BusConnects Dublin - Big changes to Bus Network

Shedite27

I see Dublin was covered in local election posters overnight, anyone have a list of which candidates opposed BusConnect? Good chance to tell them our thoughts on the matter.

Dats me

Shedite27 wrote: »

I see Dublin was covered in local election posters overnight, anyone have a list of which candidates opposed BusConnect? Good chance to tell them our thoughts on the matter.

Very needed alright - a good list is available on cyclingforall.ie


It's a list of councilors who have signed up to their "principles" such as 20% of transport spend to go on transport, proper junction design for cycling, segregated routes etc.

fly_agaric

Dats me wrote:

Very needed alright - a good list is available on cyclingforall.ie

Was trying to find that on the website and was not immediately obvious so will post a direct link.
Seems to be here??

MJohnston

Shedite27 wrote: »

I see Dublin was covered in local election posters overnight, anyone have a list of which candidates opposed BusConnect? Good chance to tell them our thoughts on the matter.

Keep an eye on Dublin Inquirer, as they're going to be doing a series of articles about the top questions readers wanted to ask of candidates:
https://dublininquirer.com/2019/04/03/here-s-what-our-readers-want-local-election-candidates-to-talk-about-most

One of the questions is "Improve public transport", so there will be plenty of indicators about BusConnects in their responses.

hardCopy

MJohnston wrote: »

Shedite27 wrote: »

I see Dublin was covered in local election posters overnight, anyone have a list of which candidates opposed BusConnect? Good chance to tell them our thoughts on the matter.

Keep an eye on Dublin Inquirer, as they're going to be doing a series of articles about the top questions readers wanted to ask of candidates:
https://dublininquirer.com/2019/04/03/here-s-what-our-readers-want-local-election-candidates-to-talk-about-most

One of the questions is "Improve public transport", so there will be plenty of indicators about BusConnects in their responses.

They'll all claim to be fans of the concept but have some real concerns about some small tweaks required in several estates in their LEA. Knowing that the cumulative impact of every candidate's "tweaks" would destroy Bus Connects.

Dats me

hardCopy wrote: »

They'll all claim to be fans of the concept but have some real concerns about some small tweaks required in several estates in their LEA. Knowing that the cumulative impact of every candidate's "tweaks" would destroy Bus Connects.

"I'm 100% behind improved bus services and cycling infrastructure, but I have some serious concerns in relation to maintaining the character of (insert soulless street overrun by cars here)"

cgcsb

Dats me wrote: »

Very needed alright - a good list is available on cyclingforall.ie


It's a list of councilors who have signed up to their "principles" such as 20% of transport spend to go on transport, proper junction design for cycling, segregated routes etc.

What's to stop councillors signing up and then voting against a proposal like the Fitwilliam cycle route, saying: 'I have concerns about high speed cyclists and elderly residents"? and that general kind of craic.

Mary Fitzpatrick supports more housing and greater densities but doesn't view a 9 storey development near the proposed Glasnevin Metro/DART/Bus hub as being 'appropriate' for the area.

They are serpents by nature. I have emailed each of my local candidates asking for their views on specific projects.

LeinsterDub

Shedite27 wrote: »

I see Dublin was covered in local election posters overnight, anyone have a list of which candidates opposed BusConnect? Good chance to tell them our thoughts on the matter.

Every FF candidate for starters

XPS_Zero

hardCopy wrote: »

They'll all claim to be fans of the concept but have some real concerns about some small tweaks required in several estates in their LEA. Knowing that the cumulative impact of every candidate's "tweaks" would destroy Bus Connects.

Which is where you tell them the big picture is more important than tweaks, and you say "stop pandering, it looks desperate".

XPS_Zero

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Every FF candidate for starters

Don't make the mistake of assuming because a transport spokesman at national level loves commenting on it because he thinks getting his name out there increases his "profile" means individual candidates will always be on the same page


FF is a broad church party and it's very common for candidates to disagree with the leadership.

LeinsterDub

XPS_Zero wrote: »

Don't make the mistake of assuming because a transport spokesman at national level loves commenting on it because he thinks getting his name out there increases his "profile" means individual candidates will always be on the same page


FF is a broad church party and it's very common for candidates to disagree with the leadership.

I've yet to see a FF candidate in favour of it . In fact they appear to be some of the most vocal in their opposition

Zebra3

My main concern would be having people cycling past a creche.

All right thinking candidates will oppose such lunacy.

loyatemu

Zebra3 wrote: »

My main concern would be having people cycling past a creche.

All right thinking candidates will oppose such lunacy.

is this a serious post?

MJohnston

Poe's Law, invoked.

cgcsb

Zebra3 wrote: »

My main concern would be having people cycling past a creche.

All right thinking candidates will oppose such lunacy.

?????

Zebra3

Relax, folks. :pac:

Qrt

cgcsb wrote: »

?????

It’s a reference to one of FF’s candidates reasons for voting against the South Dublin quietest, cyclists pose a much bigger danger to children than jumped-up SUV huns.

cgcsb

Qrt wrote: »

It’s a reference to one of FF’s candidates reasons for voting against the South Dublin quietest, cyclists pose a much bigger danger to children than jumped-up SUV huns.

Wasnt aware

dublinman1990

A BusConnects CBC meeting video is up on Youtube.

devnull

Implementation dates for the new network has now been pushed back and is expected to happen between January 2021 and December 2023 with planning to take place in 2020.

The revised network when implemented will be done on a phased basis and not the big bang philosophy as advocated by Jarrett Walker will not be followed.

MJohnston

Well that sounds like a politically mandated disaster

devnull

MJohnston wrote: »

Well that sounds like a politically mandated disaster

I'm sure the media are very proud of their efforts

Qrt

devnull wrote: »

Implementation dates for the new network has now been pushed back and is expected to happen between January 2021 and December 2023 with planning to take place in 2020.

The revised network when implemented will be done on a phased basis and not the big bang philosophy as advocated by Jarrett Walker will not be followed.

Is there a source?

Yer Da sells Avon

devnull wrote: »

The revised network when implemented will be done on a phased basis and not the big bang philosophy as advocated by Jarrett Walker will not be followed.

The travelling public are too easily confused for any 'big bang philosophy' to ever work. They can't cope with the slightest change - there are lots and lots of regular bus users out there who pay such little attention to their surroundings that they don't even realise that Dublin Bus and Go Ahead are two separate companies. Then there are others who think that Go Ahead is actually called 'TFI' and is contracted to operate its routes by Dublin Bus.

I had a 'disagreement' with a passenger recently and she told me she was reporting me to Dublin Bus. I told her to 'go ahead' (I suspect that joke was lost on her), and wrote down the GAI fleet number, route number, departure time and my staff number, and told her where to find Dublin Bus' online customer comment form. Her issue, incidentally, was that the previous scheduled bus hadn't turned up. For some reason, she had decided to take her frustration out on the driver of the bus that did turn up, and was shocked and offended when I politely advised her that I am not responsible for the whereabouts of buses other than the one I'm driving. I've also had members of the public jump out in front of my bus, forcing me to stop and explain why I'm driving an 'out of service' bus when their bus didn't turn up.

The slightest change to a route number is enough to completely throw people. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to explain to passengers that the 75A (identical to the 75, except for the fact that it goes via Sandyford Industrial Estate) goes to Tallaght - despite the fact that it says Tallaght on the front. I'm already dreading the new route numbering system because the mouth-breathing imbeciles will inevitably expect bus drivers to spoon-feed them, rather than taking five minutes to read a pamphlet. The general public are incredibly stupid and extremely demanding when it comes to public transport.

Stephen15

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

The travelling public are too easily confused for any 'big bang philosophy' to ever work. They can't cope with the slightest change - there are lots and lots of regular bus users out there who pay such little attention to their surroundings that they don't even realise that Dublin Bus and Go Ahead are two separate companies. Then there are others who think that Go Ahead is actually called 'TFI' and is contracted to operate its routes by Dublin Bus.

Passengers shouldn't know there is a difference between GAI and DB. The fact is both are operating the vast majority of local PSO bus services within the Pale and all should be part of the one joined up system. Similar to the fact that most passengers in London only know TFL and don't know much about GA, Stagecoach, Arriva, Abellio, Metroline etc. It should be the same here with the NTA.

It shouldn't matter who is operating the bus that should be managed by the authority which in this case is the NTA who should be responsible for all passenger information, complaints, lost property, ticketing etc. While operators such GAI should be paid by the NTA to run the buses on their behalf.

I had a 'disagreement' with a passenger recently and she told me she was reporting me to Dublin Bus. I told her to 'go ahead' (I suspect that joke was lost on her), and wrote down the GAI fleet number, route number, departure time and my staff number, and told her where to find Dublin Bus' online customer comment form. Her issue, incidentally, was that the previous scheduled bus hadn't turned up. For some reason, she had decided to take her frustration out on the driver of the bus that did turn up, and was shocked and offended when I politely advised her that I am not responsible for the whereabouts of buses other than the one I'm driving. I've also had members of the public jump out in front of my bus, forcing me to stop and explain why I'm driving an 'out of service' bus when their bus didn't turn up.

While I don't agree her being blaming you as a driver. I do think that the transferral of services from DB to GAI could have been done in a more seamless manner. I think it was poor form the way it was done. The tendering out of 10% of DB routes is something which the NTA had since 2014 to plan and yet there are still issues. While I appreciate that some teething do occur I think the NTA should have took the responsibility and set up a website along with social media update pages for all Dublin Transport services with all timetables, passenger information and service updates being uploaded there.

This would be to replace the IE, Luas and DB websites and GAI services could seemlessly transferred there when they moved from DB.

The slightest change to a route number is enough to completely throw people. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to explain to passengers that the 75A (identical to the 75, except for the fact that it goes via Sandyford Industrial Estate) goes to Tallaght - despite the fact that it says Tallaght on the front. I'm already dreading the new route numbering system because the mouth-breathing imbeciles will inevitably expect bus drivers to spoon-feed them, rather than taking five minutes to read a pamphlet. The general public are incredibly stupid and extremely demanding when it comes to public transport.

I personally believe that information about public transport should be given out in a way that presumes the majority of users are in fact as you mention imbeciles. The PC term would be clear, concise and user friendly look at the London Underground map or most TFL information to see information given out in an 'idiot proof' manner. The makes public transport as easy as possible to use.

sharper

devnull wrote: »

Implementation dates for the new network has now been pushed back and is expected to happen between January 2021 and December 2023 with planning to take place in 2020.

That basically means it won't be happening. Those dates will get pushed out further and the first attempt at a rollout will generate lazy coverage around confused passengers and such-and-such who can't get the bus to where he used to.

cgcsb

devnull wrote: »

Implementation dates for the new network has now been pushed back and is expected to happen between January 2021 and December 2023 with planning to take place in 2020.

The revised network when implemented will be done on a phased basis and not the big bang philosophy as advocated by Jarrett Walker will not be followed.

Where is this coming from? It's basically cancellation of the network redesign.

LeinsterDub

devnull wrote: »

Implementation dates for the new network has now been pushed back and is expected to happen between January 2021 and December 2023 with planning to take place in 2020.

The revised network when implemented will be done on a phased basis and not the big bang philosophy as advocated by Jarrett Walker will not be followed.

If this is the case they may as well not even bother.
This country is a ****ing joke. 7 years to implement a network redesign

devnull

cgcsb wrote: »

Where is this coming from? It's basically cancellation of the network redesign.

Timescales provided by the NTA and also confirmed by the government as part of their climate change tackling proposals.

cgcsb

https://assets.gov.ie/10207/c8f59b1734af460fa310ddbe20e01388.pdf

I see it now, page 48. Yeah it's basically a cancellation of Bus Connects. Walker will be walking away I expect. It puts bus connects beyond the next election and the new government will get NIMBY votes for cancellation.