Dublin Coach

Mortpourvelo

Hi all

Could anyone help ?

I had to get the 3.30am Dublin Coach from Portlaoise to Dublin Airport on Sunday. I was concerned about the clocks going back affecting service and so I check - both on Facebook (via Messenger) and email.

I was told "no, not affecting anything - all services running to timetable". I've both of these replies kept.

At 3.32am on Sunday the incoming coach came in - the passengers getting off told us the driver was going on a break.

I couldn't believe this, but then the driver turned off all the lights (he's across the road at the incoming stop). Ten minutes later he put on the Out of Service sign, and drove off - passing us at the stop.

As I had a flight to catch I had no alternative but to pay for a taxi - I'm now out 130 euro.

Does anyone know - services just aren't allowed to not run like that surely ???

What chances do I have of getting the taxi costs covered ??

Thanks for your time all.

foggy_lad

You should report the lack of timetabled service to the NTA.

you won't get your €130 back but Dublin Coach will be quizzed on the number of services that don't operate per the timetable.

Mortpourvelo

foggy_lad wrote: »

You should report the lack of timetabled service to the NTA.

you won't get your €130 back but Dublin Coach will be quizzed on the number of services that don't operate per the timetable.

Thanks, I won't be letting it go - they can't just decide to take a break when they've passengers to go!!

LXFlyer

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

Thanks, I won't be letting it go - they can't just decide to take a break when they've passengers to go!!

How do you know that particular driver and vehicle were due to operate the next service?

Maybe they take an hour's break at Portlaoise upon arrival? He could have been scheduled on the 04:30 service, and that a different driver/bus could be supposed to do the 03:30 service and was just late?

I don't know - but it may not be as straightforward as you think.

How long did you wait until getting a taxi?

Mortpourvelo

lxflyer wrote: »

How do you know that particular driver and vehicle were due to operate the next service?

Maybe they take an hour's break at Portlaoise upon arrival? He could have been scheduled on the 04:30 service, and that a different driver/bus could be supposed to do the 03:30 service and was just late?

I don't know - but it may not be as straightforward as you think.

How long did you wait until getting a taxi?

Hi

The service runs every hour 24 hours a day, I’ve got services pretty much round the clock to the airport.

The driver told the passengers there was no 3.30am service - they told us there was no 12.30am from the airport either.

Plus I specifically contacted them twice during the previous week to check that specifically the 3.30am service was running. I was told twice that it was. No changes to the service caused by the clocks changing.

I’m afraid it seems as straightforward as a driver not wanted to work the extra hour and deciding to stiff the passengers. Which is absolutely unacceptable.

LXFlyer

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

Hi

The service runs every hour 24 hours a day, I’ve got services pretty much round the clock to the airport.

The driver told the passengers there was no 3.30am service - they told us there was no 12.30am from the airport either.

Plus I specifically contacted them twice during the previous week to check that specifically the 3.30am service was running. I was told twice that it was. No changes to the service caused by the clocks changing.

I’m afraid it seems as straightforward as a driver not wanted to work the extra hour and deciding to stiff the passengers. Which is absolutely unacceptable.

Well from reading that, I would say that the driver was not due to operate the 03:30 service - he was due to operate the 04:30 bus after taking a scheduled break?


Perhaps the vehicle for the 00:30 service from the airport broke down (and 03:30 return) or a driver was unavailable. I don't know.


It's not good, but unfortunately sometimes buses will be cancelled for those reasons.

ted1

lxflyer wrote: »

How do you know that particular driver and vehicle were due to operate the next service?

Maybe they take an hour's break at Portlaoise upon arrival? He could have been scheduled on the 04:30 service, and that a different driver/bus could be supposed to do the 03:30 service and was just late?

I don't know - but it may not be as straightforward as you think.

How long did you wait until getting a taxi?

That's irrelevant, staffing issues are the OPs concern . The absence of a scheduled service is , snd also lack of communication from the closest staff member.

ted1

lxflyer wrote: »

I don't know.
.

Then why comment and try to make excuses ?

LXFlyer

ted1 wrote: »

Then why comment and try to make excuses ?

Woah there - I'm merely pointing out a possible reason for the lack of the service.

The OP was assuming that the arriving bus and driver was going to do the next departure - I was asking how he could be sure of that?

I'm not making "excuses" - just pointing out that things might not be as simple as he thought.

By all means he should follow it up.

devnull

OP - email the company and find out what the issue was.

Posting about it on here without doing it, isn't going to get you an answer.

Vic_08

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

I’m afraid it seems as straightforward as a driver not wanted to work the extra hour and deciding to stiff the passengers. Which is absolutely unacceptable.

That is absolute rubbish. The driver will not have just decided to sneak off for an hour on a whim, he will have been rostered to have had the break.

I don't know the rosters for that route but assuming they return directly from the airport then legally a 45min break would be required before commencing a second trip.

It sounds like the company ran as normal which with an extra hour would mean one return trip not operating on a 25 hour day which Sunday was. To maintain an unbroken hourly schedule they would have had to run an extra return trip.

I would say the main issue was not informing passengers which services were going to be missing.

Nomis21

Vic_08 wrote: »

That is absolute rubbish. The driver will not have just decided to sneak off for an hour on a whim, he will have been rostered to have had the break.

I don't know the rosters for that route but assuming they return directly from the airport then legally a 45min break would be required before commencing a second trip.

It sounds like the company ran as normal which with an extra hour would mean one return trip not operating on a 25 hour day which Sunday was. To maintain an unbroken hourly schedule they would have had to run an extra return trip.

I would say the main issue was not informing passengers which services were going to be missing.

Time to end this 'Daylight Saving' which causes so much grief in the transport industry. The driver was not briefed properly on what to do about it and the boss would be in bed so he did it his way and left you there.

Del2005

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

Hi

The service runs every hour 24 hours a day, I’ve got services pretty much round the clock to the airport.

The driver told the passengers there was no 3.30am service - they told us there was no 12.30am from the airport either.

Plus I specifically contacted them twice during the previous week to check that specifically the 3.30am service was running. I was told twice that it was. No changes to the service caused by the clocks changing.

I’m afraid it seems as straightforward as a driver not wanted to work the extra hour and deciding to stiff the passengers. Which is absolutely unacceptable.

I'm afraid it's more likely the driver had ran out of hours and would have had bigger issues than annoyed passengers if he drove. Unless the company put on an extra bus the chances of the same timetable operating are impossible, most private companies leverage every driving hour possible from their staff, and it looks like the company didn't put on any extra busses.

Nomis21

Del2005 wrote: »

I'm afraid it's more likely the driver had ran out of hours and would have had bigger issues than annoyed passengers if he drove. Unless the company put on an extra bus the chances of the same timetable operating are impossible, most private companies leverage every driving hour possible from their staff, and it looks like the company didn't put on any extra busses.

Digital tachographs that measure drivers hours are programmed for daylight saving but the driver's brain was probably not.

Del2005

Nomis21 wrote: »

Digital tachographs that measure drivers hours are programmed for daylight saving but the driver's brain was probably not.

So a driver can drive for 5.5 without a break, 10 hours in a day or 57 in a week now.

Nomis21

Del2005 wrote: »

So a driver can drive for 5.5 without a break, 10 hours in a day or 57 in a week now.

Think it's 4.5 without a break and 10 hours twice a week, but the working day which includes breaks can be much longer.

Drivers hours laws are very complex and have fortnightly limits and exemptions built in to the rules as well.These rules are supposed to reduce tiredness in drivers but they increase stress by being so complex in my opinion.

Del2005

Nomis21 wrote: »

Think it's 4.5 without a break and 10 hours twice a week, but the working day which includes breaks can be much longer.

Drivers hours laws are very complex and have fortnightly limits and exemptions built in to the rules as well.These rules are supposed to reduce tiredness in drivers but they increase stress by being so complex in my opinion.

What I was trying to get at was that if the driver had just done a 4.5 hour trip, driven for 10 hours in a day(missed that they could do that twice a week) or 56 hours in a week then the digital tacho knowing that the clocks gone back an hour wouldn't allow them to drive legally.

Stressful alright for the crap money and hours but better than what used to happen with lads doing 24+ hours driving, and still are in LGVs. Was talking to some lads at my one and only Drivers CPC and one was saying how he was trying to get into a coach parking bay. There was already a coach there that was making it impossible for him to get it. He asked the driver to move a few meters forward in the bay and the driver said he couldn't as he was on a break and would be fired if the tacho showed him driving on a break.

Mortpourvelo

Had the company not told me straight twice that it was definitely running.

And at 3.30am there aren't any other options. No quarrel if the driver was rostered off - but we need to be told.

I have taken it up btw, so thanks all for the comments.

Nomis21

Del2005 wrote: »

What I was trying to get at was that if the driver had just done a 4.5 hour trip, driven for 10 hours in a day(missed that they could do that twice a week) or 56 hours in a week then the digital tacho knowing that the clocks gone back an hour wouldn't allow them to drive legally.

Stressful alright for the crap money and hours but better than what used to happen with lads doing 24+ hours driving, and still are in LGVs. Was talking to some lads at my one and only Drivers CPC and one was saying how he was trying to get into a coach parking bay. There was already a coach there that was making it impossible for him to get it. He asked the driver to move a few meters forward in the bay and the driver said he couldn't as he was on a break and would be fired if the tacho showed him driving on a break.

The driver in the bay was right. If he was stopped on the road and his card was put into a checking machine, he could lose his licence or at least a big fine. I don't think that these sort of infractions were what the legislation was designed for but that is EU bureaucracy for you.

Del2005

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

Had the company not told me straight twice that it was definitely running.

And at 3.30am there aren't any other options. No quarrel if the driver was rostered off - but we need to be told.

I have taken it up btw, so thanks all for the comments.

As has been shown in the last few posts drivers hours are complex and hard for drivers to understand, you were most likely dealing with someone in the office with no knowledge of the regulations so they assumed that there would be no issue.

I've been working the same shift for over 20 years and have always been bemused how neither the people on days or my family/friends never knew when I was working . A few years ago orders dropped hugely and luckily instead of a P45 I was put on day shift, after a few weeks I'd completely lost track of which shift was in. My company runs 24/7 365, yet every spring forward or fall back new issues are discovered.

The most likely explanation is that the office staff didn't realise that the normal roster wouldn't work for fall back or worse as posted earlier about digital tachos automatically adjusting assumed it would allow drivers do an extra hour . Not much use to you about being down the taxi fare, only thing I can advise is to comb through their operators licence to see what is the procedure for missing scheduled services. The only possible issue I can see is how long you waited after the bus you thought was the 3:30 bus left before you got the taxi, there might have been another bus which was late.

magicbastarder

one question (may have already been answered, if so i missed that) i would have was were you expectig to buy a ticket on the bus, or had you already purchased one?
if you'd purchased one after enquiring as to which buses were running, i suspect (though i'm no lawyer) that you'd have a stronger case, as that would be a clear failure to deliver a service you'd paid for and explicitly asked about.

Mortpourvelo

magicbastarder wrote: »

one question (may have already been answered, if so i missed that) i would have was were you expectig to buy a ticket on the bus, or had you already purchased one?
if you'd purchased one after enquiring as to which buses were running, i suspect (though i'm no lawyer) that you'd have a stronger case, as that would be a clear failure to deliver a service you'd paid for and explicitly asked about.

Hi

Already bought one online - after I asked about the services running.

Confirmation came through 3-4 days before I bought it online.

HydeRoad

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

Hi

Already bought one online - after I asked about the services running.

Confirmation came through 3-4 days before I bought it online.

You were a complete and repeated smartass to someone on a different thread with a problem about Iarnrod Eireann. Suddenly, now, you are the one with a problem, and you are down €130 because of it. Big girl's pants indeed.

Sorry, but it is hard to have any sympathy. Have a think about karma.

Mortpourvelo

HydeRoad wrote: »

You were a complete and repeated smartass to someone on a different thread with a problem about Iarnrod Eireann. Suddenly, now, you are the one with a problem, and you are down €130 because of it. Big girl's pants indeed.

Sorry, but it is hard to have any sympathy. Have a think about karma.

If you can't see the difference between:

1. A service being advertised, and a customer having the good sense to check the service was running - then purchasing a ticket AND then the service failing to arrive

AND

2. Not being able to walk in a straight line and see "14:00 CORK" in red neon

Then I cannot help you.

HydeRoad

Mortpourvelo wrote: »

...Then I cannot help you.

Not looking for your help with anything. Just pointing out, that it is nice to be nice, even online, and when someone is a smartass, it is reassuring to see them get a little kick. Hope your life gets a bit better, and maybe be less sarcastic the next time..