How often do breakdowns occur on buses?

foggy_lad

On the 10.30pm Waterford bus tonight and just after leaving Busáras in front of the ifsc the front suspension collapsed with an almighty bang. This of course was one of the knackered old buses handed down from the rosslare and cork services. The interior was grubby and smelly and is nothing like what an express bus should be.

We were switched to a much nicer bus sp94 or sp92 where the old banger dropped at the ifsc to continue our journey. Why is Waterford left with the sh1t from the scrapyard when other towns get proper expressway coaches?

omicron

Wouldn't have happened on the train.

foggy_lad

omicron wrote: »

Wouldn't have happened on the train.

Has there ever been a train to Waterford after 6.35pm apart from when they are delayed?

richard2010

I can't comment on BE/Private operators as I don't travel on them regularly enough but anytime that I have been on DB operated service in particular routes with a limited service, a replacement bus is in 95% of cases found to operate the service.

The only case where a bus may not be sourced if the breakdown occurs during rush hour and there are physically no buses available in the garage.

Cookie_Monster

Presumably like DB, BE put certain buses on certain routes due to the usual clientèle they attract. No point putting shiny new buses on a route full of skangers who'll wreck it prematurely.

It's been fairly rare for me on Dublin Bus, three times in the last 6 years?

I was on a 97 RV which packed up on James Street while working the 78A. Sounded like a steering problem, the tone of the engine changed when the wheel was turned.

The second was when I boarded an AX on Aston Quay for the 79A. An alarm started going off in the cab and the driver radioed into control telling them that it was an overheating warning. Detoured to Conyngham Road garage where we were transferred to another bus.

Finally, was on an EV on the 123 a few months back where the bus stopped outside Summerhill for no apparent reason and we were transferred to another one.

parsi

Wow.

Brilliant service - your bus failed and was swiftly replaced with another vehicle.

If you're really pissed you off could submit claim for impact on your business - supply a tax clearance cert, vat registraion etc

AlekSmart

parsi wrote: »

Wow.

Brilliant service - your bus failed and was swiftly replaced with another vehicle.

If you're really pissed you off could submit claim for impact on your business - supply a tax clearance cert, vat registraion etc

The replacement might just have been parked :eek: in Store Street.....:)

I wonder if you could put up a Latin Translation of your sig ?

the_syco

Happens a couple of times during the summer on the 66/a/b routes for Dublin Bus.

The main "hills" are at Chapelizard going onto the N4, from Lucan onto the N4, at the off ramp past the Spa Hotel on the N4., and leaving Leixlip village. If the engine is hitting high temps, it usually dies a few times, with a replacement taking over at the Spa Hotel, if the driver knows it won't make it up the N4 off ramp.

The main reason is that the "lungs" give up. This is a common occurrence, as they're not properly fixed, but just fixed enough to get the buses moving again. Eventually, the buses are left in the bus graveyard at Broadstone.

the_syco

the_syco wrote: »

Happens a couple of times during the summer on the 66/a/b routes for Dublin Bus.

The main "hills" are at Chapelizard going onto the N4, from Lucan onto the N4, at the off ramp past the Spa Hotel on the N4., and leaving Leixlip village. If the engine is hitting high temps, it usually dies a few times, with a replacement taking over at the Spa Hotel, if the driver knows it won't make it up the N4 off ramp.

The main reason is that the "lungs" give up. This is a common occurrence, as they're not properly fixed, but just fixed enough to get the buses moving again. Eventually, the buses are left in the bus graveyard at Broadstone.

I've heard that incidents like this are because the modern buses are underpowered, in order to meet emissions targets. The RVs had 10 litre engines while the AVs are only 7.6.

hfallada

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Presumably like DB, BE put certain buses on certain routes due to the usual clientèle they attract. No point putting shiny new buses on a route full of skangers who'll wreck it prematurely.

When I started getting buses into town that went through my area from Finglas and ballymun. They were fairly ghetto like 15 years old and it was raining the night before there was pools of water no joke upstairs. Everyone sat with their legs stretched across the sit so their feet weren't on the floor.

But now all the buses are brand new and some even have wifi. But since they have replaced the ****ty buses people who never took the bus. Now take it

dfx-

It's happening increasingly on DBs AX fleet as they are beginning to show their age. Used to happen a few times with the RA fleet.

Thankfully, it doesn't happen very often for me, particularly not the AV fleet. AV207 once broke down going over a ramp, but also AV15 three times in a row within two weeks a few years ago.

I'm glad AV15 has departed this island...

Jamie2k9

We were switched to a much nicer bus sp94 or sp92 where the old banger dropped at the ifsc to continue our journey. Why is Waterford left with the sh1t from the scrapyard when other towns get proper expressway coaches?

Well at least bus eireann and iarnrod eireann have one thing in common when it comes to Waterford services.

Wouldn't have happened on the train.

Why do trains never breakdown and at least BE provide a replacment bus unlike IE when some of there trains fail, and since the timetable came into affect you will be lucky if you get a seat on a Waterford train.

foggy_lad

As much as I use buses and rail and taxis that's the very first terminal fault I have encountered on a bus eireann journey. I have been on quite a few trains that turned into buses because of train failures, signal or some other fault. I have also been in two taxis which broke down. Years ago dublin buses were regularly breaking down usually on a wet evening on the way home after work but then they got shut of those awful bombardier yokes and got real buses. Breakdowns were then very few and most could be fixed in a few minutes by a mechanic who usually got a loud cheer.

starviewadams

Only time in recent memory that a bus broke down was an AV on the 13 on Woodford Hill in Clondalkin.Didn't really break down either,was just a fault with the doors which wouldn't stay closed and the bus wouldn't move with them open.Another 13 arrived a few minutes later and we all just switched to that.

Remember a few RH's breaking down regularly enough on the old 68A in the 90's.

Conway635

Considering the amount I travel (usually 5 days a week, 3-4 buses a day) I encounter breakdowns remarkably rarely - two in the last year.

The coincidence in terms of the timing of this thread is that one of those two was last night.

AV149 on the 14 (for those who are not in the know, this is a year 2000 Volvo/ALX type, now the oldest year in the regular DB fleet) expired on North Strand, a couple of minutes after the fault alarm (which i like to call the "Chimes of Doom" ) started sounding.

The previous time was about 9 months ago, an AX which expired in a rather unusual way. Now, over many, many years of using buses regularly, dating back to the late3 60s, I've become familiar with the most common breakdown modes, which usually involve cutting out when the bus comes to a stop, sometimes accompanied by the chimes of doom, and sometimes not able to start again.

But on this particular occasion the bus was perfectly behaved when the engine was at idle, but kept expiring when at full throttle - so just as the bus was pulling out into traffic, trying to get across a junction, or powering up a hill the engine would suddenly die and the bus would gently coast to a halt, and would have to come to a complete halt before it could be restarted again. This left the bus stranded in some difficult positions, and happened again and again, at one time at full speed (about 60 kph) on the back road behind the airport. Some sort of blockage causing fuel starvation I would suspect.

Fair play to the driver, he didn't dump anyone on the side of the road, and just kept restarting and completed his trip, despite this happening around 20 times between the city and Harristown.

Breakdowns are far, far less frequent than in the 1970s, when the fleet was a basket case. And people on here complain about the Bombardiers, but even those were vastly more reliable than the Atlanteans they replaced (the Atlanteans problems were mostly solved by re-engining with DAF engines in the 80s, but when they were still on their original spec in the 70s the breakdown rate was phenomonal).

C635

Polar101

Ok, let's see how often they occur. In the last 5 years, 4 bus trips per work day, that comes to about 4800 trips (holidays excluded). I remember about 6 breakdowns in that time. So they occur 0.125% of the time.

Losty Dublin

Conway635 wrote: »

Breakdowns are far, far less frequent than in the 1970s, when the fleet was a basket case. And people on here complain about the Bombardiers, but even those were vastly more reliable than the Atlanteans they replaced (the Atlanteans problems were mostly solved by re-engining with DAF engines in the 80s, but when they were still on their original spec in the 70s the breakdown rate was phenomonal).

C635

The O 600 series of engine that went into the initial Atlantean were poor to put it mildly while the O 680's little better. The DAF powerplants were excellent and gave a good extension to the working life of the D's and their boxier looking half brothers, the Dublin built Van Hool Mcardles.

For what it's worth, buses often "break down" when warning lights come on, often for minor things than don't materially affect them in service. I wonder how many of us have driven on cars with warning lights on, bald tyres, chipped windows etc and other thing that take buses off the road on us

Hilly Bill

foggy_lad wrote: »

On the 10.30pm Waterford bus tonight and just after leaving Busáras in front of the ifsc the front suspension collapsed with an almighty bang. This of course was one of the knackered old buses handed down from the rosslare and cork services. The interior was grubby and smelly and is nothing like what an express bus should be.

We were switched to a much nicer bus sp94 or sp92 where the old banger dropped at the ifsc to continue our journey. Why is Waterford left with the sh1t from the scrapyard when other towns get proper expressway coaches?

Sounds like that bus shouldnt have been in service in the first place. Surely all the buses on all routes should be maintained to a standard that allows them to service their routes safely.

Hilly Bill

foggy_lad wrote: »

Has there ever been a train to Waterford after 6.35pm apart from when they are delayed?

The 20.15 finishes in Carlow if that is as far you were going.

foggy_lad

I don't know that the bus was unsafe hilly bill but the suspension airbag on the front burst which I would think would be quite rare. Possibly some fault that caused it to overinflate but we noticed nothing like that from inside.

The_Wrecker

One of the problems with these modern buses is when the computer says STOP, it wont have anything to do with driving until the bad data is removed. Even faulty sensors can mean there is nothing wrong.

Go back to the 90's and many KD/KC's wouldnt last an entire day without being changed in service.