Go-Ahead Dublin City Routes - Updates and Discussion

Stephen15

LorelaiG wrote: »

And leave the already flailing bus service of Mulhuddart behind completely. There's a lot that use the bus to school in Finglas and back every day.

I think the OP means to extend the service to Swords using the same route with an extension to Swords.

dublinman1990

GAI's Twitter account says there are crowding issues happening on the 75 today because of the shops being open for the post Christmas sales.

https://twitter.com/GoAheadIreland/status/1078353631378894849

Did this problem of overcrowding happen before when Dublin Bus previously ran the route up until recently?

john boye

dublinman1990 wrote: »

GAI's Twitter account says there are crowding issues happening on the 75 today because of the shops being open for the post Christmas sales.

https://twitter.com/GoAheadIreland/status/1078353631378894849

Did this problem of overcrowding happen before when Dublin Bus previously ran the route up until recently?

Why do you think the VT's were used? Albeit on normal weekdays and not on days like today.

thomasj

john boye wrote: »

Why do you think the VT's were used? Albeit on normal weekdays and not on days like today.

Same with the 39s I was on a VT on the 39a this evening and was standing at the front doors when we left Blanchardstown centre and it skipped 2 or 3 stops.

Qrt

john boye wrote: »

Why do you think the VT's were used? Albeit on normal weekdays and not on days like today.

75 is quite a busy route. It does way more than it ought to be doing. The 175 is extremely busy during the peak too.

john boye

Qrt wrote: »

75 is quite a busy route. It does way more than it ought to be doing. The 175 is extremely busy during the peak too.

That's what I was saying?

Stephen15

I'm surprised the 75 wasn't made every 20 mins during the week as it's a very busy bus considering the 45a is probably not as busy and it now comes every 20 mins although it isn't as long so it wouldn't require the same amount of buses to work it. Also the 175 should really be more frequent at weekends I don't think hourly is good enough at weekends. I believe the 17 could be in line for an increase to every 20 mins during the week and every half hour at weekends.

As soon as a hint of good weather comes even in early May it will be packed with teenagers from Tallaght going to Dun Laoghaire to go to the 40ft.

AlekSmart

dublinman1990 wrote: »

GAI's Twitter account says there are crowding issues happening on the 75 today because of the shops being open for the post Christmas sales.

https://twitter.com/GoAheadIreland/status/1078353631378894849

Did this problem of overcrowding happen before when Dublin Bus previously ran the route up until recently?

The NTA decision to standardize on a 64 seat Wrights/Volvo combination is rapidly being shown as short sighted,particularly as that lack of capacity was well known when the current specification was being decided upon.

There is now an urgent requirement for high-capacity vehicles,which the NTA may choose to ignore,but that will come at a price in terms of credibility.

thomasj

Is there a reason why Dublin bus are operating a Saturday service today and go ahead a weekday service?

Is that the operating companies that make that decision as opposed to the NTA?

Dravokivich

thomasj wrote: »

Is there a reason why Dublin bus are operating a Saturday service today and go ahead a weekday service?

Is that the operating companies that make that decision as opposed to the NTA?

Dublin bus have been operating all year with more leave accrued for its staff.

I'd expect Go Ahead will be doing something similar next year.

StreetLight

AlekSmart wrote: »

There is now an urgent requirement for high-capacity vehicles,which the NTA may choose to ignore,but that will come at a price in terms of credibility.

And the front-line workers will get it in the neck from an angry public, instead of the paper-shufflers in ivory towers.

Stephen15

AlekSmart wrote: »

The NTA decision to standardize on a 64 seat Wrights/Volvo combination is rapidly being shown as short sighted,particularly as that lack of capacity was well known when the current specification was being decided upon.

There is now an urgent requirement for high-capacity vehicles,which the NTA may choose to ignore,but that will come at a price in terms of credibility.

DB and formerly CIE DCS managed to cope for many years without larger buses for many years until the VTs were introduced in 2005. I think the reason they were introduced was because the DoT had a cap on the amount buses so they went for larger to make for capacity lost by not being able to buy additional buses. London and most UK cities also manage with a fleet of standard size double decker buses.

They were also very good at providing extra capacity during the recession in the Network Direct years when capacity was severely reduced now that the NTA are restoring the fleet levels back to pre recession levels and hopefully more the nessecity of these buses is questioning as they are heavy on tyres and fuel and a standardised fleet is cheaper to maintain than one of multiple different types of buses.

As far as I'm aware the introduction of tri-axle buses in London is not being done with the ambition to increase capacity but rather with the as a cheap solution to replace the white elephant LT class of buses. TfL are already looking looking to replace these due to fare evasion issues with having three door buses. In my view this is as short sighted as buying a custom built spec that only be used by TfL exclusively replacing a smaller three door bus with a larger two door bus and then putting the onus of revenue protection on the driver.

Stephen15

Dravokivich wrote: »

Dublin bus have been operating all year with more leave accrued for its staff.

I'd expect Go Ahead will be doing something similar next year.

Also DB last services NYE 22:00 while GAI are running until 23:30.

john boye

Pretty sure this practice of DB running Saturday service through Christmas is only a recent enough development, it used to be Mon-Fri Times some days between Stephen's Day and new year's up until a few years ago. The Saturday service is probably the right balance for demand though.

Stephen15

john boye wrote: »

Pretty sure this practice of DB running Saturday service through Christmas is only a recent enough development, it used to be Mon-Fri Times some days between Stephen's Day and new year's up until a few years ago. The Saturday service is probably the right balance for demand though.

Also finishing up at 22:00 on NYE is fairly new too I think. It's not great for people who rely routes such the 44b or the 161 which don't run at all on weekends so that's nearly a week without service for them.

Charles Babbage

john boye wrote: »

Pretty sure this practice of DB running Saturday service through Christmas is only a recent enough development, it used to be Mon-Fri Times some days between Stephen's Day and new year's up until a few years ago. The Saturday service is probably the right balance for demand though.

There is probably much reduced demand at 07:00-08:30 period, and the Saturday timetable is usually used by shoppers.

john boye

Stephen15 wrote: »

Also finishing up at 22:00 on NYE is fairly new too I think. It's not great for people who rely routes such the 44b or the 161 which don't run at all on weekends so that's nearly a week without service for them.

Fair point about some of the weekday only routes however most of those are peak-time only and, as above, demand at those hours is much reduced over the Christmas break. Like you say though, that means that those in some areas are basically cut off over Christmas.

punisher5112

Stephen15 wrote: »

Also finishing up at 22:00 on NYE is fairly new too I think. It's not great for people who rely routes such the 44b or the 161 which don't run at all on weekends so that's nearly a week without service for them.

161 your having a laugh I hope.


They still have the 61, 14, 16 which covers most of the route.

44b doesn't carry at all unless schools are on.

Stephen15

punisher5112 wrote: »

161 your having a laugh I hope.


They still have the 61, 14, 16 which covers most of the route.

44b doesn't carry at all unless schools are on.

I thought these services were used by the elderly in Glencullen and Rockbrook.

punisher5112

Stephen15 wrote: »

I thought these services were used by the elderly in Glencullen and Rockbrook.

Very few, they carry hardly anyone at all.

The 161 is pointless to be honest.

dfx-

Qrt wrote: »

75 is quite a busy route. It does way more than it ought to be doing. The 175 is extremely busy during the peak too.

The 75 has always been busy, anyone with any experience of it would know this. The VTs which are on a boat somewhere were great for it, but they can't help now.

Why it is coming as a surprise to the new operator is the latest mystery.

Stephen15

dfx- wrote: »

The 75 has always been busy, anyone with any experience of it would know this. The VTs which are on a boat somewhere were great for it, but they can't help now.

Why it is coming as a surprise to the new operator is the latest mystery.

The 75 was never busy enough to require VTs I firmly believe they were put there as they were lying around as spares in Donnybrook and were going to be in DL anyway for the 46a. The 75 needs better frequency then there'd be less capacity issues. It was only when peak time frequency was made worse this route started getting VTs.

punisher5112

Stephen15 wrote: »

The 75 was never busy enough to require VTs I firmly believe they were put there as they were lying around as spares in Donnybrook and were going to be in DL anyway for the 46a. The 75 needs better frequency then there'd be less capacity issues. It was only when peak time frequency was made worse this route started getting VTs.

They weren't laying spare. They were needed and are still.

Many many occasions and days the 75 were leaving many behind.

Stephen15

punisher5112 wrote: »

They weren't laying spare. They were needed and are still.

Many many occasions and days the 75 were leaving many behind.

I found it coincidental that the VTs only started appearing on the 75 after they made the peak frequency worse though. It was changed from every 20 mins at peak to every 30 mins at peak before it moved to GAI before that VTs were never on the 75. If it's busy they should be making it more frequent as bigger buses is just a stop gap solution.

The stupidest decision is running the 75 via Dundrum Main Street whatever idiot in the NTA thought of that needs their head examined. Was on the 75 the other day got off at Sydenham Road and walked to Dundrum SC and beat the 75 walking from Sydenham Road to Dundrum Main Street ridiculous decision.

dfx-

Stephen15 wrote: »

The 75 was never busy enough to require VTs I firmly believe they were put there as they were lying around as spares in Donnybrook and were going to be in DL anyway for the 46a. The 75 needs better frequency then there'd be less capacity issues. It was only when peak time frequency was made worse this route started getting VTs.

Those VTs were never spare. The NTA dictated that their new smaller buses with all the doors be on the 46A instead.

The 75 didn't have crush loads with VTs. It's not controversial to assert that the passengers of the 75 were better off than they are now with the smaller buses.

Stephen15

dfx- wrote: »

The 75 didn't have crush loads with VTs. It's not controversial to assert that the passengers of the 75 were better off than they are now with the smaller buses.

And still doesn't have crush loads now either. There are routes out there with far more capacity issues than the 75. Look at the likes of the 14, 15, 16 which all suffer from serious capacity issues I'm sure there is others aswell they just seems to be the ones most often mentioned.

punisher5112

Stephen15 wrote: »

And still doesn't have crush loads now either. There are routes out there with far more capacity issues than the 75. Look at the likes of the 14, 15, 16 which all suffer from serious capacity issues I'm sure there is others aswell they just seems to be the ones most often mentioned.

Vt wouldn't be suitable for roads on these routes.

Some bright spark wants double door on route and that's it.

Look at 11s they always had new buses and 14s always had the sh1te it's now totally the opposite.

Stephen15

punisher5112 wrote: »

The dB and gai fleet of sg are pure sh1te.

I don't find them as bad as the EV class myself as a passenger. I find the EVs bad especially upstairs where the grab rails feel very poorly secured and I general feeling that the bus is about to fall apart.

I get the general consensus that most city buses on the market these days are of a general poor build quality due to Euro 6 requirements. You have to remember aswell that most the buses the NTA are buying for DB are built for the UK market where private operators are looking for the most fuel efficient buses and pay little attention to build quality. This can be seen with almost every bus built since the Enviro 400s.

Don't get me wrong I don't think the SGs are brilliant buses or anything. I find the 2016, 2017 and 2018 model are a good bit better than the 2014 and 2015 models which are the worst in my view. The main problem I see with them is they feel very underpowered compared to older buses.

Stephen15

punisher5112 wrote: »

Vt wouldn't be suitable for roads on these routes.

Some bright spark wants double door on route and that's it.

Look at 11s they always had new buses and 14s always had the sh1te it's now totally the opposite.

That's one the main disadvantages of the VTs is their lack of flexibility compared to a standard sized bus which can pretty much operate any route at any time of the day.

Double doors make sense and most drivers seem to be using them now compared to when they were first introduced they are necessary nowadays especially on busy cross city routes. I find though that most GAI operated routes don't require dual doors though as most don't carry large volumes so they were fairly well suited to the remaining single door AXs and EVs.

punisher5112

Stephen15 wrote: »

I don't find them as bad as the EV class myself as a passenger. I find the EVs bad especially upstairs where the grab rails feel very poorly secured and I general feeling that the bus is about to fall apart.

I get the general consensus that most city buses on the market these days are of a general poor build quality due to Euro 6 requirements. You have to remember aswell that most the buses the NTA are buying for DB are built for the UK market where private operators are looking for the most fuel efficient buses and pay little attention to build quality. This can be seen with almost every bus built since the Enviro 400s.

Don't get me wrong I don't think the SGs are brilliant buses or anything. I find the 2016, 2017 and 2018 model are a good bit better than the 2014 and 2015 models which are the worst in my view. The main problem I see with them is they feel very underpowered compared to older buses.

I will admit one nice feature is that the driver can direct the demisters to feet only or split it between windscreen and feet but only issue there is on a freezing night/day is it has a mind of its own and goes ice cold/hot, passenger heaters are the same as having someone blowing towards you from the other side of the room, the sun visors do not hold position at all since 2014 and we are now end of 2018 with many many many complaints and the issues are still there.

Driver seats are absolutely shocking and we now have to be fixed to these for 1hr 30 mins, 2hrs etc

Find a lot of 2018;where the floor doesn't sit right so any movement you think someone has actually fallen down the stairs badly.

Underpowered is an understatement.....

Road holding and handling is shocking bad.

I do not like the non feedback in the steering and it feels like trying to drive a boat.

From being a passenger the seats are terrible, seat spacing terrible, my knees are in pain stuck in or through the seat in front.

So so much more