How would you improve public transport in order to save money and avoid fare increase

Neewbie_noob

As the thread title says, how would you improve public transport in order to save money and avoid fare increases. This is not a thread to rant and rave about what routes should be changed or moaning about people leaving bags on seats.
I am asking for people's ideas on how to "Michael O'Leary" up things to save cash instead of adding to fares.

My ideas:

• Have advertisements on board trains and buses and piped radio stations so they can gain more revenue
• Charge for passengers occupying seats (give free ones to elderly / disabled) and have an inspector enforcing this (inspector will pay for itself in the long run)
• Free WiFi should only be for holders of monthly / weekly /annual / tax saver tickets, enter code number on ticket to gain access etc, otherwise text away to 531231 or one of those numbers to get a code (and pay a euro or something)
• Have a smoking carriage on trains and you have to pay an extra 20 Euro to sit in it, heavy smokers will be happy
• Put a €2 slot on the door of the Jacks

Any other ideas folks ??

Death and Taxes

Hand it over to Mick O'Leary and fúk what the unions say!

shedweller

Make the buses arrive on time. Like other countries.

donvito99

Jetpacks.

Gongoozler

I've been saying it for a while now, have a swipe on swipe off system, leading to no way to evade a fare / pay less than what's due. They'd make more money from that, and could cut down on inspectors. I'm baffled as to why this hasn't been done yet.

Anyone

Remove free travel for oaps and end student discounts. Same fares for all. Fine people for putting their bags on a seat. Fine people for playing music on their phone or any other device(without headphones).

WoollyRedHat

Fire the top and middle management of CIEE and start over.

coonecb1

Offer express tickets so that the bus wouldn't have any other stops between departure and arrival.

E.g. sell tickets for a 46A "Express" that would go straight into town without stopping except for traffic lights and one or two major stops like Stillorgan or Donnybrook.

You could charge €5 one way ticket.

Or a 75 bus from Dun Laoghaire to Tallaght that had no stops and only used the M50, which could be every 2-3 hours and cost €5 one way ticket

Where To

Make everyone live in the one house.

No wait, that's cutting my own throat, make everyone live scattered in random houses in the middle of nowhere so public transport is completely unviable.

OneArt

Make buses outside Dublin run after 7pm.

james142

Anyone wrote: »

Remove free travel for oaps and end student discounts. Same fares for all. Fine people for putting their bags on a seat. Fine people for playing music on their phone or any other device(without headphones).

No you grumpy old fart. Why would you remove free travel to OAP's and end student discounts??

coonecb1

Put on more orbital bus routes that circle the city rather than having every route travel through the city centre.

Making every route go through town is impractical, doesn't suit everyone

Neewbie_noob

Gongoozler wrote: »

and could cut down on inspectors..

Jhobs fer d bhoys

starviewadams

Run the busses on used vegetable oil cheaply sourced from chippers.

Don't use the lights or heating systems on the busses.

Charge tourists more because they don't know how much the fares are.

Charge spanish students per every word spoken on their journeys during the summer.

Sell tiny cans of beer,disgusting food and other trinkets for high prices on busses.

Anyone

james142 wrote: »

No you grumpy old fart. Why would you remove free travel to OAP's and end student discounts??

OP wants Michael O'Leary type ideas to stop fare increases.

Amirani

Privatisation.

Neewbie_noob

Anyone wrote: »

OP wants Michael O'Leary type ideas to stop fare increases.

Thanks Anyone

james142

Anyone wrote: »

OP wants Michael O'Leary type ideas to stop fare increases.

Pilotdude5

Make everyone move to the cities to work in Tractor factories. Kill everyone who wears glasses or can read.

coonecb1

Pilotdude5 wrote: »

Make everyone move to the cities to work in Tractor factories. Kill everyone who wears glasses or can read.

WTF are you smoking

Pilotdude5

coonecb1 wrote: »

WTF are you smoking

Hey man I'm just Brainstorming:cool:

Lenin Skynard

Michael O'Leary eh?

Tie people to the back of bus with a rope and drag them along the road, except it's a wheelbarrow instead a bus. Charge them on the basis of how many limbs they have.

jahalpin

WileyCoyote wrote: »

Hand it over to Mick O'Leary and fúk what the unions say!

He would probably schedule Dublin - Cork to take 5 hours so it would appear that all the services were on time (he would probably still not get a 100% on-time record)

He really couldn't do it cheaper than Irish Rail do with their advance booking specials, the turn-up fare for Dublin - Cork would probably also go up to to around €200

Pilotdude5

Bus type ratings whereby new bus drivers pay €28500 for a bus driving job.

jahalpin

Trains
I would probably cut the non-performing routes such as Ballybrophy - Limerick, Limerick - Galway etc

I would also introduce a new OAP fare with a discount of around 50% of the normal fare for OAP's


Provincial Buses
I would introduce more joint services with private companies for all key inter-city services

Richard Hillman

Make routes more direct. No more fannying about through housing estates and use bypasses.

Reduce the amount of bus stops by around 50%. It would reduce fuel usage by an awful lot and quicken times.

MadsL

Stop the pay as you get on system and employ inspectors with powers of arrest.
Make the fine for having no ticket €200 and double it for each subsequent offence.

Fine revenue will pay for inspector costs plus a surplus to improve service.

Anita Blow

Tag on/Tag-off validators at city centre bus stops so people can do the tagging before they board and when they get off.

Higher fares on knacker routes to reflect the anti-social problems that plague them just like Nightlink charges more. Use the revenue from the higher fares to pay STT security for those routes.

Increase cash fares and use the increase to subsidise leap fares.

Limit free travel for OAPs to either a certain number of free journeys, or a certain amount of kilometres of free travel. Whichever comes first. After that they pay a subsidised rate.

Get rid of free travel for some disabilities. I'm in full support for the disabled getting free travel, but I was on the bus once and 2 knackers coked-off their heads were able to use their disability passes to get on even though they had nothing visibly wrong with them.

Limit free travel on private operators. I see people using more expensive operators with their passes. If you want your travel paid for by the taxpayer then you don't get to choose the more expensive option. If you want that then pay for it yourself.

Abolish WRC which is just completely unviable. You'd get a load of people complaining but it'd be a case of "I don't use it, but it should still be kept open" which is ridiculous. It's getting a third of the passengers a month it requires to meet projected targets and even those projected targets would still have required a subvention if met.

TheUsual

Teleportation.

Just invent it, and away you go.

mikemac1

1120 euro for an annual Dublin Bus pass and you get to share the 40 and the 27 (in town, yes town) with junkies who also have a pass only they were smart, they got theirs off da social

People with disabilities need passes but it's sickening to see wasters and their battered pieces of cardboard act as if they own the top deck

Charge everyone something, even if it's only 50c.
Something nominal

They did this for the medical card prescriptions, it can be done here

Neewbie_noob

MadsL wrote: »

Stop the pay as you get on system.

Where / when do you pay MadsL?

dickwod1

Get rid of the junkies/scumbags by having decent security with co-operation from the Garda plus stiff sentences for anti social behavior etc. and a lot more people would use Dublin bus/Luas and revenue would go up.

Neewbie_noob

Neewbie_noob wrote: »

Have advertisements on board trains and buses and piped radio stations so they can gain more revenue

CIÉ tried this in 1976 but it didn't last long due to negative feedback from passengers.

Neewbie_noob wrote: »

Have a smoking carriage on trains and you have to pay an extra 20 Euro to sit in it, heavy smokers will be happy

They used to have these too, but the smoking ban brought an end to them.

tim_sims

charge pensioners to use public transport , they can afford to pay due to a very generous state pension

weldoninhio

Remove wifi from buses, no need for it. Incentivise drivers contracts to hit certain times on routes. Remove the real time schedules from bus stops, again no need for it. Allow buses use the hard shoulder on motorways/dual carriages.

On certain routes employ security staff. On peak time services, have standing only buses with a certain amount of seats for handicapped/elderly. Stagger bus timetables so you don't have a 33 and a 33a on the same route at the exact same time.

Rodin

I don't do public transport (except for planes). The thought fills me with dread.

miamee

Can't believe no one has said this yet...
Charge for baggage, make people pre-book buses - an exact bus or a time slot, e.g. between 7.45-8.00am. If you miss it you pay extra to get the next available one.
Sell newspapers, magazines and bus driver calendars Could be from vending machines to save on manpower.

Chinasea

single decer buses deployed on off peak and Sundays.

Run it like a business as opposed to a government back unionised 1970's organisation.

Grian1

Have a charge for 'luxury seats' and seatbelts.

Run_to_da_hills

Reintroduce night time 2 car formation Dart sets.

This was the way it began.

Cut down on security, wear & tear, and power.

(Would only work with Siemens 8100 units)

MadsL

Neewbie_noob wrote: »

Where / when do you pay MadsL?

Multiple options all designed to eliminate dwell times at stops.

Paper ticket single use sold at shops - punch validated with a date stamp - punches inside the bus, not at the door.

Smart cards zapped on the bus - inside the bus, not at the door.

Monthly/annual tickets are photo ID smart cards paid online. Single route monthly tickets also available.

Feathers

Make Dublin Bus completely free to use, and have an income tax surcharge if you live in an area served by the buses — if everyone has to pay whether they use them or not, more people will use them; the income up front means you've the money to expand the fleet & have more security, etc; less people using their cars will mean freer roads for the buses & more services on time.

Failing that unpopular opinion, bring back mid-week Nitelinks on routes that were clearly profitable, like the 39N.

R0ot

- Inspectors on every train because there are so many fare evaders it's stupid. As OP mentioned they'll pay for themselves mostly through fines.
- Disabilty does not equal free transport in my opinion so either subsidize or remove not 100% free for ANYONE.
- Higher security for the dangerous routes to ban/kick off scumbags and let people feel safe on the buses and trains again.
- Free WiFi for 30 mina then charge for the reat, except for inter city trains.

That's all I got.

An Coilean

Neewbie_noob wrote: »

As the thread title says, how would you improve public transport in order to save money and avoid fare increases. This is not a thread to rant and rave about what routes should be changed or moaning about people leaving bags on seats.
I am asking for people's ideas on how to "Michael O'Leary" up things to save cash instead of adding to fares.

My ideas:

• Have advertisements on board trains and buses and piped radio stations so they can gain more revenue
• Charge for passengers occupying seats (give free ones to elderly / disabled) and have an inspector enforcing this (inspector will pay for itself in the long run)
• Free WiFi should only be for holders of monthly / weekly /annual / tax saver tickets, enter code number on ticket to gain access etc, otherwise text away to 531231 or one of those numbers to get a code (and pay a euro or something)
• Have a smoking carriage on trains and you have to pay an extra 20 Euro to sit in it, heavy smokers will be happy
• Put a €2 slot on the door of the Jacks

Any other ideas folks ??

To be honnest with you, messing around the fringes, charging for using the Jacks and the like won't do a damm thing to improve public transport.
Structured and strategic longterm investment in public transport is what is needed.
We do not need any more major road projects, those remaining on the books should be cancled and the money put into developing the national rail network and investing in viable alternatives to the car in large population centers.

Adding another lane to the M50, or other schemes to expand the number of cars that can be crammed into Dublin is not going to help commuters or lesson traffic problems. Expanding Luas and Dart services, developing the Metro and a comprehensive cycle network, both of cycle lanes and a wider role out of bike rental schemes in Dublin and elsewhere will.



PS: It should also be noted that the value of Public Transport is not the profit it returns but in how it facilitates the wider economy.

Kevski

weldoninhio wrote: »

Remove the real time schedules from bus stops, again no need for it.

God no, that's the best thing that Dublin Bus has introduced in a long long time.

cloud493

Kevski wrote: »

God no, that's the best thing that Dublin Bus has introduced in a long long time.

This. jesus, otherwise you miss your bus and you have no idea when the next one. Even if their spectacularly inaccurate most of the time.

snubbleste

gobnaitolunacy

Neewbie_noob wrote: »

My ideas:

• Have advertisements on board trains and buses and piped radio stations so they can gain more revenue
• Charge for passengers occupying seats (give free ones to elderly / disabled) and have an inspector enforcing this (inspector will pay for itself in the long run)
• Free WiFi should only be for holders of monthly / weekly /annual / tax saver tickets, enter code number on ticket to gain access etc, otherwise text away to 531231 or one of those numbers to get a code (and pay a euro or something)
• Have a smoking carriage on trains and you have to pay an extra 20 Euro to sit in it, heavy smokers will be happy
• Put a €2 slot on the door of the Jacks

Any other ideas folks ??

1. Highly irritating Ryanair-esque idea, passengers will desert in droves rather than put up with that sh!t unless fares are REALLY dirt cheap.
2. You'll get a whole load of ppl standing and safety issues.
3. You can survive without Wifi. Bells and whistles stuff.
4. The law as it stands won't allow smoking carriages, unless you remove the roof.
5. Are you really Michael O'Leary?


IMHO scrap the free OAP travel, say a small contribution to the kitty, €10 return to Dublin or whatever. Free travel for all comers is unsustainable, plus they're about the only lot with a few bob these days.

Overthrow

A smarter network of regional routes connecting with a small number of city-bound routes. This means more frequent runs for the regional buses, rather than going all the way in to and out of town with a small number of passengers each time.

It'd be the difference between waiting up to 30 or 40 minutes for a bus in to town that takes an hour to get there, or waiting up to 10-15 minutes for a feeder bus that comes every 5 minutes going directly in to town.

jester77

Consolidate the different modes of transport so that your ticket is valid between them all. Here in Hamburg your ticket covers bus, the 2 train systems and the ferries.

Have management look up in a dictionary what the word timetable actually means.

melekalikimaka

cloud493 wrote: »

This. jesus, otherwise you miss your bus and you have no idea when the next one. Even if their spectacularly inaccurate most of the time.

what if your bus comes every 45 mins and you dont know if you have missed it, its decided between taxi and bus many a time for me