Wrecker

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Anyone feedback on how the new 63 is fairing, I've past it a few times always looks empty?

New bill out soon with 25% extra running time so the passengers know when its coming.:eek:

The_Wrecker

Stillorgan Changes:
Credit where credit is due: The link to Heuston opens up several options for commuters and must be more efficient than the 92 that only ever had peak time one way loads. The key is to ensure the 10 minute frequency is maintained between services (especially when someone has a train to catch). This is difficult when a route is as long as the 145 but not impossible if intermediate times are used (say Bray mainstreet, Foxrock Church, and UCD). 46A extension is also positive. The Mountjoy Square terminus meant that loadings were less than ideal after St Stephens Green. At least now loadings are healthy throughout the city centre.
Other good points are the more direct route for the 46A in Cabinteely and the bypassing of Stillorgan..
Finally, I initially thought the parallel running of 46A and 10 for a few weeks was an unbelievable waste of resources – how could management be so wasteful!? However, in hindsight, I believe it ensured less confusion than might otherwise have occurred when the 10 was cancelled. Such parallel running should be considered again in subsequent phases, however its not required for more than 1 week!

While some credit does deserve to be given for Heuston as oppose maybe Parnel, sometimes Mountjoy oh bugger D'olier me.
Reducing the running time form 1hr40 to 1hr30 has kicked its customers in the prepaid regions. Journeys are missed all over the place. If yesterday is repeated i will spent over an hour today with Private hire on the front.

Only at the start of this week a local manager spoke to me with worry of losing the licence if this continues.

As for the 39A, similar story with other threads on this website. They either go PH to the City or do 46A's from UCD to town at peak.

All the route changes are good and required, but they must get from A to B and back to A again in the time given, which isnt allowed.

KC61

As I've said here there are good and bad points:

N11 (Stillorgan):
Network redesign is fine as are the public timetables (with the exceptions below).

The problem is the driver/bus rosters that support those timetables. All routes have too little running time at peak, some in off-peak, and running times when going to a driver break are too tight also. As a result the public timetable is unachievable, and there are gaps in service.

Also initially too much capacity was taken off the corridor with additional buses withdrawn - this has been rectified by reinstating the additional duties.

Exceptions to design/public timetable comment:
4 - This service was cut back far too drastically and needs to be revamped
47 - Should be half-hourly during the week (with slightly longer running time) - every 35 minutes means no clockface
84 - Should be half-hourly and integrated south of Bray with 184

N3 (Blanchardstown):
Again network redesign is fine as are the public timetables if they were delivered.

Once again the driver/bus rosters are too tight meaning that reliability has gone out the window and there are long gaps in service.

N4 (Lucan):
By and large the network redesign is good (with a couple of exceptions) as is the effort to integrate services on the corridor - 25a/25b every 15 minutes, 66/a/b every 15 minutes with 26 and 67 every 30 minutes around the 66 group giving a 7-8 minute service through Chapelizod. Most of the rosters are far better than the earlier efforts on the N11 and N3, but the 25/25a/25b are all being destroyed in the evening peak due to the city centre routing.

The mistakes were:
25a/25b: The routing via Fitzwilliam Street/Fitzwilliam Place is a disaster in the evening peak and reliability is out the window - this needs to revisited and quickly
25x: Removing the reverse 25x services was a mistake and they should be reinstated

Overall Comments:
The principal mistake is that the rosters built up to deliver the public timetables are (with the exceptions of the 26, 66 and 67) all too tight (not enough time to get from one terminus to the other) with the inevitable result that the reliability goes out the window.

The second major problem is that information on-street has either been non-existent or incorrect. They need to get all on-street information updated on the day in question. Some effort was made on the Lucan corridor with bus stops having updated timetables in place on the Sunday, but no bus shelter panels updated.

The company need to address the rosters pdq otherwise they are going to lose substantial business from pissed off customers. The whole information process needs to be reviewed before any more phases are implemented.

AlekSmart

The company need to address the rosters pdq otherwise they are going to lose substantial business from pissed off customers. The whole information process needs to be reviewed before any more phases are implemented.

Serious issues indeed KC61 and all the worse due to the reluctance of the Network Direct Team to concede that they are a problem.

Indeed it is now apparent that some rather significant differences now exist between Head Office and the Districts themeslves,with callers being bluntly advised to contact the relevant Head Office people.

I am quite concerned that the ND programme is ploughing on regardless with no official recognition of that hugely dangerous situation regarding loss of Customer Confidence and Business.

It is absolute madness if not commercial suicide to risk,for example,the Lucan Corridor business by routing it along what ANY driver could have told them was a Lunatic alignment.

GET THE 25`s OUT OF FITZWILLIAM/LEESON ST NOW.

If the ND team will not do this then some means needs to be found to override them.

However to allow them some wriggle room,it is blatantly obvious that the remainder of the City Stakeholders need to be drawn into active participation in this Concept,and soon !!!

ClovenHoof

KC8 wrote: »

[/FONT]
Unforgiveable mistakes: Bus Stop timetables. Its not rocket science. Not to change them during the hours of darkness in the run-up to new services is just poor. Not to update them within 24 hours is pathetic. Not to have 100% of the timetables updated several weeks later is unforgiveable and should be a sackable offence. Same goes for bus stop identifications. The back of the Deloitte report sets out a timeline and list of tasks to be undertaken prior to the rollout of a new service. Look at the prominence given to timetables!![/FONT]

You can't polish a turd no matter how much Mr Sheen one uses. This is entrenched CIE culture and will never change until these three letters and all the incompetence, dysfunctionality and pathology they eternally respresent are obliterated from the conciousness of the Irish public transport paradaigm.

They cannot understand customer service and never will AND THEY DON'T WANT TO. The above makes this perfectly clear. There may be some remission now and again - but the cancer of CIE remains.

Good post though.