Bus Eireann No Show

dan185

So my missus was due to get the 2 back home this evening. Got to the Leeson St, Mespil Rd stop at midnight and the bus to arrive at 00:30. Waited until just before 1:30 and still no sign of it

I've been contacting Bus Eireann on twitter during this and they don't seem to know their arse from their elbow - pushing me to links that are out of service and asking me if the bus has arrived yet

So, Friday night in the early hours and no other means of getting to Arklow from Dublin, she has had to jump in a taxi which will cost €100+ (she's still in it right now).

Is there any recourse for such? An agency or board to complain to as well as Bus Eireann?

bobbyss

I feel your pain. No office hours at that time. I don't do Twitter but are you saying you can contact BE through Twitter at that time?

In any event I am wondering what kind of result you will get. Do keep us posted.

liger

Seen it happen before. New driver went up the mount st/Vincent hospital route.

corroonb

Is Bus Eireann cancelling buses without changing the timetables?

This has happened to me twice in recent weeks on the 109 route in Navan. This morning the 8.05 bus vanished. No show after 40 mins. This is Sunday morning and there's virtually no traffic on the roads so the driver probably just skipped the stop. Previously a couple of weeks ago the Saturday bus at 9.50 on the same route also vanished. No explanation from the next driver either.

dan185

I wish we had the choice of the next bus. This was the last one of the evening.

Lodged a complaint over the weekend.

LXFlyer

First complain to Bus Eireann and then if you do not receive a satisfactory response, follow up with the NTA.

For reference from tomorrow night Wexford Bus will have a bus leaving Dublin Airport at 01:00 and Lower Merrion St in Dublin at 01:20 for the summer months each night. It will also serve their stops at Upper Leeson St and UCD, and then set down from Arklow to Wexford.

Their timetable is at www.wexfordbus.com

bobbyss

corroonb wrote: »

Is Bus Eireann cancelling buses without changing the timetables?

This has happened to me twice in recent weeks on the 109 route in Navan. This morning the 8.05 bus vanished. No show after 40 mins. This is Sunday morning and there's virtually no traffic on the roads so the driver probably just skipped the stop. Previously a couple of weeks ago the Saturday bus at 9.50 on the same route also vanished. No explanation from the next driver either.

Surely he is not allowed to do that?

LXFlyer

bobbyss wrote: »

Surely he is not allowed to do that?

Of course they aren't - unless there is a diversion, buses must serve all scheduled stops.

bobbyss

lxflyer wrote: »

Of course they aren't - unless there is a diversion, buses must serve all scheduled stops.

I thought so. Without a legitimate excuse the drive would (should) be sacked.

LXFlyer

bobbyss wrote: »

I thought so. Without a legitimate excuse the drive would (should) be sacked.

We don't what happened - maybe the bus did not operate at all due to a mechanical defect or a driver not being available.

I wouldn't make any assumption.

bobbyss

lxflyer wrote: »

We don't what happened - maybe the bus did not operate at all due to a mechanical defect or a driver not being available.

I wouldn't make any assumption.

Correct. There has to be a solid explanation.

In this day and age you would expect some way of informing people of a circumstance like withdrawal of services, breakdowns etc. As above, I don't know anything about Twitter but some App or Internet thing that is live and current especially late night services where customers have few options.

corroonb

lxflyer wrote: »

We don't what happened - maybe the bus did not operate at all due to a mechanical defect or a driver not being available.

I wouldn't make any assumption.

I've sent an email to their customer care email asking for an explanation.

It would help if they would use the display at the stop to provide information when a bus isn't operating.

I'll add a post if/when I hear from them.

corroonb

The difficulties experienced by you are unfortunate. I have examined this matter and wish to inform you that our records indicate that the service in question failed to operate due to operational difficulties on 4th June, 2017. Bus Éireann must operate in a difficult financial environment and at present. We share your frustration in this matter and I have brought your comments to the attention of our Regional Operations Supervisor and requested that he continue to monitor this service and I would like to assure you that every effort will be made to provide the best possible services to passengers at all times, within the resources available to us.

I got the above response to my complaint. It looks like they can't afford to run the service at 8.05 am on Sunday.

LXFlyer

corroonb wrote: »

I got the above response to my complaint. It looks like they can't afford to run the service at 8.05 am on Sunday.

I would read that as the driver didn't show up for work for whatever reason (illness etc.) and that they weren't unable to source a replacement internally, and that, due to their ongoing financial issues, were not in a position to replace the bus by a hired in bus (there is a ban on short-term hire-ins). Hence the bus didn't operate.

It's not good either way.

They need to be able to communicate cancelled services to customers - it's not good enough leaving them in the dark.

L1011

Does "operational difficulties" told the same euphemistic meaning in BE as IR?

LXFlyer

L1011 wrote: »

Does "operational difficulties" told the same euphemistic meaning in BE as IR?

It either means - no bus was available or no driver was available.

dan185

They have responded saying the bus was being operated by a private operator hired in and that if said "on hire to bus eireann" on it. And nobody flagged it down so the driver didn't stop.

Which my missus says is true. Except it didn't say bus eireann, it said "on hire" only. So at 00.30 she should be flagging down a bus that she doesn't know the operator nor has any indication of where it was going to. Just on the off chance it might actually be on hire for Bus Eireann and heading to Arklow.

We need to escalate this further and would appreciate any feedback.