Lucan buses

hmmm

What is going on with the buses in Lucan? Since the kids went back to school they have been absolutely packed and I'm having trouble getting on at rush hour. There used to be some overflow buses, but I'm seeing far fewer of them this September. We had this problem a few years ago but I thought Dublin Bus had it sorted.

Also, would people please open a window. Getting on board a sweltering stuffy germbox is disgusting.

Fresh Pots

hmmm wrote: »

What is going on with the buses in Lucan? Since the kids went back to school they have been absolutely packed and I'm having trouble getting on at rush hour. There used to be some overflow buses, but I'm seeing far fewer of them this September. We had this problem a few years ago but I thought Dublin Bus had it sorted.

Also, would people please open a window. Getting on board a sweltering stuffy germbox is disgusting.

There was talk of cut backs a while back where a "summer timetable" came into effect from about June-October. On the phone now so can't link to it but Google should pull it up for you.

hmmm

TheTechGuy wrote: »

There was talk of cut backs a while back where a "summer timetable" came into effect from about June-October. On the phone now so can't link to it but Google should pull it up for you.

Thanks - found this

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that Summer Timetables will be implemented on the following Routes 7d, 11, 13, 16, 25a/b/x, 66x, 83, 123 and 130 on Tuesday 6th August 2013. For details please see the links below:

Typically, there are no links. Who decided to start a 'Summer timetable' at the point when schools & colleges go back?

CreepingDeath

Yeah, the service is gone to shit.

Now, when I look at the smart phone RTPI app, the buses are at least 5-10 mins apart, which is enough to build up a good queue at any bus stop in Lucan.

I remember the good old days of the 25X, when 3 would arrive around 8pm and the kids weren't allowed on them with their school bus tickets and they had to wait for the 25A. Ahhh... child apartheid, good times.

average_runner

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Yeah, the service is gone to shit.

Now, when I look at the smart phone RTPI app, the buses are at least 5-10 mins apart, which is enough to build up a good queue at any bus stop in Lucan.

I remember the good old days of the 25X, when 3 would arrive around 8pm and the kids weren't allowed on them with their school bus tickets and they had to wait for the 25A. Ahhh... child apartheid, good times.

5-10 mins is a good service, but the problem is when a bus doesn't arrive like this morning. The 7:52 25b from adamstown failed to turn up.

If your on the 25a and 25b route you get a bus alot more frequent. I am on 25b route but thank god I get the bus at Griffeen before its full.

hmmm

Along with a large crowd I waited half an hour at 5.15 today for a bus back to Lucan while a million other buses passed.

Miss Lockhart

So is this summer timetable still in effect? And if I go by the timetable on the website is that then not accurate?

I find the the 25a reliable going towards the city centre but very unreliable recently coming from town. I have had several incidences recently of it just not turning up on Dawson Street and being left waiting for an hour. It is on the display as due but just never arrives.

LXFlyer

The summer timetables never came into effect. The full timetable has been maintained.

The timetables as per the Dublin Bus website are correct and should be operating.

It may just simply be that loadings are higher in the mornings this year.

Miss Lockhart

Why did they announce a summer timetable and then not bother with it? And why leave the announcement up? Very poor communication all round.

tomred1

I see a bus conductor standing on the pedestrian island at the castle rd/Penny-hill junction every mourning. he must be controlling the flow of buses somehow.

LXFlyer

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Why did they announce a summer timetable and then not bother with it? And why leave the announcement up? Very poor communication all round.

It was announced, but then there was the industrial action and they then withdrew the plan as part of the talks process.

The announcement wasn't left up - it was moved to the archive. Someone went digging for it.

Either way it's irrelevant - they were never implemented.

LXFlyer

tomred1 wrote: »

I see a bus conductor standing on the pedestrian island at the castle rd/Penny-hill junction every mourning. he must be controlling the flow of buses somehow.

I think you mean a bus inspector, bus conductors are long gone.

Miss Lockhart

lxflyer wrote: »

It was announced, but then there was the industrial action and they then withdrew the plan as part of the talks process.

The announcement wasn't left up - it was moved to the archive. Someone went digging for it.

Either way it's irrelevant - they were never implemented.

Thanks. They really should add such a note to these announcements even if they are archived. Then there could be no confusion.

So there's no explanation for the 25As that just disappear from the displays and never show up then. Hopefully it's not going to be an ongoing issue. At least if the bus is never timetabled you can plan around it but if you just can't rely on it it's hard to keep using the service.

LXFlyer

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Thanks. They really should add such a note to these announcements even if they are archived. Then there could be no confusion.

So there's no explanation for the 25As that just disappear from the displays and never show up then. Hopefully it's not going to be an ongoing issue. At least if the bus is never timetabled you can plan around it but if you just can't rely on it it's hard to keep using the service.

As far as the notice.is concerned, unless you went digging for it you wouldn't find the story - it isn't in any of the main visible sections.

Someone above had to dig around for it.

As far as the RTPI is concerned, until about 2 minutes prior to the departure time, the system works off the schedule. It then switches to the bus, but relies upon the driver having signed in for that specific journey. If he hasn't signed in, or the bus is cancelled it will vanish.

If the bus is cancelled for whatever reason, the controller should remove it from the system.

The only other scenarios where buses vanish are:
1) Where there is a driver change - the system needs the bus driver to have signed in
2) Where a bus operates a short working (for example a 25a curtailed to Bachelor's Walk) the on-street signs cannot (for whatever reason) cope with this and will show Merrion Square.

Best advice I can give is to use the Dublin Bus app as it will always show short workings correctly.

As for outbound 25a/25b buses disappearing - maybe there was heavy traffic coming in and the buses were delayed, thus having a knock-on effect outbound - as someone who commuted wrong way on the Lucan QBC, this can happen.

josh59

Dublin Bus were well able to flood the 25A route with buses when they had competition from Mortons in the mornings and evenings. So many in fact that I understand that Paul Morton withdrew the service ( and good it was too) and may in fact have proceedings in the court against Dublin Bus pending.

hmmm

lxflyer wrote: »

As far as the notice.is concerned, unless you went digging for it you wouldn't find the story - it isn't in any of the main visible sections.

Someone above had to dig around for it.

Google "summer timetable dublin bus" and it appears. So stop with the conspiracy theories.

LXFlyer

josh59 wrote: »

Dublin Bus were well able to flood the 25A route with buses when they had competition from Mortons in the mornings and evenings. So many in fact that I understand that Paul Morton withdrew the service ( and good it was too) and may in fact have proceedings in the court against Dublin Bus pending.

Let's be honest about that situation. What damaged Mortons was launching an all day service to Celbridge and overstretching themselves.

The factors that affected it were:
1) It was in competition with the existing 67 service and as such the off peak market was already catered for
2) They were unable to operate the official timetable due to lack of staff/buses
3) They were not allowed publicise the timetable that they did operate by the Department of Transport as it was not what they were licensed to operate.
4) A complete lack of any on-street and online publicity

Basically Mortons overstretched themselves with an unsustainable Celbridge service. Lucan was irrelevant as the buses were full regardless, despite Morton's loud protestations. Those court proceedings have lain dormant for over 3 years which is somewhat telling in itself.

There are now strict rules in place governing what operators can and cannot do in terms of operating auxiliary departures on any route, and in the case of Dublin Bus a fleet constraint - there aren't buses lying around that can be used since Network Direct was implemented.

LXFlyer

hmmm wrote: »

Google "summer timetable dublin bus" and it appears. So stop with the conspiracy theories.

Look I'm not saying anything about conspiracy theories - I am saying that that article is not on the main news section of the Dublin Bus website, nor are the proposed timetables associated with it available. To find it on the Dublin Bus website, you would have to go looking for it.

The article is in the news archive where they put every old news story.

I don't think that Dublin Bus can be held responsible for everything Google does. That's up to them.

Either way this is an irrelevant discussion to the main point above - the summer timetables never happened. That was the point that I wanted to make.

hmmm

lxflyer wrote: »

The article is in the news archive where they put every old news story.

You might think it is irrelevant, but it is on the DB website and there is nothing on the website which tells those looking at it that the Summer Timetable was never implemented.

None of this answers the question of course. Why are the buses so full this September, and why does there seem to be fewer overflow buses in operation. Most of the people standing at the bus stops at 7-9am are fare paying customers and they are not getting a decent service.

LXFlyer

hmmm wrote: »

You might think it is irrelevant, but it is on the DB website and there is nothing on the website which tells those looking at it that the Summer Timetable was never implemented.

None of this answers the question of course. Why are the buses so full this September, and why does there seem to be fewer overflow buses in operation. Most of the people standing at the bus stops at 7-9am are fare paying customers and they are not getting a decent service.

Irrespective of that - the timetables for the routes are clearly available on the website and they are dated 21 October 2010 which would suggest that they are not summer timetables!

To be honest this sharp increase tends to happen immediately when colleges return every year across the city (it's not restricted to Lucan), but it does tend to drop off again in early October when students settle into their actual study patterns.

Auxiliary workings are very strictly limited by the NTA, and there simply isn't scope within the current fleet for adding extra buses without reducing the service elsewhere in the city.

Are you sure (and I'm not being smart) that the number of buses have reduced year on year or are you just surmising that?

It may also be the case that there are simply more students and schoolchildren travelling in the mornings this year.