Dublin-Galway buses running late

foggy_lad

Many of the buses on the 20/x20 route are leaving up to 30 minutes late because bus Éireann have not allowed adequate time in the timetable to complete journeys.

They are blaming the working time directive which obliges drivers to take mandatory breaks but their fictional timetable was in effect lo.g before the working time directive came into force.

Drivers can't do the journey in the time allowed so arrive late into Galway or Dublin and the turnaround is so tight that after they have taken the mandatory break they are very late for their return trip, often up to 30 minutes or more!

Bus Éireann know this is happening but do nothing about it as they would rather let the competition have the fares on their non-stop coaches!

CIE

We ought to sell the motorways for scrap because the buses that are operated by the state don't run up to scratch

flazio

So what do you propose foggy lad? Reducing services between terminal or turnaround stops?
Suspension of services in towns where roadworks are blocking the routes in and/or out of them?

LXFlyer

I think the introduction of a timetable that is achievable and realistic might be a start!

acousticguy

I miss the city link services a shame they cut down some of them in Galway.

Niles

Surely when timetables are approved by the NTA, realistic (or otherwise) journey times should be taken into account. In some cases the times given border on false advertising. The recent changes to the 002 being a good example of this. I'm not singling out Bus Éireann here - private operators can be just as bad.

foggy_lad

Bus Éireann are the worst for their false/fictional timings by a country mile, just look at the 20/x20, x8, 002, 004, 33 etc. If they spent more of taxpayers money on their timetables and less on advertising private services like the GoBe service on their website they might have a chance of staying in business a bit longer!

http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=246

Niles

I'm not sure who did what first on Galway route, but in the case of the Wexford route in fairness it was the private operator who set the ball rolling in terms of 'imaginative' journey times; prior the recent changes the main timetable complaint with the BÉ one were that buses sat in Arklow waiting for their departure time when early. Now the opposite has happened in response to the private operator, with unrealistic journey times, loss of stops, buses running late, passengers frustrated, drivers struggling to keep up the schedule imposed - if the NTA didn't grant licenses based on such timetables all this could have been avoided.

In the case of the Wexford route BÉ manage to contradict themselves at points - 002 services are given 15 minutes from Arklow to Gorey, while their 005/6 service is given 20 (the old 002 time) - it's the exact same route! How can this be the case? (In practice it isn't).

Lest it come across this way, I'm not anti-private nor anti-BÉ; it's the unrealistic timetables that I'm against.

foggy_lad

Looking at the 004 route between Dublin and Carlow and it is given 20 minutes to get from Busáras to Newlands Cross whether it is at peak times or midnight. Someone in Bus Éireann knows how stupid this is yet still signed their name(s) to it, these people need to be sacked with loss of all pension and other entitlements. All services are then given only an hour to get from Newlands Cross to Carlow Bus Park which is very possible off peak but when there is heavy traffic on the motorway at peak times it is very unrealistic! Google maps gives a time of 57 minutes to drive between Newlands Cross and Barrack St Carlow but this will be in a car travelling at 120kph on the motorway while coaches are limited to 100kph.