Salthill bus service is brutal.

bodhrandude

This is a Bus Eireann city service that just never seems to be on time or sticking to the schedule. Friday evening at the Eyre Square bus stop was a joke, I was waiting for the 5 pm bus with a packed bus shelter, the 5 pm drives past towards the bus station but never returned like it usually does a few minutes later. Twenty five minutes past five, two more Salthill buses drive into the station, eventually one came our way about nearly half an hour after it should have been. I got no reason for the delay from the bus driver, WTF! was that about.

ciano1

Typical.. But eireann is generally brutal!

ben.schlomo

Used to use the 409 a lot and the 0945 was more often than not missing in action.

thesandeman

Jaysus Dude, you could have walked. It's a bodhran you were carrying not a double bass!


Serious answer is the drivers had probably put in their allowed hours and were obliged to take a break.
Does the bus from Mervue not continue to Salthill anymore (it's been a while)?

syklops

thesandeman wrote: »

Jaysus Dude, you could have walked. It's a bodhran you were carrying not a double bass!

Sure its only a couple miles, just walk. Make your own arrangements. We could save the country a lot of money if we abolished Bus Eireann tomorrow and people made their own arrangements. Back when the bus drivers striked in 2013(?) the bus timetable became 100% accurate. I knew the bus wasn't coming and made my own arrangements, instead of standing at the bus stop for 20, 30, 40 minutes wondering is it coming soon.

thesandeman

syklops wrote: »

Sure its only a couple miles, just walk. Make your own arrangements. We could save the country a lot of money if we abolished Bus Eireann tomorrow and people made their own arrangements. Back when the bus drivers striked in 2013(?) the bus timetable became 100% accurate. I knew the bus wasn't coming and made my own arrangements, instead of standing at the bus stop for 20, 30, 40 minutes wondering is it coming soon.

I'm afraid to put the *joke goes over head* MEME thing up just in case it breaks Boards again but just imagine that it's here.

Storm 10

Have you not taken into account what the real problem here is its Galways diabolical traffic, every day I see buses in bumper to bumper traffic all over the City I don't know how they manage to operate a timetable it's impossible

gordongekko

^^^^ what he said. Friday evening is peak traffic time. It's not unusual for a bus to be late during this time.

Mrs OBumble

I regularly catch the Salthill bus at 8pm - have never found it to be late. But I wouldn't extrapolate from that to saying that it's perfect.

Many routes have timetable challenges around 5-6pm, due to traffic. I don't think it's fair to say that the entire service is brutal because it's shyte one day: I'd say about 90% of buses I catch are running either on time or up to 5 minutes late.

Whereisgalway

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I regularly catch the Salthill bus at 8pm - have never found it to be late. But I wouldn't extrapolate from that to saying that it's perfect.

Many routes have timetable challenges around 5-6pm, due to traffic. I don't think it's fair to say that the entire service is brutal because it's shyte one day: I'd say about 90% of buses I catch are running either on time or up to 5 minutes late.

The sooner bus eireann is privatised the sooner the better. I regularly get buses and am never confident that one will actually show up! The transports app they have are unreliable and a joke. Correct me if I'm wrong but bus eireann have refused to relase data concerning the punctuality of their service.
I'm a imagine and most people who agree that the statistics would be an absolute rout. Would they even break 50%? I do wonder. 5 minutes late is 5 minutes too late. ill leave the absurd pricing for another day

Eeden

thesandeman wrote: »

Jaysus Dude, you could have walked.

Not everyone can walk. And not everyone who "looks fine" can walk. Some people can only walk a short distance, for one reason or another. If someone wants to take the bus, you should assume that they want to take the bus, and not tell them to just walk.

thesandeman

Eeden wrote: »

Not everyone can walk. And not everyone who "looks fine" can walk. Some people can only walk a short distance, for one reason or another. If someone wants to take the bus, you should assume that they want to take the bus, and not tell them to just walk.

Another *joke goes over head* MEME is required.

ben.schlomo

thesandeman wrote: »

Another *joke goes over head* MEME is required.

Twice in 12 posts, can people not read or interpret!?

what_traffic

Need more bus lanes in the City Centre.

cgcsb

No point blaming Bus Éireann, they don't have the power to paint bus lanes on roads and ban cars from certain streets, so they are basically at the mercy of traffic. Your issue is with Galway City Council and it's opposition to public transport and cycling.

Mr_A

Friday in Galway are a disaster for getting around. The 409 service is generally very good, but on a Friday the buses get stuck in traffic and it's more unreliable.

Anyone have any idea why Fridays are so especially bad?

what_traffic

Will also need less private cars and car parking in the City Centre to make space for buses.

Fitz*

The Bus Eireann service in Galway is awful as a whole.

I have not seen a 405 bus on time since the start of the summer & I get it twice daily. Yesterday I was waiting at an end of line stop for 56 minutes for a bus that is supposedly every 20 minutes. I asked (albeit cheekily/rudely) had the times changed and that I was waiting an hour for the bus, but he looked away and refused to answer.

A second bus for the same route showed up less than a minute later.

ben.schlomo

FitzShane wrote: »

The Bus Eireann service in Galway is awful as a whole.

I have not seen a 405 bus on time since the start of the summer & I get it twice daily. Yesterday I was waiting at an end of line stop for 56 minutes for a bus that is supposedly every 20 minutes. I asked (albeit cheekily/rudely) had the times changed and that I was waiting an hour for the bus, but he looked away and refused to answer.

A second bus for the same route showed up less than a minute later.

It definitely isnt awful, unreliable at certain times yes. When i used the 409 regularly it was just the 0945 from Eyre Sq that would never show up, if i got to the stop and the next bus was due anywhere more than 20 minutes then id walk, was there no real time board telling you of the times when you waited an hour?

Fitz*

ben.schlomo wrote: »

It definitely isnt awful, unreliable at certain times yes. When i used the 409 regularly it was just the 0945 from Eyre Sq that would never show up, if i got to the stop and the next bus was due anywhere more than 20 minutes then id walk, was there no real time board telling you of the times when you waited an hour?

Any 405 bus after 5.30 is incredibly unreliable and waiting 40 minutes or more for a bus is not uncommon. The bus stop timetable states that it runs every 20 minutes up until 7pm. For a place where many people work & commute back into the city, you would think that they would have common sense and start a route there in the evening time instead of having it as a finish point.

wp_rathead

The 405 is an absolute cluster fnck between 4.30 and 6.30

what_traffic

Need more bus lanes in the City Centre or else ban private car traffic from certain roads/bridges if we want reliable bus timetables and bus journey times.

beardybrewer

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

Fitz*

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

As far as I can see, they don't. I don't see them in many places either.

ben.schlomo

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

They do. The one at GMIT used to be very reliable. If it was 20 minutes or more then id walk back into town from there and a 409 rarely passed me on the route back in.

biko

what_traffic, stop posting the same thing over and over, You wishlist has little bearing on the current situation thanks

TerrorFirmer

I use the 405 all the time and find it generally very reliable. Obviously at certain times traffic affects it as it does other routes also but overall, I'm happy with it.

cgcsb

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

They're based on distance multiplied by a traffic factor so say 1km = 4 minutes *1 for off peak times and *1.5 for peek times etc.

Mrs OBumble

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I use the 405 all the time and find it generally very reliable. Obviously at certain times traffic affects it as it does other routes also but overall, I'm happy with it.

This.

There have been some times this year when I've waited 40 minutes (should only have been 5 minutes). Probably about 3-4 such instances in the last 9 months. Frustrating, yes. But I can deal with that level of service-failure.

wp_rathead

I get into Eyre Square consistently at 4.40, waiting for the 405 towards Ballybane. More often I'll be waiting till after 5.30 for a bus
I just call the electric timetable that is there the random number generator
It's a pain
But I know it is because the traffic at 4 kinda screws whole thing up - in the morning the timetable is spot on

45mhrc7evo1d3n

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

In my experience, when there's been a big delay on the 401, the electronic signs say something like "real-time information not available". Very unhelpful.

Stevolende

Mr_A wrote: »

Friday in Galway are a disaster for getting around. The 409 service is generally very good, but on a Friday the buses get stuck in traffic and it's more unreliable.

Anyone have any idea why Fridays are so especially bad?

I just assumed it was everybody getting out of town for the weekend and also got worse on long weekends.
It seems to get worse earlier on a Friday I think at least partially because the schools get out earlier.
I know it is possible to be stuck on Doughiska rd waiting for a 409 for up to an hour between something like 3.30 and 5.30 on a friday. I still haven't worked out exactly when it starts & ends but those seem to be pretty rough estimates of the outsides. BUt it also seems taht buses just don't turn up at other times too.
I think at times buses have bypassed Doughiska and gone past Roscam. I think the school times 2nd bus has sometimes just gone from Roscam to town. Though it was couple of years back when I noticed that and they may have revised the idea since.
I think running a 2nd double decker between 5.30 and 6.30 would heavily improve things.
I've certainly been stuck at the bus stop between 6 and some odd time a bit after 6.30 with at least a bus full of people gathering. & wondered what happened to the Quarter past buses, seems to happen around 5.15 too.

But the 409 is supposed to be the best route in town I've been told, still not the most reliable though.
The new €250,000 buses seemed to be groaning soon after they were introduced.

the untitled user

Mr_A wrote: »

Anyone have any idea why Fridays are so especially bad?

My guess would be shift workers leaving early from the likes of Boston and Medtronic clogging up the bridges earlier than would be normal during the earlier part of the week.

Mrs OBumble

the untitled user wrote: »

My guess would be shift workers leaving early from the likes of Boston and Medtronic clogging up the bridges earlier than would be normal during the earlier part of the week.

Not so dramatic from Boston, they stagger their shifts all week as far as I can see. But Medtronic certainly used to have a major end of shift around 1pm on Friday. And I think I've heard some of the other factories out there have an early finish on Friday.

the untitled user

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Not so dramatic from Boston, they stagger their shifts all week as far as I can see. But Medtronic certainly used to have a major end of shift around 1pm on Friday. And I think I've heard some of the other factories out there have an early finish on Friday.

Used to work across the road from Boston, staggered shifts might be but there's still an exodus from the place from 1pm onwards that's putting an awful lot of traffic on the roads. Used to really disrupt the lunch time walk on a Friday :mad:

Whereisgalway

Was waiting for the 08.15 to Galway clinic at the station this morning. Crowd of people waiting, some other employee kept saying it'll be hear in a minute, bus showed up at 8.50, this is no way to operate a service, bus eireann are a joke

cgcsb

No point blaming Bus Éireann. A private bus company is not going to operate buses that sprout jet powered wings and fly over all the traffic. More bus lanes+ banning cars is the only way to do it, and Bus Éireann doesn't have the power to do those things.

Fitz*

cgcsb wrote: »

No point blaming Bus Éireann. A private bus company is not going to operate buses that sprout jet powered wings and fly over all the traffic. More bus lanes+ banning cars is the only way to do it, and Bus Éireann doesn't have the power to do those things.

They do have the ability to provide extra buses at a different time in peak times to help alleviate the problem though.

eg: the 405 - at around 5.30 time, they can start one bus route from the Ballybane side (where a lot of people work in HP, Boston Scientific etc) going towards the city, instead of waiting for the route to finish there.

Whereisgalway

cgcsb wrote: »

No point blaming Bus Éireann. A private bus company is not going to operate buses that sprout jet powered wings and fly over all the traffic. More bus lanes+ banning cars is the only way to do it, and Bus Éireann doesn't have the power to do those things.

A private company would have a accurate time table

Mrs OBumble

FitzShane wrote: »

They do have the ability to provide extra buses at a different time in peak times to help alleviate the problem though.

eg: the 405 - at around 5.30 time, they can start one bus route from the Ballybane side (where a lot of people work in HP, Boston Scientific etc) going towards the city, instead of waiting for the route to finish there.

Except that any bus which "starts" there still has to get there through the traffic before it starts.

Also, they don't have unlimited numbers of buses and drivers.

bodhrandude

cgcsb wrote: »

No point blaming Bus Éireann. A private bus company is not going to operate buses that sprout jet powered wings and fly over all the traffic. More bus lanes+ banning cars is the only way to do it, and Bus Éireann doesn't have the power to do those things.

What are you talking about, 35 minutes extra is a bloody joke, is there a ombudsman complaints area for Bus Eireann. I think people should just complain, if enough do it BE will have to do something.

Eogclouder

bodhrandude wrote: »

What are you talking about, 35 minutes extra is a bloody joke, is there a ombudsman complaints area for Bus Eireann. I think people should just complain, if enough do it BE will have to do something.

As other posters in this thread have pointed out, what exactly are they supposed to do?

The problem is traffic, not the amount of busses or drivers.

TerrorFirmer

Just to add to the mix.

http://galwaybayfm.ie/city-traffic-reaches-crisis-point-following-major-increases/

Whereisgalway

Eogclouder wrote: »

As other posters in this thread have pointed out, what exactly are they supposed to do?

The problem is traffic, not the amount of busses or drivers.

1. They could run in real time, they have the technology and it's not difficult. At the very least customers would be informed

2. alter their time table so they accurately reflect. It can't be hard to figure could when rush hour traffic and delays. Small bit of forward plannin, Go bus n city link do this

3. Have helpful staff in the station, the majority of em I've talked to are simple rude and unhelpful

4 send buses over the Quinn bridge. Begin operating new route This ones common bleeding sense

Took me 3 mins to think of these

thesandeman

Whereisgalway wrote: »

1. They could run in real time, they have the technology and it's not difficult. At the very least customers would be informed

2. alter their time table so they accurately reflect. It can't be hard to figure could when rush hour traffic and delays. Small bit of forward plannin, Go bus n city link do this

3. Have helpful staff in the station, the majority of em I've talked to are simple rude and unhelpful

4 send buses over the Quinn bridge. Begin operating new route This ones common bleeding sense

Took me 3 mins to think of these

1: You are correct.
2: GoBus and Citylink can make up time once they are out of city limits. Bus Eireann do the same on their intercity routes. It only takes GB and CL a shorter time to reach GMIT because they don't have to stop six times en route to pick up/drop off.
3: I think the staff are fine. It's just that they are Galweiganised (new word) and that's how we communicate. Same happens in Bristol, Barcelona, New York, wherever.
4: In theory you are correct but the bridge is blocked at peak times. As somebody said earlier the Red Bus didn't take up that route for that very reason. I presume it's up to the NRA to sort that out.

It took me thirty seconds to think up those answers and about ten minutes to type them 'cos I got interrupted.

wp_rathead

kinda off topic - but has the City Direct 413 bus been disbanded? when planning a route to Salthill on Google Maps it suggests using it but there is no mention of 413 Route on the City Direct website? *x-files music*

Mrs OBumble

wp_rathead wrote: »

kinda off topic - but has the City Direct 413 bus been disbanded? when planning a route to Salthill on Google Maps it suggests using it but there is no mention of 413 Route on the City Direct website? *x-files music*

Ya, it quietly disappeared off their website a few years back. No announcement about it, though, and it's possible the NTA still think it's running and so it's still on Google.

baldshin

Yes the traffic is awful and causes delays which CIE can't help. The problem is the timetables though. For example, the 409 bus is scheduled every 15 minutes. However, there's no way in hell it can stick to that frequency at peak times, so why not adjust the timetable to reflect that? Overestimate the time it will take to get in and out of time. That way at least people know what time they need to be at the stop instead of showing up at the current time and waiting ages!

The real time trackers at the bus stops are never right either, it seems as though they're just calibrated with the timetable and not the buses themselves.

Another thing that bugs me on the 409 is when you see multiple buses behind each other. It's not rare to see 2, or even 3 of them one after another on the Doughiska Road, meaning that there's gonna be a 45 minute wait for a bus after those 3 have left. Why don't they have the common sense when leaving town/Parkmore to not all leave at the same time if one or two of them have been delayed. That way they can get back on track with the timetable.

cgcsb

Whereisgalway wrote: »

A private company would have a accurate time table

No they wouldn't you can timetable away but with no buslanes, who knows what time you will get through the traffic.

cgcsb

bodhrandude wrote: »

What are you talking about, 35 minutes extra is a bloody joke, is there a ombudsman complaints area for Bus Eireann. I think people should just complain, if enough do it BE will have to do something.

I'm talking about the fact that the traffic situation in Galway is beyond the control of Bus Éireann.

Squeeonline

cgcsb wrote: »

I'm talking about the fact that the traffic situation in Galway is beyond the control of Bus Éireann.

Wading in here...

I'm not sure that it is entirely out of their control. This ted talk https://www.ted.com/talks/jonas_eliasson_how_to_solve_traffic_jams?language=en showed that a small reduction in the number of cars drastically decreased the "traffic".

If BE ran a decent service (or if private companies could compete) that people could rely on, it might reduce the traffic significantly.