Citylink chaos

mr.donkey

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience... Basically the 7.15am bus to Dublin airport was full this morning and people with tickets booked missed their bus, despite being at the bus 10 before departure as prescribed. No alternative was offered (like putting on another bus), despite the fact people were going to miss flights. Would have missed my own flight only luckily I had another option.
Is this a regular occurence with Citylink Galway?? Obviously that's the last time I book with them... I'll meet them when I'm back and report back on here...

TerrorFirmer

Sounds highly unusual and somewhat suspect. The bus was full to capacity of people who had booked tickets with excess and the leftovers were told to sling it?

mr.donkey

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Sounds highly unusual and somewhat suspect. The bus was full to capacity of people who had booked tickets with excess and the leftovers were told to sling it?

Highly unusual alright. I can't speak for the people already on the bus, either they had booked their seats and Citylink overbooked the bus or Citylink take passengers paying on the morning and people with tickets prebooked are simply discommoded. I've emailed Citylink the details now before my fight too.

Saint_Mel

I havent got CityLink in a long time but in previous experiences I've seen them refuse cash paying fares at the bus stops if the already had the seats prebooked and paid for.

Each driver has a copy of all the booked seats with the on/off stops, so they know exactly how many seats they have free between any 2 stops.

biko

Have citylink booked for this Saturday morning. I've never heard of citylink overbooking a bus, which doesn't make sense. And I've used them many times.
We'll see what the head office say OP.

JONJO THE MISER

A bloody joke if as described, if you booked they have to take you or put on another bus.

wp_rathead

sounds like a major fnck up
Unlikely the bus was over booked, it is more likely that the driver or person on the floor took passengers paying on the day before doing a check to see how many seats were available to sell

Never heard of this happening, horrible to imagine missing your flight due to such an incident

Cheshire Cat

I have taken early morning Citylink buses more often than I care to remember and never experienced anything like that. There were a few times when they had two buses at the same time because they had lots of bookings and they always put the unbooked passengers on the second bus.

Julabo

While never heard of a problem like this one before.

I have been on a few buses, where a large group ( sports team, language students ) came along. They were not booked. So bus went from being 10ish people at the airport to basically full.

Maybe this was a factor, a big group, could not kick a few off as all would have to be kicked off etc.

bobbyss

I think bus companies have an ambiguous priority boarding procedure. As far as I know the first passengers to board are

1. Pre booked computer tickets holders for that service
2. anyone with a return ticket they got from driver.
3. Pre booked computer tickets holders for a different (time) service
4 cash payers.

However I have seen this procedure fall down any times. It depends on whether the driver feels the bus is going to be full or not.

I do mind this because if I have a pre booked ticket I like to be called on first in order to have a choice of seats and to sit on the outside seat and appear as grumpy as possible so that no one sits beside me especially those studenty types who yap and yap all the time.

If you call a company up to enquire you will get different stories and I have not seen the boarding procedure policy written down anywhere.
Has anyone?

45mhrc7evo1d3n

Just wondering what Citylink had to say about this situation when you contacted them OP? I've never used the bus when travelling to Dublin Airport and have been considering giving it a go. Stories like this are very off putting though so it would be good to know what the reason for the screw-up was and if it's likely to happen again.

biko

We'll see if OP comes back but in all my years of taking that bus I have never come across it, and it seems this is the case for the other posters here too.
If it's a worry for you then there is GoBus and Bus Éireann to chose from.

Tuesday_Girl

I've used Citylink to the airport many times and never had a delay or any issue. Will be using them again on Thursday morning.

I took the bus from Dublin on Saturday and the loading procedure was
1. Internet bookings
2. Return ticket holders
3. Tickets bought in the ticket office before boarding
4. People planning to buy a ticket from the driver

Crumbs868

If you are worried Gobus have tablets on all buses so should be less likely to happen them

SameHorse

mr.donkey wrote: »

Is this a regular occurence with Citylink Galway??

the kind of cavalier attitude... yes.

certainly on the Clifden route.

cowboys.

Sound Bite

GoBus is streets ahead of Citilink.....

Staff are more friendly, it's on time, extra buses for busy periods, more efficient with their ticketing/pre booked seats etc.

GoBus realise they need their customers more than their customers need them.

Citilink think the opposite & it shows.

SameHorse

Sound Bite wrote: »

GoBus is streets ahead of Citilink.....

Staff are more friendly, it's on time, extra buses for busy periods, more efficient with their ticketing/pre booked seats etc.

GoBus realise they need their customers more than their customers need them.

Citilink think the opposite & it shows.

yep.

Citylink has a waiting room in the heart of Dublin, with WiFi. GoBus does not. Citylink wins.

Anyway, it seems like this was a once off. I've always seen people with tickets get on but people paying in cash get turned away.

bobbyss

In both services it is the lack of being able to control a/c that gets me. When you board it always seems stuffy to me so I reach for the a/c but to no avail. This problem is made worse when someone decides to take of their shoes.

Other than that I find both are very good.