Changing Times - Where stands Dublin-Bus?

AlekSmart

Interesting piece in today's Indo,all the more so as it's based upon the Central Statistics Office latest data.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/drivers-ditch-cars-to-save-on-fuel-2660227.html

Amongst a skip-full of interesting facts n figures the one which tells the most relevant tale for Dublin-Bus and other Public Transport providers is this.....

With petrol above €1.50 a litre and diesel also at record highs, drivers are buying 12pc less fuel than they were a year ago -- backing up an AA survey which found people are thinking twice before making unnecessary journeys.

Economising only goes so far to help, however, as the astronomical prices mean people are still spending almost as much on fuel as they were a year ago.

Followed by .....

When you exclude car sales -- which got an artificial boost from the government scrappage scheme -- April was the 38th consecutive month of declining sales, and they were down 30pc in value since the peak, said David Fitzsimons of Retail Excellence Ireland.

The CSO's stats reveal a very flat picture indeed,but also one which,if properly responded to should be providing a strong area for the Public Transport providers to be expanding and strenghtening their core-business.

However,this level of forward planning has never been an Irish strong point which is most likely why our major National Public Transport providers are well embedded in a wide-ranging programme of service-cutbacks and fare-increases....an ideal response one might think to a rapidly developing situation whereby new-business is being directed into their arms by the deepening recession.

Why,I wonder,in the face of the FACT that many motorists are having to contemplate reducing their car useage or laying-up their vehicles,are Dublin-Bus not out there In-Yer-Face publicising the availability of new services,more comprehensive service levels or 24 hour availability of services.

All of these items,to me,represent something which could,should and would appeal to a significant proportion of Car Users who may be reluctant to try Public Transport due to past experiences or perhaps the somewhat muted results of improvement projects such as Network Direct.

These latest CSO figures really should be causing a pause for thought moment within the NTA and the wider Public Transport industry...why are we not seeing a far more aggressive response from the NEW ! IMPROVED !..Public Transport framework which the NTA is supposed to represent ?

Sadly however those who are interested in Public Transport provision as an integral part of a liveable Urban Lifestyle are left to read of stuff like this instead......

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056278848

With strong evidence of an increase in latent demand for such services why are we not seeing a hard marketing campaign for EXPRESSO type services as typified by the 84X or for full 24hr operation along main trunk corridors ?

Talk about ignoring a golden opportunity....:o

antoinolachtnai

It's not a question of Dublin Bus being unwilling to do what you describe. It is just that they do not have the skills or wherewithal to do it.

What you are proposing (which is what is needed) requires a big change in the whole way DB and public transport operates. It isn't just a matter of a bit of publicity and advertising.

There was a big middle-class oriented advertising campaign last year ('cheat on your car') which seems to have gone nowhere in terms of stimulating demand. This seems to have failed for two reasons.

1. The product isn't well enough positioned to meet the needs of the prospective customers.

2. Advertising and promotion has moved on from print-and-broadcast. These media are fine for getting market awareness. But Dublin Bus is already a famous brand, it doesn't need anymore market awareness, it needs to reposition itself.

Part of the problem for DB is that they don't control the whole public transport offer. Luas, Rail and so on also control signficant parts of it.

What is really needed is to take the market facing stuff away from DB (and Luas and IR) and develop a coherent market strategy for public transport as a whole. This really falls to the NTA to do.

Icepick

Whoever cam up with and approved the idea that every connection has to be made through the centre, bar few exceptions, should never ever get a management position.

bk

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

What is really needed is to take the market facing stuff away from DB (and Luas and IR) and develop a coherent market strategy for public transport as a whole. This really falls to the NTA to do.

It is not just a coherent marketing strategy that the NTA needs to come up with. It is a coherent and integrated public transport strategy that the NTA needs to come up with first.

That means:

- Bus, rail, etc. sharing facilities in a truly integrated way.
- Bus, rail, etc. schedules properly integrated.
- True smart card integrated ticketing with either a cap or zonal travel, so you could use multiple modes of transport without having to pay full price twice.
- Schedules changed to reflect how people would like to truly use public transport. This means DART and Luas operating later and DB running full, normal priced services 24/7 on certain trunk routes.
- More schemes like the bus gate to improve public transport times.

Once you have done all this, you can then start to think how to market it, which should include:

- Co branding all services (i.e. Trasnport for London).
- Single website for buying tickets, trip planning, schedules, etc.
- Single ad campaigns run by the NTA.

But there is no point in trying to advertise a service before you have a product people actually want *.

* Of course advertisers try this all the time, but for the most part it rarely works or only works for a short time. Advertising really only works well when you have a great product to sell and you want to make people aware of it.

Turbulent Bill

The Indo piece only mentions people cutting back on unnecessary journeys (the 2-min drive to the shop etc.) rather than on essential commuting which is DB's bread and butter. I think those that can realistically use DB's services are already doing so; there's no lack of awareness from customers.

The other option is to reconfigure the network to match how people actually travel, but the chances of this happening are about zero.

markpb

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

The Indo piece only mentions people cutting back on unnecessary journeys (the 2-min drive to the shop etc.) rather than on essential commuting which is DB's bread and butter.

Luas and, to a lesser extent the Dart, manage to get quite a few customers off-peak because the frequency is there. DB have generally poor coverage after the evening rush hour so people don't want to make unnecessary journeys. It's odd because this is the time when there is the most spare capacity.

LXFlyer

markpb wrote: »

Luas and, to a lesser extent the Dart, manage to get quite a few customers off-peak because the frequency is there. DB have generally poor coverage after the evening rush hour so people don't want to make unnecessary journeys. It's odd because this is the time when there is the most spare capacity.

It's not so odd when you consider that most of the spreadover driver duties (the extra peak hour duties on most routes) have to finish within 12 hours of starting to be in line with the EU working time directive.

In other words they generally start between 0600 and 0800, take a break after 3.5-4 hours, and then come back again after 1500 for another 3.5-4 hours before finishing.

eejoynt

Off peak is one area where RTPI will come into its own as a way off maximising the patronage of less frequent services.
as opposed to setting out for town at night and going to the nearest bus stop only to hail a taxi after ten minutes waiting, you can go on your home PC or phone and time your arrival at the local bus stop with the arrival of the bus
maybe its too early for a marketing effort given that the system is still under test but at some point a facebook page for rtpi should be set up

antoinolachtnai

bk wrote: »

It is not just a coherent marketing strategy that the NTA needs to come up with. It is a coherent and integrated public transport strategy that the NTA needs to come up with first.

A careful examination of my post will show that I did not in fact use the word 'marketing'.

[/quote]

By a market strategy I mean addressing the needs of the market as a whole. A market strategy is a lot more than just advertising and promotion. It is about developing an overall product which addresses the needs of the market.

The sorts of decisions you describe are exactly what I mean.

Re off-peak trips - off-peak and trips against the prevailing direction are in fact a critical part of the Dublin Bus cashflow, and they certainly seem to have fallen away. The peak capacity has only been reduced by about 10 percent, but the passenger numbers have fallen by about 20 percent. DB really needs to get these discretionary trips back.

LXFlyer

To be honest making the bus service more attractive is dependant upon a variety of different initiatives being completed, some of which are in the process of being rolled out:

• Redesigning the network
• Clockface schedules
• Improved information at stops on street
• Improved information online
• Rollout of AVLC (Automatic Vehicle Location and Control) and retraining of controllers to have a customer focus
• Rollout of RTPI (Realtime Passenger Information) - On street, online and text
• Rollout of multi-mode journey planner
• Improved on-street priority measures
• Rollout of e-purse for multi-mode travel
• Redesign of fares structure to favour pre-paid travel and reduce dwell times
• Improved integration between modes at key locations
• Provision of on-street bus shelters
• Single location online for all public transport information (timetables and fares)

They're the things that spring to mind initially.

One of these will not improve the bus service. It needs all the above to be completed before the bus service can be taken as a viable alternative.

antoinolachtnai

lxflyer wrote: »

It's not so odd when you consider that most of the spreadover driver duties (the extra peak hour duties on most routes) have to finish within 12 hours of starting to be in line with the EU working time directive.

I think it is 13 hours to allow an 11-hour gap between shifts, rather than 12 hours - see http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/informationforemployees/workinghours/ although I am open to correction on this. It's not my area.

Obviously Luas faces the same issue.

It's really how you structure your roster. You will obviously need some split shifts, but it really depends on the mix of split and unsplit shifts. Generally workers prefer not to work split shifts. If you want to provide any degree of cover overnight, you will need quite a different shift structure from an 18/19-hour operation.

prististanice

What turns me off getting the bus in the capital is the fact that I don't necessarily know what stop I should get off at and that I have to talk to the driver and explain to him where I want to go (I'm not from the capital). Every bus stop should have its own name which should be displayed ON the stop. There should be automated machines à la Luas where you can select where you want to go and purchase your ticket. That way you'll know how much you're going to pay and know the name of the stop you will be getting off at. There should also be automated announcements in the bus announcing the next stop (à la Luas). There shouldn't need to be interaction with the driver. She should stop at every stop (in order to allow an exact timetable be calculated). Therefore, if you go to "O'Connell Street Upper" stop and see a timetable, it should be JUST for that stop. Not the time of departure from the first stop. If you don't have to purchase a ticket, that would vastly increase journey times. Think of how often you purchase your ticket and then sit in the bus and wait another 2-3 minutes while everyone else buys their ticket. If the bus pulls up, and you just get on and sit down with your pre-bought ticket, then it can depart much faster. Therefore conductors should be reintroduced. And of course tickets should work on Dublin Bus, Luas and DART.

I'm pretty sure some of this was mentioned in a previous poster's post but in more eloquent language than mine!

bk

No prististanice, most of those ideas are pretty awful for an efficient bus service.

- Stop at every stop

Even if no one is getting on or off at the stop, thus slowing the bus trip down unnecessarily.

- Static timetables for the actual stop at every bus stop.

Almost impossible to create static timetables for every bus stop due to massive variation in traffic and boarding times.

The only way you might do it is to leave massive buffer time at each stop and have the bus stop at each stop and wait till the appointed time to leave, but this would make the bus journey time much slower.

No the correct solution is RTPI that is currently being rolled out. These are electric screens at bus stops (and the info is also available on the web and via sms) which show the scheduled arrival time of the next few buses at the stop, based on GPS and other data sent from the actual buses. It is accurate to within 1 minute.

- Automated ticket machines at every single stop and reintroduce conductors

Automated ticket machines at every single stop (there are about 10,000 stops in Dublin) would cost a fortune and cost a fortune to maintain.

Also it would be very costly and unnecessary to re-introduce conductors

The ideal solution to both the problem of everyone buying a ticket from the driver and having to talk to the driver is the introduction of smart cards with a flat fare.

With a flat fare smart card, you just touch the smart card as you board the bus and then get off whenever you want. No need to talk to the driver and much faster boarding times.

Introducing a flat fare will be tricky for Dublin Bus, but it would be a damn sight cheaper then re-introducing conductors or Luas style ticket machines at 10,000 stops.

- automated announcements in the bus announcing the next stop

This is actually possible with RTPI and is being trialled (and works very well) on the 123 route. A screen shows the name of the next bus stop and can also say it for blind people.

However I'm not sure if this is going to be rolled out to all buses. But you are right, it should be.

- Integrated ticketing with dart, luas, etc.

Is of course a great idea and at least a basic version of this should be available by the end of the year.

BTW you can plan your journey before you leave, by going to the Dublin Bus website or use the great iPhone app Dublin Buster.

prististanice

Yeah, you're probably right re the stopping at every stop thing...but I still think that the stops should be announced and have their own names (I didn't realise there was a bus that has this - it's a very good idea and they should roll it out to more buses). And as for the automated machines...maybe you wouldn't need to have them at EVERY stop but if the Luas, DART and bus are under one umbrella, then a ticket you buy at a Luas station will work on the bus so they should be at SOME major bus stops. And I know that tickets are also sold in newsagents (aren't they?) so there should be some incentive to NOT buy from the driver (like maybe the tickets would be a few cent cheaper if you buy from a shop).

And I still think it COULD be possible to have a static timetable. I've lived in Prague and they have that there...I don't know HOW it's calculated but if the timetable says the bus will be there at that stop at that time, it ALWAYS is... Don't most buses have a device that calculates the time between each stop...it surely shouldn't vary too much from a Monday one week and a Monday a week later... But the real-time information is definitely an amazing step and a lot more immediate than a timetable as it's right in your face telling you when the bus will arrive.

parsi

Berlin also has specfic timetables for each stop. It used be a bit mad in he evenings as buses used slow down if traffic was really light but it was way better than standing on O'Connell Street and trying ti figure out how long it took a bus from Wadelai Park to arrive..