Bus Éireann website - really bad

TheQuietFella

donegal_man wrote: »

The timetables are an absolute shambles. I've been to the station in Letterkenny on numerous occasions to meet my nephew coming from Galway and the bus is ALWAYS ten to fifteen minutes late. This would less of an issue if the bus only ran between Letterkenny and Galway but it affects every stop on the route. When I suggested that maybe the timetable should be adjusted to reflect the reality of the journey time I received a letter back from BE thanking me for my suggestion and "our services and timetables are under constant review".

Have you any idea of what it's like trying to get out of Galway on a busy day?
Fifteen minutes late isn't bad considering the other road users at this time
of the year but enough about the farmers!

Mrs OBumble

donegal_man wrote: »

The timetables are an absolute shambles. I've been to the station in Letterkenny on numerous occasions to meet my nephew coming from Galway and the bus is ALWAYS ten to fifteen minutes late. This would less of an issue if the bus only ran between Letterkenny and Galway but it affects every stop on the route. When I suggested that maybe the timetable should be adjusted to reflect the reality of the journey time I received a letter back from BE thanking me for my suggestion and "our services and timetables are under constant review".

Galway to Letterkenny?

Two words for ya: Bus Feda.

donegal_man

TheQuietFella wrote: »

Have you any idea of what it's like trying to get out of Galway on a busy day?
Fifteen minutes late isn't bad considering the other road users at this time
of the year but enough about the farmers!

The thing is it's not just this time of year, it's all year round. Which is why I believe the timetable needs to reflect reality not just BE's idea of what should be especially since people may well be hoping to make connections which will leave on time.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Galway to Letterkenny?

Two words for ya: Bus Feda.

I agree but it doesn't suit his work schedule so stuck with BE at least until he gets his own transport and I no longer have to be the designated chauffeur to his mother's.

gwalk

Cheaper to buy a ticket to Belfast than it is to buy one to Newry which is about 37 miles closer to Dublin and most of the BE Belfast buses stop in there

such a backwards company

TheQuietFella

donegal_man wrote: »

The thing is it's not just this time of year, it's all year round. Which is why I believe the timetable needs to reflect reality not just BE's idea of what should be especially since people may well be hoping to make connections which will leave on time.

The reality is it's a public service on very public roads with a very varied public using the service. How would you set a timetable against all that?

L1011

https://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.buseireann.ie using Windows 2003 until 2017 - end of support in 2015. No wonder its so outdated.

Del.Monte

Deleted User wrote: »

2018, and it's still the most ineffably hideous, consumer-hostile website on the planet. Unfúckingbelievable. A full 20 years of it now.

I don't know, it's positively light years ahead of Irish Rail's offering: http://www.irishrail.ie and I realise that's not saying much.

L1011

Del.Monte wrote: »

I don't know, it's positively light years ahead of Irish Rail's offering: http://www.irishrail.ie and I realise that's not saying much.

Irish Rails journey planner actually works, though. Bus Eireanns is basically unusable except to experts.

devnull

gwalk wrote: »

Cheaper to buy a ticket to Belfast than it is to buy one to Newry which is about 37 miles closer to Dublin and most of the BE Belfast buses stop in there

Because there is a lot of competition on the Belfast route whereas there isn't on the Newry.

XPS_Zero

gwalk wrote: »

Cheaper to buy a ticket to Belfast than it is to buy one to Newry which is about 37 miles closer to Dublin and most of the BE Belfast buses stop in there

such a backwards company

Actually they've a new (far better) system now where most busses to Belfast are now X2s (a route that used to be Translink only and only run in the summer) which means it skips Newry totally in a more direct service.
There are still some X1s at quieter times that go to all stops but not many.


The X1 stops at every stop
The X2 is more direct it avoids Newry
The X5 is Dublin-Newry direct.

They had to do this because it was getting absurd, after BE stopped using their double deckers on this route 90% of the time it was filling up at Dublin Airport and people were being left behind waiting for the next one. This set up is way better.

The X5 is the new Newry-Dublin bus, shared by BE and Translink. Though you would be more likley to see an American bald eagle on the X5 or X2 or X1 routes as an actual proper BE doubledecker exrpessway or even the Irish rugby team style single deckers now. THey seem to use an excessive number of contractors, but I'm sure that's to do with NTA commitments elsehwere and nothing to do with holidays and other freebe incentives given to senior BE staff by the private bus companies. As long as they're looked after who cares if the passengers have to sit on a poorly air conditioned single decker with crap/non existant wifi, no sockets/usbs, rock hard seats that haven't been cleaned in years and a bus that looks like it hasn't seen a sweeping brush or bottle of windowlene in 10 years.

Let alone the cranky as hell drivers who make the basic error of assuming all customers already know and understand the route back to front and lose their temper with them if they dare ask where the bus goes to or GOD FORBID ask where the bus to x leaves from, how dare they.


Then there are the private contractors who (yes this has happened) FORET about Newry on the X1 route AND Sprucefield AND Banbridge and just keep going to Belfast, so used to the route as private sector they forget to do the PSO route.

Those contracts may not be decided by outright bribes as I've been told, but they are definitly not decided by quality of service because you'd need to have some kind of problem with basic cognition to hire some of these bus companies. Im not sure which I'd prefer was true: the open secret/suggestions of the quid pro quo or the total incompetence in picking the one to give the contract to.

cython

TheQuietFella wrote: »

The reality is it's a public service on very public roads with a very varied public using the service. How would you set a timetable against all that?

Well if there's a consistent minimum 10 minutes by which services are late (taking the poster at face value), then push it out by that. Easy enough to have the bus wait a few mins if running ahead, and those that are 15 mins behind where they are now would only then be 5 mins or so behind.

donegal_man

cython wrote: »

Well if there's a consistent minimum 10 minutes by which services are late (taking the poster at face value), then push it out by that. Easy enough to have the bus wait a few mins if running ahead, and those that are 15 mins behind where they are now would only then be 5 mins or so behind.

My point exactly, I don't even bother going into town now at the designated arrival time as I know it's going to be late.

TheQuietFella

cython wrote: »

Well if there's a consistent minimum 10 minutes by which services are late (taking the poster at face value), then push it out by that. Easy enough to have the bus wait a few mins if running ahead, and those that are 15 mins behind where they are now would only then be 5 mins or so behind.

If they were to do that they would have to re-organise all the other times between stops and a driver can't leave before time so that might actually put him further behind!

cython

TheQuietFella wrote: »

If they were to do that they would have to re-organise all the other times between stops and a driver can't leave before time so that might actually put him further behind!

With the fleet tracking and telematics technology currently available, it would be trivial for BE (or almost any other large operator) to look back over the last X months of their services and compare the arrival times of all services vs scheduled times, and dollars to donuts there will be regular trend of progressive slippage over the course of most journeys, as opposed to suddenly picking up a 10 min delay at random different points throughout on a regular basis. That can then be fed into any adjustment to set realistic schedules while avoiding the scenario you suggest.

However I'm sure they're happy to continue on in blissful ignorance of the timetable, so there's no will to do the above.

TheQuietFella

devnull wrote: »

Because there is a lot of competition on the Belfast route whereas there isn't on the Newry.

So are you suggesting then to ask for a ticket to Belfast and get off at Newry?
Pricing in my view needs a radical review across the board!

TheQuietFella

cython wrote: »

With the fleet tracking and telematics technology currently available, it would be trivial for BE (or almost any other large operator) to look back over the last X months of their services and compare the arrival times of all services vs scheduled times, and dollars to donuts there will be regular trend of progressive slippage over the course of most journeys, as opposed to suddenly picking up a 10 min delay at random different points throughout on a regular basis. That can then be fed into any adjustment to set realistic schedules while avoiding the scenario you suggest.

However I'm sure they're happy to continue on in blissful ignorance of the timetable, so there's no will to do the above.

You can't legislate for the conditions you'll meet on any road!
Road works, slow drivers, old passengers. To be fair you could keep
adding to the list and I've been on enough journeys with Bus Eireann to
know what these drivers have to contend with!

devnull

TheQuietFella wrote: »

So are you suggesting then to ask for a ticket to Belfast and get off at Newry?

I never suggested any of the sort, not sure how you came to that conclusion.

cython

TheQuietFella wrote: »

You can't legislate for the conditions you'll meet on any road!
Road works, slow drivers, old passengers. To be fair you could keep
adding to the list and I've been on enough journeys with Bus Eireann to
know what these drivers have to contend with!

By that logic you might as well just burn the timetable and publish start times for services, and leave passengers to guess at the times along the rest of the route, along the lines of Dublin Bus once upon a time. While you can't legislate for every scenario, you absolutely can analyse data and adjust timetables accordingly if the data shows them to be repeatedly and conisistently unachievable by similar progressive margins over the course of the journey. Denying that is sticking your head in the sand, and I might as well try to reason with a flat-earther as someone who won't accept that.

TheQuietFella

devnull wrote: »

I never suggested any of the sort, not sure how you came to that conclusion.

To be fair, you didn't but if it can be done shouldn't the fare be standardised across the route? Less waiting time for the driver to punch in the detail?

TheQuietFella

cython wrote: »

By that logic you might as well just burn the timetable and publish start times for services, and leave passengers to guess at the times along the rest of the route, along the lines of Dublin Bus once upon a time. While you can't legislate for every scenario, you absolutely can analyse data and adjust timetables accordingly if the data shows them to be repeatedly and conisistently unachievable by similar progressive margins over the course of the journey. Denying that is sticking your head in the sand, and I might as well try to reason with a flat-earther as someone who won't accept that.

You are quite correct in saying that if timetables are unachievable then something should be done about it but in todays modern era with so much
traffic and other road users it is difficult for drivers to keep on time.

Mrs OBumble

TheQuietFella wrote: »

You can't legislate for the conditions you'll meet on any road!
Road works, slow drivers, old passengers. To be fair you could keep
adding to the list and I've been on enough journeys with Bus Eireann to
know what these drivers have to contend with!

They don't know what's they'll meet on any given day. But on average it's likely that they'll meet one of the issues you listed each day (or two or three or whatever), and have an average delay of X-minutes.

So they can and should be able to do reasonable timetable estimates based on likely conditions.

Even loading: the smartphones that most people carry give them a fairly good idea of how many people are waiting at a bus-stop before the bus gets there. They should know how many people are being left behind by full buses, and be able to schedule so that on average that doesn't need to happen.

TheQuietFella

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

They don't know what's they'll meet on any given day. But on average it's likely that they'll meet one of the issues you listed each day (or two or three or whatever), and have an average delay of X-minutes.

So they can and should be able to do reasonable timetable estimates based on likely conditions.

Even loading: the smartphones that most people carry give them a fairly good idea of how many people are waiting at a bus-stop before the bus gets there. They should know how many people are being left behind by full buses, and be able to schedule so that on average that doesn't need to happen.

Smartphones? You'll have to forgive me here but who is supposed to know who is waiting? The driver or is it just data collected to be analysed later and by whom?

bodhrandude

Trying to buy a ticket online through Bus Eireann, I'm making my way to the Electric Picnic site to do some pre-event work, the Citylink Commuter service is booked out, presumably something to do with the pope. Anyway I booked a bus from Galway to Kinnegad, which failed three times bringing me back to the first page. Eventually the transaction worked only for me to find I have booked the destination as Kilbeggan for some reason instead of Kinnegad. I have friends who are also working the Picnic who live in Kinnegad so I have a lift from there to the festival site. What can I do here, can I go to bus station tomorrow with pdf of ticket on phone and get it changed to Kinnegad or is it just the matter of giving a few extra Euro to the bus driver.

mosesgun

Has anyone had this experience with their booking site. Trying to book a bus from Red Cow Luas to Carlow Royal Oak. Their timetable says the bus will be leaving red cow at 15:43pm However, the site won't accept the Red Cow as a valid departure point. It will accept Busaras as the departure point and the price is €14 approx. If I purchase the ticket from Busaras to Carlow will that be ok when I get on a the red cow? I rang their "Helpline" to be told that they don't know why I can't book it on line from the red cow to carlow but if I do book from busaras then I'll have to actually get on at that stop. This is bananas stuff. Anyone any ideas????

chewed

mosesgun wrote: »

Has anyone had this experience with their booking site. Trying to book a bus from Red Cow Luas to Carlow Royal Oak. Their timetable says the bus will be leaving red cow at 15:43pm However, the site won't accept the Red Cow as a valid departure point. It will accept Busaras as the departure point and the price is €14 approx. If I purchase the ticket from Busaras to Carlow will that be ok when I get on a the red cow? I rang their "Helpline" to be told that they don't know why I can't book it on line from the red cow to carlow but if I do book from busaras then I'll have to actually get on at that stop. This is bananas stuff. Anyone any ideas????

I've had similar issues before on different routes. I assume you're getting the Expressway Route 4 bus? When you click View Timetables, you'll see that the official stop at Red Cow is "Red Cow Luas". But this does not appear in the "From" list in the Buy Tickets section! Completely Bananas as you say.

mosesgun

chewed wrote: »

I've had similar issues before on different routes. I assume you're getting the Expressway Route 4 bus? When you click View Timetables, you'll see that the official stop at Red Cow is "Red Cow Luas". But this does not appear in the "From" list in the Buy Tickets section! Completely Bananas as you say.

Thanks for the reply. Yes it was the expressway route 4 bus. I just bought the ticket from bus aras and got on the bus at the red cow. Driver happy to accept it. Booking tickets on JJ kavanagh buses is a much slicker affair altogether. Do you know if bus eireann do a card where you put credit on it and hop on any bus without needing cash. Jj Kavanagh do it but I'd like both options.

DeepBlue

mosesgun wrote: »

Do you know if bus eireann do a card where you put credit on it and hop on any bus without needing cash.

I thought the leapcard was going to be accepted on nationwide buses but apparently not yet - https://about.leapcard.ie/bus-eireann

Please note: Expressway services do not currently accept Leap Card.

mosesgun

DeepBlue wrote: »

I thought the leapcard was going to be accepted on nationwide buses but apparently not yet - https://about.leapcard.ie/bus-eireann

Yes leap card would be brilliant. I Have one of them but can't use it on that route as far as I know.