Dublin Bus understanding of the alphabet

Victor

I went looking for the 27a timetable the other day and couldn't find it, so I emailed Dublin Bus. They emailed me back and told me look under the 29a(!) here: http://www.dublinbus.ie/Your-Journey1/Timetables/

So, they added a page with the 27a, but they decided to use a novel sorting order:

http://www.dublinbus.ie/Your-Journey1/Timetables/

27 From Clare Hall Towards Jobstown
27b Eden Quay Towards Harristown
27a From Eden Quay Towards Blunden Drive
27x From UCD Belfield To Clare Hall

StreetLight

Same goes for the 76A listed before the 76.

And even though the 25D and 38D are separate routes, you'll only find them within the 25B and 38A/B timetables, respectively.

noelfirl

Their handling of letter suffixes really is arseways.

The number of 'a' routes without a corresponding non-'a' route does my head in, even accepting it makes no substantial difference, and most won't give a toss or notice.

Mrs OBumble

What makes you think there is actually a sort-order being applied here?

I think it's pure co-incidence that 26 is shown immediately after 25.

magicbastarder

noelfirl wrote: »

The number of 'a' routes without a corresponding non-'a' route does my head in

could this be where the original route was discontinued, but the modified route retained?

lil5

It's not just the alphabet or the sort order of the numbers.

It's the numbers on the timetables as well.

On the 7 route they might as well not have any as the departure times seem to have a different meaning in DB then the intended one *

* Buses leave terminus at

noelfirl

magicbastarder wrote: »

could this be where the original route was discontinued, but the modified route retained?

Yes, presumably it is in most, if not all cases. And it makes no real difference either way.

It's mainly just a bit of OCD on my part in that it's messy and haphazard looking. Other bus companies seem to put a bit more effort into not being so when modifying their routes.

Carawaystick

The 17 and 17a Different sides of the Liffey

The 33D - an expresso service - Should have a Y or W suffix, as there's a 33X already.
The 40D is a normal all day and even at weekends service as a counterpoint.

Lots of routes got renumbered in network direct 19(a?) now a 9
It should have been all simplified.

Similarily, if a bus leaving at a certain time takes a detour from the other busses on that route, it should have a different number.

thomasj

Some of their route numbers baffles me. Seems quite messy.

51d and 51x but no 51

46a but no 46

Could do with a tidy up.

coylemj

A lot of older people who use buses don't have access to the internet and simply changing (for example) the 46A to the '46' in order to 'tidy up' the schedule would achieve nothing and discommode a lot of people. Unless the route itself is changing, they leave the number alone, it makes no sense to change it.

StreetLight

Three-digit route numbers should be re-numbered to two digits, e.g. the 123 to 23.
This could then be suffixed with the letter "C" for short workings.

Many a time I've seen people asked to leave a 123 displaying "City Centre" in O'Connell Street because most of them only saw the number 123 and assumed it was going the full distance to Marino.

A numbering tidy-up wouldn't go amiss.

StreetLight

coylemj wrote: »

A lot of older people who use buses don't have access to the internet and simply changing (for example) the 46A to the '46' in order to 'tidy up' the schedule would achieve nothing and discommode a lot of people. Unless the route itself is changing, they leave the number alone, it makes no sense to change it.

They changed 42B to 27A without any change of routing.
The 46A was routed out of Monkstown Farm, yet they left the number alone.

coylemj

StreetLight wrote: »

The 46A was routed out of Monkstown Farm, yet they left the number alone.

And they removed the loop that passed by Stillorgan shopping centre. Both changes were done to facilitate the increase in frequency, it still didn't justify changing the route number for one of the most popular services in the city as 95% or more of the route was not affected.

Stephen15

What's with alpha suffixes that make no sense at all for example the 17 and 17a have no connection whatsoever

Victor

coylemj wrote: »

And they removed the loop that passed by Stillorgan shopping centre. Both changes were done to facilitate the increase in frequency, it still didn't justify changing the route number for one of the most popular services in the city as 95% or more of the route was not affected.

And they changed the city terminus. Three substantial changes and they didn't bother simplifying it.

The problem with suffixes is that it makes it more difficult to convey information to people, especially those with learning or language issues, but everyone else as well.

15
15A
15B
15C
150
151

The last two don't go to Rathmines

It's the same old problem. Dublin Bus think their job is to drive buses, when they are meant to run a bus service.

Belfast system: http://www.translink.co.uk/Documents/Services/metro/metro_schematic.pdf

thomasj

Network direct was meant to be simplifying the network. A restructuring of route could and should have been done as part of the restructure

tabbey

thomasj wrote: »

Some of their route numbers baffles me. Seems quite messy.

51d and 51x but no 51

46a but no 46

Could do with a tidy up.

46A was originally a branch off the 46,which continued along the Bray Road to Cabinteely, and some perhaps to Shankill.

The 46 had a less frequent timetable, and eventually died out.

tabbey

Stephen15 wrote: »

What's with alpha suffixes that make no sense at all for example the 17 and 17a have no connection whatsoever

The 17 & 17A were seen as a sort of mirror image running east- west bypassing the city centre.
However, I agree with you, it must be baffling to newcomers to the city.

Another anomaly for many decades, was the 44 to Enniskerry, 44B branching off to Glencullen, but 44A going to Clontarf, totally unconnected.
I think the 44A was ex GNR, who perhaps had a different numbering system.

bk

StreetLight wrote: »

Three-digit route numbers should be re-numbered to two digits, e.g. the 123 to 23.

Actually the opposite, they need to change all routes to three digit codes, to match up with the change that the NTA made to pretty much every other scheduled bus Service in the country.

Cork - 2xx
Limerick - 3xx
Galway - 4xx
Waterford - 6xx
Intercity Buses - 7xx (Aircoach, Dublin Coach, City Link, etc.)

All quite logical. 1xx series would make sense for Dublin. But the one issue is that Bus Eireann are logically already using 1xx series for their Dublin Region services, which would mean Dublin Bus couldn't just directly copy the routes across. For instance, the DB route 4 couldn't just become the 104 as BE already have that route.

Victor

I don't think there is a particular problem with a large city having a separate numbering system to the rest of a country.

Dublin Bus could easily use 1-99 and leave 100-999 for other operators.

bk wrote: »

Intercity Buses - 7xx (Aircoach, Dublin Coach, City Link, etc.)

The 700-series appear to be Dublin Airport services.

Hotblack Desiato

Don't know if it's still the case, but a few years back in Edinburgh we found out the hard way that a number 3 bus from one bus company isn't the same as a number 3 bus from another company, both going past the same set of adjacent stops. Now that's daft and guaranteed to catch tourists out.