Dublin bus issue

davidlacey

No matter how much money is spent in dublin bus down the years the same old issues arise.... Currently standing in greystones with many others waiting on a 184 for one hour after two buses never showed, but who is made accountable for this? A bus driver on the 145 route toldme of the same issue on monday two buses no showed due to driver sickness and he could not let all the passengers on as there were so many waiting on that bus for 30 minutes instead of the usual 10 minute frequency during peak periods. As long as the semi state companies are allowed run this so called public service the more people will choose cars or private operators where possible no wonder the state subvention was increased yesterday!

schemingbohemia

Did you ring the Garage? There should be a contact number on the bus stop giving a number to contact, ring that and ask why there's no bus. Is the RTPI showing that buses should be arriving? Mention that also.

lil5

Might be the same reasons as explained here (understaffed, holidays, etc.) -
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79922227&postcount=158

davidlacey

Definetly the same sort of issues here, and i didnt ring the garage as i wasnt in a major rush for work or anything thankfully. I just put this ip to ignite a debate as the rtpi was incorrect saying the bus was due which stayed on the sytem on the app for a good twenty minutes and then dissappeared only to say the next bus was 35 minutes , not only that but according to the timetable two buses should have arrived within the time i was waiting at the bus stop, and alas when the bus did arrive another came right behind it which is very strange for a service that has a frequency of every 30 minutes and does not cover much mileage either when i asked the driver he looked at me blankfaced...

gonesharp

davidlacey wrote: »

Definetly the same sort of issues here, and i didnt ring the garage as i wasnt in a major rush for work or anything thankfully. I just put this ip to ignite a debate as the rtpi was incorrect saying the bus was due which stayed on the sytem on the app for a good twenty minutes and then dissappeared only to say the next bus was 35 minutes , not only that but according to the timetable two buses should have arrived within the time i was waiting at the bus stop, and alas when the bus did arrive another came right behind it which is very strange for a service that has a frequency of every 30 minutes and does not cover much mileage either when i asked the driver he looked at me blankfaced...

2 cars collided at the Wicklow arms on the corner sometime before midday ,I know the 2 184 buses ,one going to NTMK and one to BRAY were caught up in it ,as far as I know the road was blocked for some time.

davidlacey

gonesharp wrote: »

davidlacey wrote: »

Definetly the same sort of issues here, and i didnt ring the garage as i wasnt in a major rush for work or anything thankfully. I just put this ip to ignite a debate as the rtpi was incorrect saying the bus was due which stayed on the sytem on the app for a good twenty minutes and then dissappeared only to say the next bus was 35 minutes , not only that but according to the timetable two buses should have arrived within the time i was waiting at the bus stop, and alas when the bus did arrive another came right behind it which is very strange for a service that has a frequency of every 30 minutes and does not cover much mileage either when i asked the driver he looked at me blankfaced...

2 cars collided at the Wicklow arms on the corner sometime before midday ,I know the 2 184 buses ,one going to NTMK and one to BRAY were caught up in it ,as far as I know the road was blocked for some time.

Dublin bus responsibility to inform people of this tho is it not? Rtpi me arse

LXFlyer

If there's been an accident it would be next to near impossible for a computer to predict when a bus is going to arrive at bus stops I'd suggest. It will still predict it from where the bus is using average speeds.

How are they supposed to inform people standing at stops? A heavenly voice from on high?

davidlacey

lxflyer wrote: »

If there's been an accident it would be next to near impossible for a computer to predict when a bus is going to arrive at bus stops I'd suggest. It will still predict it from where the bus is using average speeds.

How are they supposed to inform people standing at stops? A heavenly voice from on high?

No but they have a twitter account which i asked them what was the issue but no response, no accountability at all

lil5

lxflyer wrote: »

... How are they supposed to inform people standing at stops? A heavenly voice from on high?

Doesn't have to be a voice from heaven, but one would think that by now these kind of things (service delays due to accidents, driver changeover) could be handled by the RTPI displays.

As soon as the driver reports a disruption to HQ there should be a (meaningful) flag set against the specific bus or a rolling message along the specific route.

In addition there could be route- or corridor-specific updates on the website, subscriptions for e-mail alerts or Twitter updates, notifications via the DB app.

KD345

lil5 wrote: »

Doesn't have to be a voice from heaven, but one would think that by now these kind of things (service delays due to accidents, driver changeover) could be handled by the RTPI displays.

As soon as the driver reports a disruption to HQ there should be a (meaningful) flag set against the specific bus or a rolling message along the specific route.

In addition there could be route- or corridor-specific updates on the website, subscriptions for e-mail alerts or Twitter updates, notifications via the DB app.

This does happen on the RTPI page of the Dublin Bus website, with a red marker indicating delays. For some reason this doesn't follow through to the app and on street displays.

lil5

KD345 wrote: »

This does happen on the RTPI page of the Dublin Bus website, with a red marker indicating delays. For some reason this doesn't follow through to the app and on street displays.

The 'red marker' is more of a red herring. I shows up frequently on route 7 but it's meaningless as an indicator (as there should really be a red triangle against all the 7 buses ...).

Also, for example if you get a red triangle on the 46a-route during peak time with another five 46a's on the web-RTPI it's not quite that bad. But if you get a red triangle on some of the thinned out ND-routes with an hourly frequency it's rather useless as it doesn't give further info.

In addition to the triangle the website should display the expected delay in minutes.

That the app and the displays still don't display it, is just another example of the lack of customer care of DB.

Polar101

lil5 wrote: »

The 'red marker' is more of a red herring.

I've found it means 'Good luck if you want to take this bus'.

RATM

I completely get the OP's frustration. On my own route the terminus is 5 stops away, meaning a bue s should arrive at my own stop about 5-7 minutes from its terminus departure time. Most of the time it works out this way but when it doesn't it is extremely frustrating when you have to wait 20-25 minutes for the next bus.

A number of times I've observed buses pulling off from my stop just as I arrived near to it. I've checked the time and it becomes obvious that the drivers left the terminus early, there is no way they could get to the stop in a record breaking 4 minutes. So because the driver left early it means that 6 or 7 people show up and the bus has already gone. So the driver saved himself a few minutes before taking his lunch break but 6 or 7 people are now running 25 minutes late for whatever they're doing. And that multiplies by even more for every single stop he goes through early. The cost to the economy of not getting people where they want to be on time is enormous on a national scale.

But there is no point even ringing the garage. You will get sympathy but the guilty driver won't be issued with a verbal warning the way they would in the private sector. So the problem continues on and on and on,

And people like me say feck this and buy a motorbike and stay well away from taking the bus, the stress it can give you just isn't worth it. It's sad because when it works it works well but it is those little incidents that really annoy you that mean it just isn't worth the hassle.

dfx-

lil5 wrote: »

Doesn't have to be a voice from heaven, but one would think that by now these kind of things (service delays due to accidents, driver changeover) could be handled by the RTPI displays..

How many bus stops don't have displays? All of my local stops don't and two of them are for the new fangled 'super' routes.

KD345

RATM wrote: »

On my own route the terminus is 5 stops away, meaning a bue s should arrive at my own stop about 5-7 minutes from its terminus departure time.

Not always the case. A bus could very easily travel 5 stops in two minutes, especially if there is nobody at the stops. Allowing up to 7 minutes for a bus to travel 5 stops seems a bit out. I'd leave my house a few minutes earlier.

I also disagree with the view that you shouldn't complain. I know of drivers who have been asked to return to a terminus to collect passengers as they left early. Thankfully, this practice isn't a regular occurrence anymore. Every bus is now logged onto a screen, mapping their position in the city. If a bus has left the terminus early, this can very easily be checked.

Conway635

I had reason to complain recently when a bus left a terminus 6 minutes early one evening, with 40 minutes until the next departure.

I got a full response from the company within 24 hours, and an admission that the early departure was down to a mistake by the controller rather than the driver (the bus scheduled to operate this trip had broken down outbound, and the extra bus sent out to cover it was given the wrong departure time by control).

So I would advocate letting the company know of your complaint, especially if you can give them clear information (exact time, perhaps bus number etc).

C635