Thursday - bad day for DB

lil5

As a daily bus commuter (4/7) it is noticeable that Thursday - especially afternoon from 3 pm onward - seems to be a bad day for DB. Service gaps of 30+ minutes happen regularly, more out-of-service buses than on any other day. Is it the same on other routes?

Can't be just the traffic being worse than on other weekdays?

Or is it still payday on Thursday and drivers aren't keen extra shifts and so not enough drivers are around to run the timetabled service?

justsomebloke

Well around this time of year especially, late night shopping on a Thursday will add a good bit of traffic and extra people into town

AlekSmart

lil5 wrote: »

Can't be just the traffic being worse than on other weekdays?

Or is it still payday on Thursday and drivers aren't keen extra shifts and so not enough drivers are around to run the timetabled service?

Thursday is without doubt doubt the worst day now for general traffic disruption.

It's important to factor in now,the effect of such disruptions occurring in the suburbs as with the Network Directed routes this can often mean for example a 13 being badly delayed in Clondalkin,then again in the City Centre and then again in Phibsboro.

Factor in the added late-evenin opening in Án-Lár and you can see the knock-on developing from early afternoon.

I can guarantee that the O Connell Bridge Junction alone on a Thursday will see "situations" developing under the baleful disinterested gaze of a brace of DCC Traffic Cameras and Garda Monitoring Cameras but with absolutely no attempt to interefere.

The Pay-Day isue is a total non-runner as the vast majority of DB platform staff are now paid by Credit Transfer under their contracts of employment.

gurramok

Ah, so I was not just seeing things earlier at about 7:30pm!

Saw 3 route 40 buses come together on Dorset st outbound, is funny when I hear the joke about 2 buses in a row, but 3 is crazy stuff! Gave me a smile anyway

Aard

I've noticed Thursdays being bad for a month or so now. I now go for Luas + 20 minute uphill walk over the 14 in the evenings, even though I'd usually be knackered anyway. The 14 just isn't reliable enough. Several evenings in a row I've been waiting 30 minutes plus for a service that's meant to leave D'Olier St every 15 minutes in the evening.

Oh, and bunching. Fcuk you, bunching.

CIE

Hmm. All the bad predictions of what would happen with Network Direct implementation can't be coming to pass, can they...?

SandyfordGuy

it was certainly a bit ropey last night without any doubt. but anyone coming up with such hyperbole as it is because of the fact that it is payday really needs to get a grip of things. I'm far from Dublin Buses' biggest fan but comments like that serve no purpose whatsoever.

lil5

justsomebloke wrote: »

Well around this time of year especially, late night shopping on a Thursday will add a good bit of traffic and extra people into town

Agreed, but excluding the last bank holiday week almost every Thursday for the last 2-3 months has been bad.

lil5

AlekSmart wrote: »

... Factor in the added late-evenin opening in Án-Lár and you can see the knock-on developing from early afternoon. ...

Does DB adjust running times for Thursday?

Guessing that the knock-on leads to the buses running late, getting regulated out of service and drivers getting close to exceeding their working hours which impacts on the later afternoon and evening services.

LXFlyer

lil5 wrote: »

Does DB adjust running times for Thursday?

Guessing that the knock-on leads to the buses running late, getting regulated out of service and drivers getting close to exceeding their working hours which impacts on the later afternoon and evening services.

No - there are standard Monday-Friday rosters.

AlekSmart

lil5 wrote: »

Does DB adjust running times for Thursday?

Guessing that the knock-on leads to the buses running late, getting regulated out of service and drivers getting close to exceeding their working hours which impacts on the later afternoon and evening services.

That's a pretty accurate summation of the situation Lil5.

Unfortunately the real-time effects of the Network Direct project are only now becoming apparent across the city.

However it's not totally an issue to be laid solely at BAC's door,as Network Direct as a concept requires a significant amount of complimentary activity from the other Civic Stakeholders if it's to achieve any real success.

The O Connell Bridge situation,events at the Oh2 or Canal Theatre/Convention Centre are all allowed to wreak havoc on the entire city's traffic system,with not a sign of on-street control or intervention.

Sadly,the reality of deleting 200 hundred vehicles and 300+ Staff from any given system has to be a decrease in operational ability.

As I have posted before,I believe that the authorities needed to come-clean about the broad based effects of Network Direct and the fact that it was always going to be a juggling act to somehow prove the notion that less=more.

What we now see is a situation whereby wildly optimistic runnning-times cannot be "tweaked" due to a lack of resources to operate the same schedules with realistic running-time,it's Catch 22 (or in BAC terms 122 ).

The danger is that once credibility is lost in the situation it then becomes a very difficult job indeed to restore it.

The more recent 13/51 and 40/78A changes are,in fact,clearer examples of the danger presented by the Network Direct principle,as both the 40 and 51 were largely reliable and popular routes with their respective customer bases,who have now,in the main,been given a substantially less marketable service In its Present Guise.

LXFlyer

Very good post Alek!

The 13 needs a new roster and quickly - but obviously given the complexities involved that cannot always be delivered quickly.

imjd123

but i think that after 3pm, no body wants to work. everyone want to rest