Galway city getting some buses on Stephens Day!

Mrs OBumble

It's buried deep in BÉ's announcement (http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1450195871-Christmas-Arrangements.pdf)... but I was delighed to see that Galway city is going to get a few buses on St Stephens's Day.

Only two routes (401 - every 40 minutes, and 409 - every 30 minutes). But it's a start.

bobbyss

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

It's buried deep in BÉ's announcement (http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1450195871-Christmas-Arrangements.pdf)... but I was delighed to see that Galway city is going to get a few buses on St Stephens's Day.

Only two routes (401 - every 40 minutes, and 409 - every 30 minutes). But it's a start.

That's good news. What would be even better is any comment from BÉ on the dreadful way the timetables are presented citywide. How many bus timetables go something like this: 08:05 and every 25 minutes after. So you are stuck at the Cathedral at 5:05. It is pouring rain, overloaded with shopping and you see the timetable with that nonsense in it. Give us a break.

Would it not have been too difficult to have the actual times stated on the timetable as to when the buses are due at that stop? Just a little, little bit of forethought perhaps. It is lazy workmanship which comes from the fact there is no competition. I boarded a bus last week and asked the driver what time he was scheduled to leave and he said he didn't know but he was going when the queue was over and was that good enough for me!!! Dreadful way to talk to a customer. The changeover of drivers at the square is another issue. Never done efficiently. They are always having the crack and never watching the clock. A rival service is needed. Focused on the passengers.

Mrs OBumble

bobbyss wrote: »

How many bus timetables go something like this: 08:05 and every 25 minutes after.

None. Alll routes are on clock-face timetables, leaving on the hour / half-hour / quarter-past / quarter-to / twenty-past / twenty-two.

The only vaguely complicated ones say Xam and every 40 minutes after that. And for those ones, BE have indeed posted full timetables, at the main stops anyway, for those who cannot work out that in odd-hours after Xam there will be a bus at H:40, and even ones at H:20.

Agree with you re competiton - but until we get integrated ticketing, it's handy that one company runs most of the buses and so the monthly tickets work on most buses.

bobbyss

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

None. Alll routes are on clock-face timetables, leaving on the hour / half-hour / quarter-past / quarter-to / twenty-past / twenty-two.

The only vaguely complicated ones say Xam and every 40 minutes after that. And for those ones, BE have indeed posted full timetables, at the main stops anyway, for those who cannot work out that in odd-hours after Xam there will be a bus at H:40, and even ones at H:20.

Agree with you re competiton - but until we get integrated ticketing, it's handy that one company runs most of the buses and so the monthly tickets work on most buses.

I think this is the type of tt I was really referring to and I don't find it vaguely complicated at all: I find it completely complicated. Things should not be like that.

Everything should be straightforward and all timetables (not just the main ones) should state the expected departure times no matter where located. There should be no having to work out stuff. Is there any particular reason that has not been done? It is not a huge expense to have done it in the first place. It would only have taken someone with a pen and paper and a calculator to work it out. It reflects a company that does not put customers first. After all, customers should not be presented with University Challenge type timetables. Some people may not have problems with it but I do.

I feel there is a lazy, clique culture in BÉ that manifests itself in all kinds of ways. My reference, above, to the driver saying to me: 'Is that good enough for you' is just one disappointing manifestation of that mentality. I recall waiting for a bus at Eyre Square and calling the station to find out why my bus was late. I was given a number to call. Some inspector or other. He was amazed that I got through to him and asked me how I got his number. He was of no real assistance. He was much more interested in finding out what office gave me his number than being a public servant.

And how dangerous those bus stops are located in Eyre Square. Recalling the deaths outside the Clarence Hotel in Dublin some years ago one of the factors was the large number of people on the path waiting to board and how close they were to the buses. We will have a similar accident one day in Eyre Square.

LXFlyer

The timetable format used by BE in Galway is actually specified by the NTA - it's not their format at all.

Blaming the wrong people I'm afraid!

I'd agree - every 40 minutes is not acceptable as a timetable format.

Bus stop location is a matter for the Gardai.

marmurr1916

In the UK you get bus timetables with stuff like this:

08.00; 08:15; 08:25: 08:45: 09:00 then every 20 minutes until 15:45; 16:00: 16:25 etc etc.

And there were no buses in this part of England after 6pm on Christmas Eve until Sunday, while buses up to New Year's Eve (on which bus services will end around 6pm) will be on a reduced Sunday timetable, with no bus services on New Year's Day.

Buses here will get back to their normal timetables from Saturday, 2nd January.