Bus Éireann 16:30 Limerick-Dublin bus

foggy_lad

Was anyone on this bus today and where did it disappear to instead of pulling into Portlaoise for the dozen or so people waiting on it at 6.15pm?

Was there some disaster or just more off route diversion from a cowboy driver? Maybe the 4.30pm bus was cancelled? Nothing on the website about it either.

The sooner this awful company is made accountable the better it will be for public transport users all over Ireland!

foggy_lad

When I got to busaras on the later bus from cork the inspectors there did not even know they were missing a bus:) probably a breakdown but I would have thought the company would know where its coaches were especially when they are an hour missing/late.

reggaeman

I think now it is only a matter of time before its privatized.
Thire all a bunch of Amateurs.

parsi

I wonder did it have anything to do with the incident on the rail line at Port Laoise ?

As a side note I think that Foggy should provide his itinerary at the start of each week as it appears that all his services operate late.

To help - I'm going up to Dublin on Friday morning - have you any journey planned for that time Foggy ?

popebenny16

not exactly on topic, but sort of. Last year BE pulled the service from Cork to Athlone which served Thurles-Templemore-Roscrea on its way. It was not making money, it went with the first lot of mcCarthy cuts.

Odd though that right away Bernard Kavanagh and Sons started doing this route and they still are, but twice a day in each direction as opposed to once a day for BE. Obviously they spotted a demand and are serving it in a profitable way when BE couldnt. Thats just a small route, wonder what, in light of the fact that mc mcarthy found that the scoil bus money is subsidising the expressway fleet, they could do with other BE services.

Losty Dublin

popebenny16 wrote: »

not exactly on topic, but sort of. Last year BE pulled the service from Cork to Athlone which served Thurles-Templemore-Roscrea on its way. It was not making money, it went with the first lot of mcCarthy cuts.

Odd though that right away Bernard Kavanagh and Sons started doing this route and they still are, but twice a day in each direction as opposed to once a day for BE. Obviously they spotted a demand and are serving it in a profitable way when BE couldnt. Thats just a small route, wonder what, in light of the fact that mc mcarthy found that the scoil bus money is subsidising the expressway fleet, they could do with other BE services.

It could well be that Kavanagh has allocated the run to one bus and one driver whereas the Bus Eireann bus had other duties that it could be better utilised on elsewhere, hence an operational saving in one sense for BE and another for Kavanagh. BE may also only have had a permission to run one service a day and were bound not to run additional services, this has happened in the past to their hinderance. As well, the private bus driver is probably paid a lot less than the Bus Eireann driver so this cost again would help margins; a newer vehicle on the route or even a less stringent repair/servicing regime would also cut costs in the long term.

All told, you'd need to see if the private operator can maintain the level of service over a couple years to see if it holds good for him but the very best of luck to them if they can do it

Vic_08

popebenny16 wrote: »

not exactly on topic, but sort of. Last year BE pulled the service from Cork to Athlone which served Thurles-Templemore-Roscrea on its way. It was not making money, it went with the first lot of mcCarthy cuts.

Odd though that right away Bernard Kavanagh and Sons started doing this route and they still are, but twice a day in each direction as opposed to once a day for BE. Obviously they spotted a demand and are serving it in a profitable way when BE couldnt. Thats just a small route, wonder what, in light of the fact that mc mcarthy found that the scoil bus money is subsidising the expressway fleet, they could do with other BE services.

Excellent. You have taken some not quite truths added in some erroneous assumptions and come up with a conclusion that no doubt fits in with your preconcieved views.

Facts.
1. The now defunct Bus Eireann Cork-Athlone service had 2 return trips Mon-Sat and one on Sundays. This was reduced to one return trip some months before it was cancelled.

2. The Bernard Kavanagh service you referr to only operates on a section of that route, it is by no means a direct replacement or reasonable comparison.

3. It was not introduced as a replacement, that along with a bunch of other routes in the Tipperary/Kilkenny area have been operated for a long time by Kavanaghs from their Urlingford base. These are predominantly short distance local services not the lengthy express service you are comparing it with.

4. Profit? How do you know what the financials of this service are? I don't and I seriously doubt you do either. I could take a guess from other similar services that a large % of the users are non-payers and that the different ways CIE and private operators recieve payments from the DSP make these routes viable. But that would just be a guess and without a breakdown of costs and revenue which I somehow doubt Mr Kavanagh is going to provide a guess is all that is possible.

Losty Dublin wrote: »

As well, the private bus driver is probably paid a lot less than the Bus Eireann driver so this cost again would help margins;

What do you base the assumption that the driver is on a lot less money from? It is another one of those widely held "facts" that bus drivers in CIE are on huge wages in comparison to the private sector, facts to back that up are rather thin on the ground. Around the time I started working in Bus Eireann I noted some job listings from a major private operator and the figures quoted were very similar to my pay.

Losty Dublin wrote: »

a newer vehicle on the route or even a less stringent repair/servicing regime would also cut costs in the long term.

A full breakdown of cost comparisons between a number of different operators, state owned and private would be very revealing, if you can figure a way to get this info out of any of them then I would love to see it.

LXFlyer

popebenny16 wrote: »

not exactly on topic, but sort of. Last year BE pulled the service from Cork to Athlone which served Thurles-Templemore-Roscrea on its way. It was not making money, it went with the first lot of mcCarthy cuts.

Odd though that right away Bernard Kavanagh and Sons started doing this route and they still are, but twice a day in each direction as opposed to once a day for BE. Obviously they spotted a demand and are serving it in a profitable way when BE couldnt. Thats just a small route, wonder what, in light of the fact that mc mcarthy found that the scoil bus money is subsidising the expressway fleet, they could do with other BE services.

Where precisely does McCarthy say that the Dept of Education money is funding the fleet?

You are possibly being somewhat unfair here. This is the same Bus Eireann which the Deloitte Report said of:

Given the comprehensive and integrated nature of services being offered to the public, we have found Bus Éireann‘s network to be as efficient as its peers. It will not be possible to make major cost savings on the Bus Éireann network without reducing services. If service rationalisation is implemented, in the context of the current financial situation facing the company, it will be important to ensure that the integrated nature of the network is maintained as far as is practical.

and also:

We found scheduling of buses and drivers to be efficient when the nature of each service was taken into account. In most cases, schedules were designed to ensure even headway and clockface departures on services. We identified the potential for some relatively minor scheduling efficiencies as a result of our detailed analysis of certain routes.

The cost reduction programme and network changes have been ongoing since the Deloitte report's publication in January 2009 and not McCarthy. The reality is that the company (and indeed also Dublin Bus) was held back by politicians from withdrawing services for many years (as it was seen to be politically unpalatable despite single digit usage) but I would have to say that it has been very proactive in the past 18 months in redesigning the network and services, albeit not helped by the DoT lethargy in approving changes.

Losty Dublin

Vic_08 wrote: »

What do you base the assumption that the driver is on a lot less money from? It is another one of those widely held "facts" that bus drivers in CIE are on huge wages in comparison to the private sector, facts to back that up are rather thin on the ground. Around the time I started working in Bus Eireann I noted some job listings from a major private operator and the figures quoted were very similar to my pay.

I base my comment on a few sources.

Having worked with a well known bus and travel company who, as it happens, did quite a lot of sub contracting work for Bus Eireann. A good friend of mine worked in the office and her now husband was a coach driver so I do know what the daily rate for a driver is. Similarly, a friend of mine does daily runs for a nursing home and while he isn't on the minimum wage, he is not what we'd call well paid. It's not to say that CIE group drivers are well paid but many of the private coach drivers would be retained as self employed/part time drivers and obviously not all of these lads would be on regular shifts or runs.

Often the hours involved for the private guys isn't just reward for what they gain, not withstanding the fact the irregular income that comes in; many of them are idle in the winter as tour parties dry up though on the plus side they often have tips to help them get by

Vic_08 wrote: »

A full breakdown of cost comparisons between a number of different operators, state owned and private would be very revealing, if you can figure a way to get this info out of any of them then I would love to see it.

I'd like to see them as well but you and I can accept that we will be waiting.