Matthews Coaches changing Dundalk centre pick up

nomoreindie

On December 1 Matthews are moving from Dublin Street pickup point to the Marshes shopping centre
They are also starting a park and ride for €5 per dayor €30 for a monthly pass
All other stops remain the same.
What do folks think of this?


http://commuter.matthews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=158%3Aget-the-matthews-at-the-marshes-from-december-1&catid=6%3Anews-&Itemid=9

swiftblade

I think it does appear to be a wise move by Matthews in gaining more customers, but in the long run will hurt their service. It will drive more people to the marshes *snip*

For regular commuters however, it will be a diaster. It will add at least an extra 10 minutes to their journey time and a hefty charge for parking.

Their service used to take always no longer than 1 hour and 30 minutes, but with the move you could be looking at a 1h, 40 mins journey.

In short, I can see a lot of people going back to the train...

**Timbuk2**

I imagine the Aldi car park will now be full of commuters...

annex

I'm not very happy about this :mad:
What about the poor schmucks that don't drive and now have to walk an extra 15+ minutes, in probably ****ty wet weather in order to get the bus...
Bad move Matthews! If this is the case I might reconsider taking the train.

calex71

I'm just waiting for the fare hike, seeing as dublin bus etc. announced theirs this week Matthews wont be far behind. Last time they cited fuel costs but price of that has be steady for a while now.

annex

annex wrote: »

I'm not very happy about this :mad:
What about the poor schmucks that don't drive and now have to walk an extra 15+ minutes, in probably ****ty wet weather in order to get the bus...
Bad move Matthews! If this is the case I might reconsider taking the train.

What about the ones who won't have to walk so far?

calex71 wrote: »

I'm just waiting for the fare hike, seeing as dublin bus etc. announced theirs this week Matthews wont be far behind. Last time they cited fuel costs but price of that has be steady for a while now.

Matthews aren't a CIE company (I know Luas isn't either, but you know what I mean :P ) and don't follow the yearly increases like them. Fuel prices are steady alright but it was 2007 or early 2008 when they had their previous price increase.

gipi

Deleted User wrote: »

Matthews aren't a CIE company (I know Luas isn't either, but you know what I mean :P ) and don't follow the yearly increases like them. Fuel prices are steady alright but it was 2007 or early 2008 when they had their previous price increase.

Matthews increased their prices in about May of last year, when the 10 journey tkt went up from €50 to €60. It had increased from €40 to €50 in 2008.

annex

Deleted User wrote: »

What about the ones who won't have to walk so far?

Then you are probably one of the luckier/happier customers!

gipi

gipi wrote: »

Matthews increased their prices in about May of last year, when the 10 journey tkt went up from €50 to €60. It had increased from €40 to €50 in 2008.

I meant previous to the most recent.

annex wrote: »

Then you are probably one of the luckier/happier customers!

It doesn;t make a huge difference to me but to assume it'll be much further away from a lot of people seems odd. Those it will make the biggest difference to will be people who pass the train station on the way to get the bus :P

lucernarian

Who approves or signs off on changes to the bus stops in use? Is it the National Transport Authority or the Gardaí etc. who say whether it's safe to put a bus stop in a given place and that a given bus route can now use it?

workstoomuch

calex71 wrote: »

I'm just waiting for the fare hike, seeing as dublin bus etc. announced theirs this week Matthews wont be far behind. Last time they cited fuel costs but price of that has be steady for a while now.

Im an annual ticket holder, got an email from them last week to say that from the 1st January they were putting up the price of annual tickets in line with other bus and rail firms increases.

12 month ticket is raising in price by 108....

MugMugs

Just saw this on their Facebook page.

Seems it's confirmed

Matthews.ie wrote:

Matthews Coach Hire are moving their Dundalk town stop to The Marshes Shopping Centre from Saturday December 1 onwards. In a move designed to enhance passenger comfort, the innovative coach company will be moving to dedicated passenger facilities at the pillars entrance of the Marshes Shopping Centre.


This will replace the existing stop on the Dublin Road and Matthews coaches will no longer stop or pick up from that point. All other existing scheduled stops and times will not be affected by this move.


Matthews passengers will find purpose-built bus shelters, access to shopping and refreshments and a dedicated park and ride car park operated by the Marshes Shopping Centre at the new stopping point.


“We are constantly looking at ways in which we can improve our service,” said Matthews Coach Hire Managing Director Paddy Matthews.
“We are delighted to be moving to our new home at The Marshes, and are sure that our thousands of regular customers will agree that this will make their travelling experience even better.”

annex

MugMugs wrote: »

Just saw this on their Facebook page.

Seems it's confirmed

That is the same info the OP posted on Friday. We know its confirmed, we are just not happy about it.

MugMugs

annex wrote: »

That is the same info the OP posted on Friday. We know its confirmed, we are just not happy about it.

I've clearly had my head up my backside the past while. Completely missed that. Apologies

Which is the pillars entrance, the ramparts side?

annex

MugMugs wrote: »

I've clearly had my head up my backside the past while. Completely missed that. Apologies

Tis cool, we all do it at some stage

annex

Deleted User wrote: »

Which is the pillars entrance, the ramparts side?

I think its the entrance at Costa.

Waitsian

Deleted User wrote: »

Which is the pillars entrance, the ramparts side?

The only one with pillars.

mod9maple

mod9maple wrote: »

The only one with pillars.

I don't recall pillars at the traffic lights on the rampants or the entrance to the Dunnes car park.

annex

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't recall pillars at the traffic lights on the rampants or the entrance to the Dunnes car park.

In between those two entrances

Funglegunk

Official post from Matthews re: moving to the Marshes here: http://commuter.matthews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=160%3Afurther-information-on-our-upcoming-move&catid=6%3Anews-&Itemid=9

We have had to vacate our existing stop on the Dublin Road due to upcoming redevelopment work and the removal of current parking arrangements for passengers and coaches.

grayzer1892

annex wrote: »

In between those two entrances

So it's the one with the big pillars then!

**Timbuk2**

The link above states that they will operate between the Marshes and Glenwood via the Avenue Road. I suppose this means that they will be turning left onto the Dublin Road at Hill Street - that seems extremely tight for a large coach?

neacy69

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

The link above states that they will operate between the Marshes and Glenwood via the Avenue Road. I suppose this means that they will be turning left onto the Dublin Road at Hill Street - that seems extremely tight for a large coach?

I presumed they were still gonna go down the ramparts and around by the old shopping centre

Slashman X

Yeah, I'm assuming there is no change at all to the route it takes up the Dublin Rd.

annex

It said in The Argus that they had to move for major road works. Would it have anything to do with Hill St bridge being taken down?
Getting into town about 5 or 6 in the evening and having to go down the Ave Road is going to be a nightmare.

**Timbuk2**

neacy69 wrote: »

I presumed they were still gonna go down the ramparts and around by the old shopping centre

Slashman X wrote: »

Yeah, I'm assuming there is no change at all to the route it takes up the Dublin Rd.

I would have assumed so too, but according to this article they will be operating via Avenue Road. They claim that journey times will be unchanged - I can't see how that would be the case

flyswatter

The majority aren't pleased with this it seems.