Dublin Bus - can anyone be happy with the price and service?

j80ezgvc3p92xu · 22-12-2014 3:57pm

Dublin Bus and Irish Rail are awful in most ways. They seriously overcharge for an inferior service. I discovered before that a 15 min walk will save you roughly 3 euro in DB fares, that is the cost of your average chicken roll.

The train will charge you 20 euro for an hour-long journey. If you are not one of the first people on the train you will stand. Awful.

Aard · 22-12-2014 4:04pm

Sometimes the trade-off between a busfare and the door-to-door walking time will mean that it makes more sense to walk. That is how transport demand management works.

S.R. · 22-12-2014 4:15pm

Price of oil is falling for last few months but bus fares are hiked again. WTF?!?!

end of the road · 22-12-2014 4:17pm

Marcus Salmon Meadow wrote: »

The train will charge you 20 euro for an hour-long journey. If you are not one of the first people on the train you will stand. Awful.

standing on a train is common everywhere, hmost countries will ensure the fleet can cope. and in ireland depending on what route you travel you will have a train capible of taking standing passengers. the trains on the kildare/portlaoise commuter services wouldn't be designed for standing room compared to those on the maynooth and droghida/dundalk services for example.

end of the road · 22-12-2014 4:20pm

S.R. wrote: »

Price of oil is falling for last few months but bus fares are hiked again. WTF?!?!

that can happen. it will probably be to do with whatever way dublin bus purchase their diesel. probably the same way most companies do it, bulk buy in advance, meaning the price won't fluctuate like it does in a normal situation. someone will know

Aard · 22-12-2014 4:21pm

Bus fares do not correlate with oil prices. It's a tad more complex than that.

S.R. · 22-12-2014 4:25pm

end of the road wrote: »

that can happen. it will probably be to do with whatever way dublin bus purchase their diesel. probably the same way most companies do it, bulk buy in advance, meaning the price won't fluctuate like it does in a normal situation. someone will know

OK, but surely one day their bulk bought diesel will finish and they will buy diesel made of cheaper oil. Will they drop fares, what do you think?

S.R. · 22-12-2014 4:27pm

Aard wrote: »

Bus fares do not correlate with oil prices. It's a tad more complex than that.

Do not correlate at all??? It's hard to believe.
Then why companies are quick to raise prices once oil price goes up?

Tar.Aldarion · 22-12-2014 4:51pm

Before and after work it is faster to walk than to use the bus for me, what a joke!

I cycle to work in 15 minutes and the bus takes over an hour. Prices go up, nothing improves. It's a problem with driving in Dublin city though, nothing the buses can do to go faster.

end of the road · 22-12-2014 4:53pm

S.R. wrote: »

OK, but surely one day their bulk bought diesel will finish and they will buy diesel made of cheaper oil. Will they drop fares, what do you think?

why would they. the only way fares would drop is if the government vastly increase the subsidy in exchange for such decreases. not going to happen

Icepick · 22-12-2014 5:03pm

I have yet to experience worse bus service in Europe.
Does any other system use the laughable journey time estimates on time tables for example?
Now with realtime tracking stats they don't have an excuse not to use more accurate estimates for individual stops.

cdebru · 22-12-2014 5:08pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Before and after work it is faster to walk than to use the bus for me, what a joke!

I cycle to work in 15 minutes and the bus takes over an hour. Prices go up, nothing improves. It's a problem with driving in Dublin city though, nothing the buses can do to go faster.

They already have dropped fares, not all fares went up some went down.

Aard · 22-12-2014 5:35pm

S.R. wrote: »

Do not correlate at all??? It's hard to believe.
Then why companies are quick to raise prices once oil price goes up?

The latest fare revision included fare deacreases as well as increases. By extending the children's fare to 18 year-olds, that counts as a decrease. The second-leg discount is a decrease. Fare increases/decreases are complex and cannot be changed on a whim. They are changed once a year and take many variables into account. At the moment DB are streamlining their fare system (or rather, the NTA is doing it) atm so that it is more balanced and user-friendly.

AlekSmart · 22-12-2014 6:38pm

Aard wrote: »

The latest fare revision included fare deacreases as well as increases. By extending the children's fare to 18 year-olds, that counts as a decrease. The second-leg discount is a decrease. Fare increases/decreases are complex and cannot be changed on a whim. They are changed once a year and take many variables into account. At the moment DB are streamlining their fare system (or rather, the NTA is doing it) atm so that it is more balanced and user-friendly.

A substantial number of my long term regular customers (+10 years daily commuters) switched to Leapcard over the past 12 months....

These folks have seen their daily Busfare decrease from €2.60 cash to firstly €2.15 and now €2.05 Leap.

These folks are quite happy,in fact very happy that their daily Busfare spend has dropped from €5.20 to €4.10.

It's part of our "hard-to-live" psyche I think,to virtually ignore,any and all,positive elements and focus loudly instead on the negatives.

The introduction of the 4-13 Stage amalgamation has been a great success and full marks to the NTA for pushing it through.

The 15+ Child Leapcard is another seriously attractive Public Transport initiative,yet it's target market remain somewhat lackadaisical about it,until faced with a €3.30 Fare demand when they could have paid 75c....nothing like a demonstration of stuff to underline it's worth.

However....I was told by one lad recently,that his parents would not permit him to register for the 15+ Child Leapcard because they disagreed with the requirement to register on civil-liberty grounds.....the lad himself had no objection,but Mater & Pater apparently wear tin-foil hats.

My advice to him was,if it saves YOU money,go for it,unless the parents offer to increase their subsidy.....;)

AlekSmart · 22-12-2014 6:51pm

Aard wrote: »

Sometimes the trade-off between a busfare and the door-to-door walking time will mean that it makes more sense to walk. That is how transport demand management works.

I try to remind many of the more exicitable posters and customers alike,that Public Transport may not always be their most appropriate method of getting around (unless determined to find something to give-out about ?).

Few people appear to realize that a core-element of the National Transport Authority's draft strategy is to develop and improve alternatives such as :eek:WALKING :eek: & Cycling.

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Draft_Transport_Strategy_for_the_Greater_Dublin_Area_2011-2030.pdf

Walking and cycling can contribute to the health and wellbeing of GDA residents and the communities they live in. The Strategy needs to identify how walking and cycling can be encouraged, including for
leisure and recreational purposes

Tar.Aldarion · 22-12-2014 8:40pm

Aard wrote: »

The latest fare revision included fare deacreases as well as increases. By extending the children's fare to 18 year-olds, that counts as a decrease. The second-leg discount is a decrease. Fare increases/decreases are complex and cannot be changed on a whim. They are changed once a year and take many variables into account. At the moment DB are streamlining their fare system (or rather, the NTA is doing it) atm so that it is more balanced and user-friendly.

I was looking at the prices that went down, what are these second leg trips or an xpresso?

Aard · 22-12-2014 8:43pm

If you make a second journey within a certain amount of time (not sure off-hand) you will now get a €1 discount on the second journey.

LXFlyer · 22-12-2014 9:38pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

I was looking at the prices that went down, what are these second leg trips or an xpresso?

Aard wrote: »

If you make a second journey within a certain amount of time (not sure off-hand) you will now get a €1 discount on the second journey.

The €1 discount actually applies to the second or any further trip that you start within 90 minutes of the first starting.

Tar.Aldarion · 22-12-2014 9:52pm

Cool thanks. you have to show your ticket to get this or get a special ticket? How about on leap cards? Ok I better go read the site really

punisher5112 · 22-12-2014 9:54pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Cool thanks. you have to show your ticket to get this or get a special ticket? How about on leap cards? Ok I better go read the site really

The discount is applied automatically by the ticket machine.

LXFlyer · 22-12-2014 9:56pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Cool thanks. you have to show your ticket to get this or get a special ticket? How about on leap cards? Ok I better go read the site really

It only applies to journeys using the LEAP card pay-as-you-go epurse.

AlekSmart · 22-12-2014 10:32pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Cool thanks. you have to show your ticket to get this or get a special ticket? How about on leap cards? Ok I better go read the site really

It is but ONE,of the now many,reasons for possessing a Leapcard.

The €1 rebate is on all subsequent Bus Journeys made with 90 Minutes of the initial one.

After that 90 mins expires then the system reset's and will apply the discount from the next Journey made.

It is important to note that from early 2015 (Feb?) this discount will become multi-operator and available across Luas,Dart,Commuter Rail and BE commuter.

While it will also be available on the Private Sector services such as Matthews,Wexford Bus,Swords Express,I'm not certain of the start-date in their cases.

The basic message is "Switch To Leapcard-The CHEAP Card)

In reality,what we are now increasingly finding,is that those remaining cash-payers,tend to be of a group which may never be satisfied by anything,except the opportunity for a good oul grumble :rolleyes:

Tar.Aldarion · 22-12-2014 10:36pm

Great thanks, very handy for my card to do that, good system.

Cilar · 22-12-2014 10:49pm

AlekSmart wrote: »

It is important to note that from early 2015 (Feb?) this discount will become multi-operator and available across Luas,Dart,Commuter Rail and BE commuter.

Are there details on this already?

AlekSmart · 22-12-2014 11:35pm

Cilar wrote: »

Are there details on this already?

Some of the basics here...

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/news/second-journey-discount-of-e1-00-with-leap-card-on-dublin-bus/

The Authority will roll out the Leap 90 Discount to other public transport services in early 2015, so when users transfer between modes, they will also benefit from the discount on their second trip.

maninasia · 28-12-2014 5:35pm

Ardeehey wrote: »

I think Dublin Bus generally provide a good service, ok some buses can be irregular but I have never waited in Donnybrook for a bus into town for 30 minutes in my life. There are about 5 different routes through Donnybrook, during the week buses like the 46a is every 6-8 minutes on average! Cost wise I find it inline with the transport costs of other capital cities, get a LEAP card.

It's a ridiculous rip-off for junky filled vehicles. I pay 50 cents for a bus trips in the capital city I work in, with no junkies thrown in and better and more frequent buses. Irish people are so easy to extract money from, the fare goes up 5% or 10% a year and most don't bat an eyelid, they just pay and pay. Eejits. Ah but it's cheaper with the Leap, even though it goes up 5-10% a year. Do the calculations and realise how much you are overpaying. Oh yeah and I've been using the local version of the Leap card on all transport services for 10 plus years. You'll get one in 2015 and be all happy with your leap discount after they put the price up ....again. I pay 20% more now for the bus than 10 years ago.

You pay....[URL DELETED]

and you pay...

annual ticket...

2011: €1,230
2012: €1,420 (15.5% increase)
2013: €1,560 (9.9% increase)
2014: €1,710 (9.6% increase)
2015: €1,864? (assuming a 9% increase)
2016: €2,032? (assuming another 9% increase)[/url]

maninasia · 28-12-2014 5:47pm

Ardeehey wrote: »

I think Dublin Bus generally provide a good service, ok some buses can be irregular but I have never waited in Donnybrook for a bus into town for 30 minutes in my life. There are about 5 different routes through Donnybrook, during the week buses like the 46a is every 6-8 minutes on average! Cost wise I find it inline with the transport costs of other capital cities, get a LEAP card.

Okay some buses can be irregular...or simply drive by you...or not turn up at all.

That'll be 2.80 euro please.

end of the road · 28-12-2014 5:49pm

maninasia wrote: »

It's a ridiculous rip-off for junky filled vehicles. I pay 50 cents for a bus trips in the capital city I work in, with no junkies thrown in and better and more frequent buses. Irish people are so easy to extract money from, the fare goes up 5% or 10% a year and most don't bat an eyelid, they just pay and pay. Eejits. Ah but it's cheaper with the Leap, even though it goes up 5-10% a year. Do the calculations and realise how much you are overpaying.

because fares never go up anywhere else right? while we'd all love to only pay a few cents for a bus journey to wherever we like in the country, the reality is its not going to happen as it can't. no government is going to pay out a high enough subsidy to allow it to happen and if they did god help us with the rabel rabel we'd have to deal with. a lot of people everywhere think they are overpaying for public transport, that thought is not unique to ireland.

S.R. · 28-12-2014 6:41pm

end of the road wrote: »

because fares never go up anywhere else right? while we'd all love to only pay a few cents for a bus journey to wherever we like in the country, the reality is its not going to happen as it can't. no government is going to pay out a high enough subsidy to allow it to happen and if they did god help us with the rabel rabel we'd have to deal with. a lot of people everywhere think they are overpaying for public transport, that thought is not unique to ireland.

Don't say if you don't know. Since 1st of January 2013 public transport in Tallinn is FREE for those who live and are registered in Tallinn.

Similar story in Riga. Authorities there REDUCED fares and I will not be surprised if they make it FREE like in Tallinn.

Some people here are right: Irish people are easy ride and swallow whatever is pushed down their throats by government.

end of the road · 28-12-2014 7:39pm

S.R. wrote: »

Since 1st of January 2013 public transport in Tallinn is FREE for those who live and are registered in Tallinn.

Similar story in Riga. Authorities there REDUCED fares and I will not be surprised if they make it FREE like in Tallinn.

great. fantastic. how is it being payed for?

S.R. wrote: »

Some people here are right: Irish people are easy ride and swallow whatever is pushed down their throats by government.

well i'm not one of them. i'm giving you the reality of how things are in ireland. ireland couldn't afford to pay a large enough subsidy to have free public transport for everyone even if the government wanted to, which they don't. not only that but we'd probably have a huge deal being made out of it meaning such a large subsidy could become untenable.

Dublin Bus - can anyone be happy with the price and service?

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