Aircoach have route numbers now?

Five Lamps

Just noticed that buses on one of the Aircoach routes are now displaying a route number - 702.

Does this mean that we may see Aircoach services appearing on real time displays some time soon?

bk

Almost every licensed bus service in the country has a route number issued from the NTA.

Aircoach has just decided to display them, probably to try and reduce confusion on which bus to take at Dublin Airport and Westmoreland street. Unfortunately it is no indicator of them coming to RTPI or not.

lil5

Displays route and time info (scheduled ?) for stops on http://rtpi.ie/

Try "Search by Route No/Name" (e.g. 702)

bk

This displays the scheduled time table, rather then the actual real time.

currins_02

Apparently, and I don't know for fact but was told by a service owner himself, it's something linked to the roll out of Leap card use to certain private services. For that system to work, again apparently (I simply don't know but am repeating what I was told), each service needs a number - numbers have been issued to most, but not all private services and can be found at this link: http://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/database-of-holders-of-licences-for-public-bus-passenger-services-011113.pdf - these numbers have only been given out to many in recent in numbers.

devnull

That must have been added recently since I was looking at rtpi.ie for information from Cork City services and the Aircoach stops were not plotted on the map at that point but can now see they are on there, although they do have a very strange stop numbering system.

Aircoach were talking about real time info being trialled in October but it seems there is no progress on that. Aircoach won't be able to take leap without new ticket machines, since they have the TGX150, but don't have the smart card module on it like Dublin Bus do.

Five Lamps

I'm surprised that it has taken this long for them to use route numbers - even their own ones. Would make life a lot easier for passengers getting their services from their (badly organised) stop at the airport.

The RTPI would be very useful - especially if you're getting their service at 4am in the morning!

devnull

Just to clarify - the route numbers have been around for a few months, the RTPI I was saying I hadn't seen before on rtpi.ie

coylemj

Five Lamps wrote: »

I'm surprised that it has taken this long for them to use route numbers - even their own ones. Would make life a lot easier for passengers getting their services from their (badly organised) stop at the airport.

I far prefer to see 'Greystones' on the display and not have to figure out if '702' is going my way or not for a service I only use every few months or so. On the Aircoach website the route number only appears in the downloadable PDF file, it is not shown in the route description or the online timetable in respect of the Greystones route at least.

etchyed

coylemj wrote: »

I far prefer to see 'Greystones' on the display and not have to figure out if '702' is going my way or not for a service I only use every few months or so.

Eh, what? When have you ever seen a bus displaying only a route number?

markpb

etchyed wrote: »

Eh, what? When have you ever seen a bus displaying only a route number?

Singapore?

Five Lamps

coylemj wrote: »

I far prefer to see 'Greystones' on the display and not have to figure out if '702' is going my way or not for a service I only use every few months or so. On the Aircoach website the route number only appears in the downloadable PDF file, it is not shown in the route description or the online timetable in respect of the Greystones route at least.

It has the number and destination like any public bus service.

Victor

Having route numbers is useful across a variety of functions. While getting "Aircoach" or JJ Kavanagh" or whatever might be good for brand recognition, it is less useful for passengers and indeed does a disservice to the operator when they have more than one route.

Telling a foreigner to get the "Aircoach" is a bit useless when there might be 6 such coaches outside they airport terminal, with none of them saying "Dublin".

Five Lamps

Victor wrote: »

Having route numbers is useful across a variety of functions. While getting "Aircoach" or JJ Kavanagh" or whatever might be good for brand recognition, it is less useful for passengers and indeed does a disservice to the operator when they have more than one route.

Telling a foreigner to get the "Aircoach" is a bit useless when there might be 6 such coaches outside they airport terminal, with none of them saying "Dublin".

I would use Aircoach when going to the airport. It's a nonsense when a bunch of them pull up at T2 at the same time and drivers shouting out what route they are serving.

Regular travellers will know their route. Visitors will know it once told by the ticket seller and I'm sure the respective hotels would advise what route number their guests should take.

patrickbrophy18

Five Lamps wrote: »

I would use Aircoach when going to the airport. It's a nonsense when a bunch of them pull up at T2 at the same time and drivers shouting out what route they are serving.

Agree. I think it is quite ridiculous that some buses still have no LED destination signs. The Scania Century coaches that are deployed to the Dalkey/Killiney service have flip-disc displays which still haven't been programmed to display Dalkey/Killiney as the destination. They have Dublin Airport as the destination both-ways with a very subtle window mounted poster with the outbound terminus written on them. This goes for the Setra buses that are also deployed to the Dalkey/Killiney route and partially to the Leopardstown and Belfast routes. In fact, the Setra coaches don't have digital signage at all. Having said all of that, this is just a minor criticism as they still are an excellent service.

coylemj

Five Lamps wrote: »

I would use Aircoach when going to the airport. It's a nonsense when a bunch of them pull up at T2 at the same time and drivers shouting out what route they are serving.

I'd prefer to hear the driver calling it out than rely on the display. Different service I know but I was getting off a northbound Dart in Sandymount the other day and noticed that the display above the door to the next carriage said the next stop was Bray and it was the last stop!

coylemj

Victor wrote: »

Telling a foreigner to get the "Aircoach" is a bit useless when there might be 6 such coaches outside they airport terminal, with none of them saying "Dublin".

But when the foreigner buys a ticket from the Aircoach guy outside the terminal, he will be politely told from where and when his bus will be leaving. All a visitor needs to be told is to go to the Aircoach stand outside their arrival terminal and the guy on duty will sort them out.

Stheno

Swords express also have this now, very useful if you want to avoid certain routes.

Victor

coylemj wrote: »

But when the foreigner buys a ticket from the Aircoach guy outside the terminal, he will be politely told from where and when his bus will be leaving. All a visitor needs to be told is to go to the Aircoach stand outside their arrival terminal and the guy on duty will sort them out.

And the foreign visitor will know to look for a random person waiting outside the airport terminal?

coylemj

Victor wrote: »

And the foreign visitor will know to look for a random person waiting outside the airport terminal?

Aircoach have a very visible outdoor unit outside T1 and T2, you just need to follow the 'coaches' sign from inside the terminal and you'll find it.

LXFlyer

coylemj wrote: »

But when the foreigner buys a ticket from the Aircoach guy outside the terminal, he will be politely told from where and when his bus will be leaving. All a visitor needs to be told is to go to the Aircoach stand outside their arrival terminal and the guy on duty will sort them out.

We are talking about something that is standard the world over here - it isn't rocket science.

Buses should be displaying a route number and destination as standard.

End of story.

macroman

Dublin Coach now rolling out route numbers on all routes too.

300 - Dublin City/Ennis via Limerick (M7 Express)
726 - Dublin Airport/Portlaoise
816 - Portarlington/Kildare

Victor

coylemj wrote: »

Aircoach have a very visible outdoor unit outside T1 and T2, you just need to follow the 'coaches' sign from inside the terminal and you'll find it.

And the foreign visitor will know to look for a random person waiting outdoor unit outside the airport terminal?

Or perhaps he should look for some grey stones or a cork? Because the bus with the "Grey Stones" will get him to Dublin.

coylemj

lxflyer wrote: »

We are talking about something that is standard the world over here - it isn't rocket science.

Buses should be displaying a route number and destination as standard.

End of story.

I agree with the principle but if you arrive at the airport and there is a line of Aircoach buses sitting there and an Aircoach employee on duty, I will rely on what he tells me rather than what's on the display. Outside T1 you often can't see which bus is which because all you can see is the back of several buses, that's why I always ask.

coylemj

Victor wrote: »

And the foreign visitor will know to look for a random person waiting outdoor unit outside the airport terminal?

You mean the random person who just happens to be wearing a jacket with 'Aircoach' clearly visible and standing beside an outdoor unit with a prominent 'Aircoach' sign?

Victor wrote: »

Or perhaps he should look for some grey stones or a cork? Because the bus with the "Grey Stones" will get him to Dublin.

or maybe he can do what tourists the world over do - ask the guy standing there with the coach operator's name on his jacket.

And if he checks the Dublin airport website for transport options under 'buses and coaches', he will read the following...

Aircoach offers services from Dublin Airport to the city centre, South Dublin and Greystones on a 24-hour basis. Its city centre service stops at most of the major hotels in Dublin City and its Greystones service stops at key locations in the Dublin South/North Wicklow area.

http://www.dublinairport.com/gns/to-from-the-airport/by-bus-or-coach.aspx

Victor

coylemj wrote: »

You mean the random person who just happens to be wearing a jacket with 'Aircoach' clearly visible and standing beside an outdoor unit with a prominent 'Aircoach' sign?

But I don't know or want to talk to him. I'm looking for a bus with an icon of grey stones on the side.

or maybe he can do what tourists the world over do - ask the guy standing there with the coach operator's name on his jacket.

Shouldn't have to. Public transport should be as self-explanatory as possible.

city centre

Dublin City

South Dublin

Dublin South

Are these four places the same?

LXFlyer

coylemj wrote: »

I agree with the principle but if you arrive at the airport and there is a line of Aircoach buses sitting there and an Aircoach employee on duty, I will rely on what he tells me rather than what's on the display. Outside T1 you often can't see which bus is which because all you can see is the back of several buses, that's why I always ask.

Well what you do or don't do at the airport frankly is up to you, but it does not mean that the buses should not be displaying a number and destination.

It is a basic requirement that should be implemented by all operators.

This really has to one of the daftest discussions that I've seen here.

devnull

You'll all be pleased to know then, that the Aircoach website has (finally!) been redesigned and refreshed, and now talks about routes by their destination and route number everywhere!

bk

At last, but the site is only ok, certainly not great, could have been much better.

First of all it seems you can still only make bookings before 5pm the day before!!!

Come one Aircoach, GoBE allows you to make bookings an hour in advance, get with the programme.

I wish they went with an overall different site structure. I'd prefer if they had one page per route, with all the details for that route on the one page (timetable, fares, stop locations, etc.) like GoBE. I think such a design makes much more sense from a customers perspective.

A customer will normally only care about one particular route, to get from a to b and will want to find all the information about that route as quickly as possible. It makes no sense to make them click around different sections (Timetables Page, Fare Page, etc.).

On the GoBE site, all the relevant information can be found on one page with one click, on the Aircoach site, is takes 8 clicks to find the same information!!!

Total UIX fail.

And they don't even have maps of the stop locations!!!

The GoBE approach, makes the site act as a good brochure/advertisement for the route, the new Aircoach site is still very bad at actually selling each route and instead is rather pedestrian.

The Quick Booking drop down is also rather poor.

First of all the Leaving From and Going To Drop Downs have far too many options that would be very confusing for tourists. It should instead be designed with the most important options at the top of the list, e.g.:

Dublin Airport
Dublin City Centre
Cork
Belfast

---

all the other dozens of bity stops...........

Look at how badly it is designed at the moment, lets say you want to take Aircoachs now busiest route, Dublin to Cork, you would think that would be pretty easy, but no, take a look.

First of all, which stop should you select from the list of:
Dublin City Centre - Dawson St
Dublin City Centre - O'Connell St
Dublin City Centre - Suffolk St
Dublin City Centre - Westmoreland St

Secondly the Book Ticket box should be more like the one on www.nationalexpress.com which allows you to put in all the details on the first page, without needing to go to a second page and with sensible defaults selected (e.g. todays date and time, Single ticket, etc.). There is plenty of unused space there for it.

Thirdly, when I use the booking box, I'm getting an error message which says:
"There was a problem while using XMLHTTP" though it then disappears and continues to work.

Also on the Timetables page, they weirdly duplicate the 700 and 702 route timetables.

The strange thing is, their brochures tend to be very well designed, pity they can't apply that design to the website too.

So better then what was there before, but still loads to do.

bk

Also some very good news confirmed on the new website:

Aircoach has committed to a further investment of in excess of €3.5m for the delivery of 10 high quality coaches for our Cork – Dublin – Dublin Airport, non-stop express service, with delivery expected towards the end of 2013. These coaches will offer the highest levels of passenger comfort including on-board toilets.

Should make them much more competitive with GoBE and Irish Rail. If they just allowed for same day online bookings, I'd never have a reason to take GoBE again.

devnull

Its by no means perfect, but it's 100x better than what was there before.

The old site had broken links, duplicated pages, out of date information, conflicting information and was a downright mess.