Dublin Bus puts out tender for up to 160 new buses

dublinman1990

I found out not too long ago that Dublin Bus have put out a new tender for up to 160 new buses for the fleet. (150 Double Deckers & 10 Single Deckers)

The previous tender had been set for 172 buses. (160 Double Deckers & 12 Single Deckers)

So it's a reduction of 12 buses on the previous tender.

You can view the tender here: http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA01435

What's your thoughts on that?

SandyfordGuy

I thought they didn't have any money? Or are the government going to pay for them? I can see why they would want to replace the non low floor vehicles, but not sure there is anywhere near that many left?

Also someone on here recently said they were going to go back to the 16 year lifespan after replacing the non low floor buses, this is what they've said for years as to why they are replacing vehicles so often, but it wasn't the case after all and was just spin?

Either way, the country is broke, Dublin Bus claim they have no money, so I'm at a loss on how all that being true, that we can afford to purchase anywhere near these. I think there are obvious reasons to replace the non low floor buses, but no need thereafter and as a taxpayer I certainly don't want my money going towards it.

Armada

SandyfordGuy wrote: »

Either way, the country is broke, Dublin Bus claim they have no money, so I'm at a loss on how all that being true, that we can afford to purchase anywhere near these. I think there are obvious reasons to replace the non low floor buses, but no need thereafter and as a taxpayer I certainly don't want my money going towards it.

I agree, there are many people all over this country in desperate need of support which our government is not providing yet they can spend millions of tax payers money on shiny new buses?

New circus, same clowns as someone once said.

AlekSmart

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I found out not too long ago that Dublin Bus have put out a new tender for up to 160 new buses for the fleet. (150 Double Deckers & 10 Single Deckers)

The previous tender had been set for 172 buses. (160 Double Deckers & 12 Single Deckers)

So it's a reduction of 12 buses on the previous tender.

You can view the tender here: http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA01435

What's your thoughts on that?

From what's on the e-tenders site it looks like a re-issue of the earlier tender to take account of the funding cuts imposed on Public Transport.

The NTA,who are now the controlling entity regarding specifications,did reveal a set of new standards for Dublin Bus vehicles which may well have increased unit-costs also.

I would suggest it's "move along there,nothing to see here" time in relation to this partciular tender,except perhaps to point out that it will further postpone any new vehicles until perhaps Autumn 2012 if even then.

It's smoke and mirrors I'm afraid.

bk

Will these be double or triple door buses?

Aren't the NTA specifying that new buses must have double doors?

Flukey

With the way they have been cutting back services with Network They Wrecked, they should have buses to sell.:rolleyes:

KD345

When Metro North was shelved, Leo Varadkar announced he was giving cash to Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann for the upkeep of the bus fleet. This will now mean the Dublin Bus fleet will be 100% low floor.

Losty Dublin

KD345 wrote: »

When Metro North was shelved, Leo Varadkar announced he was giving cash to Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann for the upkeep of the bus fleet. This will now mean the Dublin Bus fleet will be 100% low floor.

What? No more Olympians?

dublinman1990

KD345 wrote: »

When Metro North was shelved, Leo Varadkar announced he was giving cash to Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann for the upkeep of the bus fleet. This will now mean the Dublin Bus fleet will be 100% low floor.

Yeah of course, €150 million euro to purchase the new buses for CIE under the new Goverment Spending Plan.

And of course, no more olympians I'm afraid. But new versions of VT's I heard.

Here's a new North American version posted here:

Details shown here: http://www.alexander-dennis.com/product-details.php?s=82&subs=45&tableID=222&itemID=1

Sulmac

bk wrote: »

Will these be double or triple door buses?

Aren't the NTA specifying that new buses must have double doors?

I emailed Dublin Bus about buying two/three door buses with two sets of stairs (one at the back as well as the front) recently. Here's their response:

In answer to your query, depending on funding we plan to buy some new buses next year. The plan is that these will have two doors with a view to speeding up boarding. We are not looking at the two staircase option at this time, as they are not widely available in the RHD market and the loss of seating is quite significant.

cson

Ideal world you'd have the bottom deck of those standing only with a few seats for OAPs/Disabled people who can't make it up the stairs.

LordSutch

Not half bad by the looks of things.

Suggest we order them (with a local paint job), I especially like the
'homage' paid to the original Routemaster, ala sweeping rear staircase, nice

AlekSmart

LordSutch wrote: »

Not half bad by the looks of things.

Suggest we order them (with a local paint job), I especially like the
'homage' paid to the original Routemaster, ala sweeping rear staircase, nice

Well the whole point behind the Tendering Hooplah is to invite different entities to tender for the business....there's quite a lot of interesting design stuff out there if one travels far enough....(Scroll to the end of Page 2)

http://www.surfside.com.au/documents/AllaboardGCnewestattraction19OCT2011.pdf

As per Dublin Bus's response to Sulmac,it's worth bearing in mind that the "Dublin Standard" Low Floor Double Deck incorporates substantially more Seating in the Lower Saloon than the much vaunted TfL London designs.

In fact in almost two decades of Low Floor design and operation the lack of accessible seating in the Lower Saloons of Londons buses has been a significant generator of negative passenger response,something which Dublin Bus took on board when drawing up the specifications.

Conway635

The purpose of the tender is not to buy 160 buses, but to be able to later demonstrate later how much money has been "saved" by not buying them!

Likewise the previous tender last year was designed to make the case for refurbishing the year 2000 AVs look good value by comparison.

The company is certainly desperate to replace the remaining WVs (single-decks) hence the 10 single-decks on the tender.

If they are lucky they will get funding for these, and perhaps 40 double-decks max, to replace the few RVs that will be left after Network Direct.

Bus Eireann, on the other hand, has 60 new buses ready to enter service in the new year - including 10 double-deck city buses. (VWDs).

8 of these will go to Broadstone and 2 to Dundalk, displacing the 02 and 04-reg DD class which will go to Cork and Galway.

There are new single-deck city buses for Cork, Limerick and Galway, new coaches, and 8 more double-deck coaches (like the LDs).

C635

Flukey

Sulmac wrote: »

I emailed Dublin Bus about buying two/three door buses with two sets of stairs (one at the back as well as the front) recently. Here's their response:

Dublin Bus replied to an e-mail. :eek:

AlekSmart

Flukey wrote: »

Dublin Bus replied to an e-mail. :eek:

Definitely a Fluke .....:p

Flukey

It must have been a new member of staff still in training, who accidentally hit Reply instead of Delete. He'll learn. :rolleyes:

AlekSmart

Flukey wrote: »

It must have been a new member of staff still in training, who accidentally hit Reply instead of Delete. He'll learn. :rolleyes:

Nah....special DB spec equipment...no REPLY button at all....;)

dublinman1990

I have just seen that the Irish Road Passenger Transport Forum have hyperlinked my thread. You can view the forum responses on the same topic as well below. After viewing that forum many times before, I think I expected that.

http://irishtransport.yuku.com/topic/1718/new-buses?page=7#.TuKdB7KdIQw

dublinman1990

I discovered that the current outgoing bus fleet within DB are being sold due to an EU Directive which is being enforced by the end of this year. The tender being published is part of this directive. The rules of any directive from the EU are part of doing business with them as with any other issues in other companies.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/about-us/Doing-Business-with-us/

Many of the tenders published on the etenders website have EU logos shown beside them means it has to be dealt with very quickly and seriously with many staff from the state companies in limited time.

If you take a look at the link to the tender in the very first post you see them very clearly in many cases.

http://www.dublinbusstuff.com/PhotoWeek/RVSwords.html

This feature here says the writing is on the wall for them. No surprises there!

I have heard there are rumors floating around that there are a total of 70 to 80 buses being put in for next year. The rumors from a DB driver state that the first batch are all Double Deckers, a lot of them will be Dual Door buses.

Apparently the NTA have gotten a say in what they wanted. Even though they are rumors ,it is a big disappointment IMO.

Cookie_Monster

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Apparently the NTA have gotten a say in what they wanted. Even though they are rumors ,it is a big disappointment IMO.

Why? Because the NTA will actually order buses that suit customer needs rather than DBs own? ie the two door versions...

CrazyFish

Hopefully they improve the 17 buses. Getting bored with the river liffey flowing through the bus when it rains.

markpb

I'm kinda lost by your post...

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I discovered that the current outgoing bus fleet within DB are being sold due to an EU Directive which is being enforced by the end of this year. The tender being published is part of this directive. The rules of any directive from the EU are part of doing business with them as with any other issues in other companies.

What EU Directive is this? Why do the EU care about how/when DB sell their buses?

Many of the tenders published on the etenders website have EU logos shown beside them

Tender for sale of used vehicles
Tender for supply of new buses

The EU logo beside those tenders (in the list of past tenders) indicates that the tender was advertised in the European Journal, as required by law because of the value of the tender.

devnull

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Why? Because the NTA will actually order buses that suit customer needs rather than DBs own? ie the two door versions...

Exactly. Two doors will make a big improvement in boarding and dwell times as has been proven in pretty much every other European capital city, however for these to work best a couple of things need to happen. First of all the obvious thing is the whole fare system needs to be more friendly to get the best out of this system.

The second one is that drivers should be made to actually use the middle doors. Hopefully the NTA have purchased the dual door vehicles on the basis that Dublin Bus has agreed to actually use them or will face sanctions should they stop using them without the agreement of the NTA.

In addition even if the above happens, Dublin Bus management and the depots themselves need to ensure that they make it clear to all their staff that on such vehicles they should be using the doors regardless of the view of the staff and will come down hard on any driver who does not follow company policy.

I know the above seems pretty harsh, but at the same time if we are going to introduce double door vehicles which I believe will be a positive step, we need to make sure it is done properly otherwise all we will see is like the RV's and the early AV's, we'll see all of the downsides of two doors (less capacity) with none of the benefits and it's just a waste of time.

markpb wrote: »

What EU Directive is this? Why do the EU care about how/when DB sell their buses?

Unfortunately this rumour seemed to start a few weeks back, and seems to be the line that is being trotted out both by some drivers and supporters of Dublin Bus when they ask the company how they are buying new buses whilst putting the fares up. Smoke and mirrors stuff.

The actual date for all vehicles to be wheelchair accessible as part of an EU directive is 2015.

KD345

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I discovered that the current outgoing bus fleet within DB are being sold due to an EU Directive which is being enforced by the end of this year. The tender being published is part of this directive. The rules of any directive from the EU are part of doing business with them as with any other issues in other companies.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/about-us/Doing-Business-with-us/

Many of the tenders published on the etenders website have EU logos shown beside them means it has to be dealt with very quickly and seriously with many staff from the state companies in limited time.

If you take a look at the link to the tender in the very first post you see them very clearly in many cases.

http://www.dublinbusstuff.com/PhotoWeek/RVSwords.html

This feature here says the writing is on the wall for them. No surprises there!

I have heard there are rumors floating around that there are a total of 70 to 80 buses being put in for next year. The rumors from a DB driver state that the first batch are all Double Deckers, a lot of them will be Dual Door buses.

Apparently the NTA have gotten a say in what they wanted. Even though they are rumors ,it is a big disappointment IMO.

Your post is very hard to follow, the first link is simply a list of phone numbers and contact details.

Dublin Bus have made it known for some time that it was committed to having a fully low floor fleet by 2012. The new arrivals later this year will remove the last remaining high floor buses (Volvo Olympians).

Losty Dublin

markpb wrote: »

What EU Directive is this? Why do the EU care about how/when DB sell their buses?

It's something EU bookkeeping thing that came in years back. It is to do with them not being allowed to dispose of assets which may be of some value without trying to realising their worth first. In their case, the buses are roadworthy and represented on the balance sheet as assets. Over the years, they were disposed off as DB went for wheelchair accessible buses or in a few cases, when the R's became uneconomic to run and maintain. They usually get between £10-£15k sterling a bus which is their main market and they then work for UK companies like Stagecoach, Arriva or First. Some of them end up back here for the likes of Morton or Dualway who would use them on their own services or private hire work.

Oddly enough, when it came up first here, they were aghast that genuinely clapped out buses such as the KD, KC and Leyland Atlantean and Van Hool Ds were not offered for sale, buses which the Olympian's saw off the street. Percy Reynolds would have been proud of them

antoinolachtnai

Buses which are fully depreciated (i.e., over 10 years) old are not represented on the balance sheet as assets. There is a note in the accounts to this effect.

There is no EU bookkeeping rule requiring disposal of buses at any time.

If buses have value, you have to realize it. You can't just trash assets you bought with the company's money just because you couldn't be bothered selling them.

dublinman1990

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Buses which are fully depreciated (i.e., over 10 years) old are not represented on the balance sheet as assets. There is a note in the accounts to this effect.

There is no EU bookkeeping rule requiring disposal of buses at any time.

If buses have value, you have to realize it. You can't just trash assets you bought with the company's money just because you couldn't be bothered selling them.

Even this is off topic - A method in which the buses are depreciated over a few years is called accumulated depreciation in a company's income statement (P&L Account) and in the Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet). The depreciation for 1 year is then added onto the Accumulated depreciation in previous years.

Anyway, back to topic, we should think what type of bus is the best required to cater for a double door fleet.

I heard that there are tri-axle VG's available from Alexander Dennis.

Here are two examples here in Hong Kong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kmbavbw14.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:K_AVBWU32_104_NamCheongSt-1.JPG

Or it could have the same new single and double decker buses going into BE.

ax586

Wright bus does the VG's not Alexander the do the VT's

dublinman1990

ax586 wrote: »

Wright bus does the VG's not Alexander the do the VT's

Sorry, My bad.

I thought that 120 people for a maximum capacity on a tri-axle VG is quite large for a bus I have to say. When taking into account the spec, the actual number of seats, it would make some considerable difference in passenger numbers IMO.

When the VT's were brought in 05 and 07, I thought myself the notion of a bus having 90 seats was clearly large enough to cater for a double decker bus.

http://www.wrightbus.com/site/default.asp?CATID=31

It does matter if they do not come with double doors IMO, however, if these rumors about the tri axle VG's are true, then DB is the changing the face of the fleet for the better.

Cookie_Monster

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Even this is off topic - A method in which the buses are depreciated over a few years is called accumulated depreciation in a company's income statement (P&L Account) and in the Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet). The depreciation for 1 year is then added onto the Accumulated depreciation in previous years.

accumulated dep does not go in the P&L, only the yearly charge. Buses will also have a recoverable value and this should be reflected in the accounts, you cannot depreciate a bus to zero if there is an expectation to get 10k + on sale, you can only depreciate it to 10k. (for example) So it should always be in the balance sheet, especially since you record it at cost in the accounts anyway.

ax586

Kinda of topic but just heard a few minutes ago that WH1 aka the hybrid bus has been withdrawn tonight

markpb

ax586 wrote: »

Kinda of topic but just heard a few minutes ago that WH1 aka the hybrid bus has been withdrawn tonight

Kinda?

antoinolachtnai

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Even this is off topic - A method in which the buses are depreciated over a few years is called accumulated depreciation in a company's income statement (P&L Account) and in the Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet). The depreciation for 1 year is then added onto the Accumulated depreciation in previous years.

Just for clarity, this has nothing to do with needing to get rid of buses and has nothing to do with EU regulations.

antoinolachtnai

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

accumulated dep does not go in the P&L, only the yearly charge. Buses will also have a recoverable value and this should be reflected in the accounts, you cannot depreciate a bus to zero if there is an expectation to get 10k + on sale, you can only depreciate it to 10k. (for example) So it should always be in the balance sheet, especially since you record it at cost in the accounts anyway.

Nope. You can in fact fully depreciate a bus, i.e. reduce the value to zero. See the note on page 24 of the accounts 2010.

'(b) Road passenger vehicles at a cost of €67,058,000 (2009 - €42,825,000) were fully depreciated but still in use at the balance sheet date.'

You will see from the P+L and cash-flow statements that the company received 653,000 euros in 2010 for the disposal of assets (buses basically) which had a book value of zero.

Dublin Bus buses depreciation does not to the P+L as you state, although what you describe would be good practice, much better than what DB actually does. The capital grants are set against the depreciation. This is not very good accounting practice. (See notes 4 and 14). The result is that only half the depreciation goes to the P+L.

Cookie_Monster

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Nope. You can in fact fully depreciate a bus, i.e. reduce the value to zero. See the note on page 24 of the accounts 2010.

I know you can but it's not good practice unless you know it's going to be worth zero on disposal rather than 5 or 10 or 20k

Dublin Bus buses depreciation does not to the P+L as you state, although what you describe would be good practice, much better than what DB actually does. The capital grants are set against the depreciation. This is not very good accounting practice. (See notes 4 and 14). The result is that only half the depreciation goes to the P+L.

:rolleyes: oh dear, what a mess... grants should be amortised over the life of the bus (or a set period) too, offestting dep, but straightline dep on a bus is also not good practice IMO, it should be reducing balance. Therefor amortised grant and dep wouldn't be the same and should be both show.

Ah the joys of accounting :pac:

LordSutch

devnull wrote: »

Two doors will make a big improvement in boarding and dwell times as has been proven in pretty much every other European capital city, however for these to work best a couple of things need to happen. First of all the obvious thing is the whole fare system needs to be more friendly to get the best out of this system.

The second one is that drivers should be made to actually use the middle doors. Hopefully the NTA have purchased the dual door vehicles on the basis that Dublin Bus has agreed to actually use them or will face sanctions should they stop using them without the agreement of the NTA.

In addition even if the above happens, Dublin Bus management and the depots themselves need to ensure that they make it clear to all their staff that on such vehicles they should be using the doors regardless of the view of the staff and will come down hard on any driver who does not follow company policy.

I know the above seems pretty harsh, but at the same time if we are going to introduce double door vehicles which I believe will be a positive step, we need to make sure it is done properly otherwise all we will see is like the RV's and the early AV's, we'll see all of the downsides of two doors (less capacity) with none of the benefits and it's just a waste of time.

Music to many commuters ears, but I fear your suggestions would fall on deaf ears if put to Dublin bus.

AlekSmart

devnull wrote: »

Exactly. Two doors will make a big improvement in boarding and dwell times as has been proven in pretty much every other European capital city, however for these to work best a couple of things need to happen. First of all the obvious thing is the whole fare system needs to be more friendly to get the best out of this system.

The second one is that drivers should be made to actually use the middle doors. Hopefully the NTA have purchased the dual door vehicles on the basis that Dublin Bus has agreed to actually use them or will face sanctions should they stop using them without the agreement of the NTA.

In addition even if the above happens, Dublin Bus management and the depots themselves need to ensure that they make it clear to all their staff that on such vehicles they should be using the doors regardless of the view of the staff and will come down hard on any driver who does not follow company policy.

I know the above seems pretty harsh, but at the same time if we are going to introduce double door vehicles which I believe will be a positive step, we need to make sure it is done properly otherwise all we will see is like the RV's and the early AV's, we'll see all of the downsides of two doors (less capacity) with none of the benefits and it's just a waste of time.

Unfortunately this rumour seemed to start a few weeks back, and seems to be the line that is being trotted out both by some drivers and supporters of Dublin Bus when they ask the company how they are buying new buses whilst putting the fares up. Smoke and mirrors stuff.

The actual date for all vehicles to be wheelchair accessible as part of an EU directive is 2015.

The decision by the NTA to devise a "Dublin Spec" for it's current and future Bus orders is without doubt a positive one.

Indications are that the NTA's medium term plans re Dublin Bus will be for c.80 vehicles per anum.

This suggests that a rolling replacement strategy is envisaged rather than any big-bang sudden change to operational methods.

I can forsee the Double Door vehicles being allocated to a specific QBC group of routes in batches and operated in that manner.

it's equally important to understand that there is NO Trade Union ban or restriction upon the operation of centre doors.

The issue is,in fact,much clearer and governed by a 1992 Labour Court Recommendation,as accepted by both parties.

http://www.labourcourt.ie/labour/labcourtweb.nsf/afedb93f6ed4a54180256a01005bb357/80256a770034a2ab8025627500451c43?OpenDocume

The section with most relevance to this thread might be here....

Subject to the above the Court considers that the centre doors
should normally be operated. Recognising the responsibility of
the Driver for his vehicle and passengers, whilst he should
normally operate the centre doors, he should carry out this
operation with prudence. Accordingly the Court considers that an
instruction to compulsorily operate the centre doors at all times
would be inappropriate.

Now,as then,the issue remains the compulsory use of the Centre Exit,something which in infrastructural terms we are no nearer to accomodating than we were 20 years ago....in facta,the City is probably far worse off now in some areas,viz Serried Ranks of Taxi's parked hither,tither and yon in spaces supposedly reserved for Bus operation..:o

However,what has changed is the regulatory framework,so for the first time we now have an agency,the NTA,with supposedly the authority and power to deal with the lack of suitably safe workplaces for Bus Drivers to operate the centre-door door exit system.

It may be that the NTA in its research has recognized that a significant amount of the City Centre Bus Stops were designed specifically for the 1950's standard,9 metre long,Rear-Entrance,crew operated buses and that attempting to safely operate 12 metre long dual-door vehicles in such an environment may prove difficult in practice.

It is,of course,also open to the NTA should it consider it expedient to fully indemnify all Busdrivers in relation to personal responsibility during Centre-Exit operation,which would,in theory,comply with the guiding principle of the Labour Courts 1992 recommendation.

So,lets see what develops eh....;)

Cookie_Monster

Accordingly the Court considers that an
instruction to compulsorily operate the centre doors at all times
would be inappropriate.

just operate them at stops and it'll be fine, no point operating them while driving :pac:

I would hope there would be some kind of one way barrier just inside the doors that only opens outwards and springs back, seen it on lots of buses. Would make that little bit of difference and stop the odd numpty from trying to board there imo

Jesus Wept

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Details shown here: http://www.alexander-dennis.com/product-details.php?s=82&subs=45&tableID=222&itemID=1

wrote:

Proven to increase ridership.
Excellent stability and ride.

Sounds good. :pac:

wrote:

Lowest fuel consumption per passenger carried

Perhaps they'd lower fares... I doubt it.

Vic_08

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

just operate them at stops and it'll be fine, no point operating them while driving

Typically you miss the point Alek was making. The ruling clearly leaves the status quo as is with the driver having to shoulder the responsibility for the safety of persons using the rear doors and being forced to make thes decisions on a case-by-case basis.

In the context of Dublin this means that rear doors will only be used at stops where the entire bus can be brought level with the pavement.

At other stops where due to bad design, legally or ilegally parked vehicles blocking peoper access or any other obstacle preventing a bus pulling level one of two things will happen; rear doors will remain closed or the stop will be skipped.

The only way for 2 door operation to be worthwhile as a time saving measure is if it 100% used. All entry by front door, All exit by rear. That way passengers know what is expected of them and entry can commence immediately on stopping.

Before that can happen a great deal of work needs doing both in terms of redesigning stops, particularly those in suburban and residential areas and in dealing with enforcement of bus stops as no parking and no stopping areas.

Cookie_Monster

Vic_08 wrote: »

Typically you miss the point Alek was making.

I knew what the point was, I just think it's a farcial excuse not to use them just because you may have to step on the road rather than straight onto a high level path.

antoinolachtnai

The idea that you can roll out major changes to the whole network in one go, at the same time is just crazy.

You really have to sort these things out corridor by corridor and stop by stop.

Every bus route is different and needs a tailored operating model. (Dublin Bus does not accept this and seems to believe a single operating model must be applied to all routes.)

CIE

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

The idea that you can roll out major changes to the whole network in one go, at the same time is just crazy.

You really have to sort these things out corridor by corridor and stop by stop.

Every bus route is different and needs a tailored operating model. (Dublin Bus does not accept this and seems to believe a single operating model must be applied to all routes.)

This is why central planning does not work.

LionelNashe

LordSutch wrote: »

Not half bad by the looks of things.

Suggest we order them (with a local paint job), I especially like the
'homage' paid to the original Routemaster, ala sweeping rear staircase, nice

That is a work of art. Never thought I'd say that about a bus.

AlekSmart

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I knew what the point was, I just think it's a farcial excuse not to use them just because you may have to step on the road rather than straight onto a high level path.

First thing,Cookie Monster is to forget about this "excuse" thing.....

The screenplay has,by now,been well n truly written and re-written down and around the 4 Courts.

If stepping out onto the road is your thang,bro then that's mighty fine by me....BUT...I'll want that in writing BEFORE you sashay away...inevitably,as almost every Public Service Vehicle operator will have experienced,the writing tendes to happen after the event.

There's a reason for all this Bus Stop business and it's associared Road Markings,Kerbing and the full monty,and it's all to do with safety and the benefits of a uniform methodology familiar to all users.

If we can devise and implement a "NEW-IMPROVED !!" method of Bus Operation,which eliminates all the "stuff" then it will be a real feather in Boards.ie's cap.

Believe me Cookie,if I leave 25mm of a gap between my platform and a nice safe Kerb,at least one of my departing/boarding passengers will go for that gap......and at every stage in the ensuing "investigation" that 25mm gap will be held up as a Driver contribution to the unfortunate slip/trip/fall,whose effects are only temporarily cushioned by a 5 figure award from Hizzonour.....;)

ax586

Anymore news on these new buses

Conway635

70 new VG type (Volvo B9TL/Wright) double-decks, dual door.

Delivery late this year.

C635

ax586

Thanks mate

Markcheese

AlekSmart wrote: »

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I knew what the point was, I just think it's a farcial excuse not to use them just because you may have to step on the road rather than straight onto a high level path.

First thing,Cookie Monster is to forget about this "excuse" thing.....

The screenplay has,by now,been well n truly written and re-written down and around the 4 Courts.

If stepping out onto the road is your thang,bro then that's mighty fine by me....BUT...I'll want that in writing BEFORE you sashay away...inevitably,as almost every Public Service Vehicle operator will have experienced,the writing tendes to happen after the event.

There's a reason for all this Bus Stop business and it's associared Road Markings,Kerbing and the full monty,and it's all to do with safety and the benefits of a uniform methodology familiar to all users.

If we can devise and implement a "NEW-IMPROVED !!" method of Bus Operation,which eliminates all the "stuff" then it will be a real feather in Boards.ie's cap.

Believe me Cookie,if I leave 25mm of a gap between my platform and a nice safe Kerb,at least one of my departing/boarding passengers will go for that gap......and at every stage in the ensuing "investigation" that 25mm gap will be held up as a Driver contribution to the unfortunate slip/trip/fall,whose effects are only temporarily cushioned by a 5 figure award from Hizzonour.....;)

Ok not a solution to all probs, but if part of issue is cars parking on bus stops then let drivers photograph the car with a camera phone, text to a central number and a fine be issued....if the driver gets a commission too well and good...

BenShermin

Markcheese wrote: »

Ok not a solution to all probs, but if part of issue is cars parking on bus stops then let drivers photograph the car with a camera phone, text to a central number and a fine be issued....if the driver gets a commission too well and good...

alexsmart will make a mint in commission on the Dawson Street taxi ra... I mean bus lane