Go-Ahead Dublin City Routes - Updates and Discussion

Weepsie

Currently on a go ahead bus. Never had a driver mount so many kerbs in my entire life (220 route)

CramCycle

youknowitstrue wrote: »

84X-25 complaints

A side note to the thread but I imagine the 84X gets few complaints from customers, despite being some of the rudest drivers I and many people I work with have ever met. They don't complain though because the 84X cares little for speed limits or basic road manners. Commuters care about getting home ASAP and it achieves that at the expense of everything else. I always thought it a weird one. 145 drivers, typically the best you will find (in my experience, not always I will admit), the 84X, it is as if their jobs depended on getting from A to B with scant regard for the law ASAP was the only thing worth getting up in the morning for.

Yer Da sells Avon

CramCycle wrote: »

A side note to the thread but I imagine the 84X gets few complaints from customers, despite being some of the rudest drivers I and many people I work with have ever met. They don't complain though because the 84X cares little for speed limits or basic road manners. Commuters care about getting home ASAP and it achieves that at the expense of everything else. I always thought it a weird one. 145 drivers, typically the best you will find (in my experience, not always I will admit), the 84X, it is as if their jobs depended on getting from A to B with scant regard for the law ASAP was the only thing worth getting up in the morning for.

There are one or two very rude drivers on that route. It's nowhere near as quick as it used to be either. I think a lot of complaints about the 84X are from people travelling to Greystones/Kilcoole being left stranded at bus stops in the evenings because the bus is full of people only going as far as Stillorgan, Foxrock, Loughlinstown, etc. To be fair, there's not a lot that Dublin Bus can do about that - but there's a new timetable from next week, which might make a difference.

Joker2019

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

There are one or two very rude drivers on that route. It's nowhere near as quick as it used to be either. I think a lot of complaints about the 84X are from people travelling to Greystones/Kilcoole being left stranded at bus stops in the evenings because the bus is full of people only going as far as Stillorgan, Foxrock, Loughlinstown, etc. To be fair, there's not a lot that Dublin Bus can do about that - but there's a new timetable from next week, which might make a difference.

Could make the route set down only from Louglinstown onwards

CramCycle

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

There are one or two very rude drivers on that route. It's nowhere near as quick as it used to be either. I think a lot of complaints about the 84X are from people travelling to Greystones/Kilcoole being left stranded at bus stops in the evenings because the bus is full of people only going as far as Stillorgan, Foxrock, Loughlinstown, etc. To be fair, there's not a lot that Dublin Bus can do about that - but there's a new timetable from next week, which might make a difference.

To be fair, I met a nice and good driver on that route the other day, it kinda threw me. Certainly not only one or two. Could they institute a non drop off policy until after Shankill like Aircoach does? Probably impossible to actually run though.

thenightman

I thought all the 'X' routes only pick up in/around the city and then drop at 5 or 6 stops only. I get the 69x regularly and last pick up is at Heuston Station and next drop off is on the Naas Road. The regular drivers stick to it religiously, pointing out that it's an X route and that people pay extra for it whenever someone feigns ignorance of the X and asks driver to stop in Kilmainham or Inchicore.

New drivers are hit and miss, but I always say it to them (politely) that it's not supposed to stop at every stop and it defeats the purpose of the X route if it does.

.G.

Another GAI double deck going to be out of action for a while. A bin truck drove into the back of it

https://twitter.com/DubFireBrigade/status/1187301483383013376?s=19

dublinman1990

Was that bus on the 75 today?

CramCycle

thenightman wrote: »

I thought all the 'X' routes only pick up in/around the city and then drop at 5 or 6 stops only. I get the 69x regularly and last pick up is at Heuston Station and next drop off is on the Naas Road. The regular drivers stick to it religiously, pointing out that it's an X route and that people pay extra for it whenever someone feigns ignorance of the X and asks driver to stop in Kilmainham or Inchicore.

New drivers are hit and miss, but I always say it to them (politely) that it's not supposed to stop at every stop and it defeats the purpose of the X route if it does.

It should be but the 84X drops a ton of people off in Cabinteely quite regularly, people who could have gotten other buses, and which they then have extra 84X to facilitate. Although it would be very difficult to run a pick up only on that route as so many people further down the line need it to get home.

punisher5112

CramCycle wrote: »

It should be but the 84X drops a ton of people off in Cabinteely quite regularly, people who could have gotten other buses, and which they then have extra 84X to facilitate. Although it would be very difficult to run a pick up only on that route as so many people further down the line need it to get home.

84x isn't meant to stop there...

CramCycle

punisher5112 wrote: »

84x isn't meant to stop there...

Sorry when I say Cabinteely, I meant the end closer to Cornelscourt SC, although i have seen it stop to let alot less people off at the other end closer to the northern end on the N11.

Not sure of the rules but it seems odd that there would not be more 145/155 to service these two stops and let the 84X continue with pick ups only and drop offs once you get past loughlinstown roundabout.

Joker2019

.G. wrote: »

Another GAI double deck going to be out of action for a while. A bin truck drove into the back of it

https://twitter.com/DubFireBrigade/status/1187301483383013376?s=19

Well I don't think that one can be blamed on poor driving by GAI which I believe is nonsense as anytime I've been on a GAI bus I can't say the standard of driving has been any worse than DB. As for the bus being off the road there's always going be a certain amount of buses off the road at any given time whether it be because of mechanical issues, accident damage or vandalism such as stone throwing.

LastStop

CramCycle wrote: »

145 drivers, typically the best you will find (in my experience, not always I will admit), the 84X, it is as if their jobs depended on getting from A to B with scant regard for the law ASAP was the only thing worth getting up in the morning for.

That's funny because most of the 84x route is on the 145 duty roster so they should be same drivers.

In the evening the 84x is usually the last run the driver will do so the quicker they get to wicklow the quicker they get back to garage and home. That will all change soon enough when DB bring in timing points like GAI have.

CramCycle

LastStop wrote: »

That's funny because most of the 84x route is on the 145 duty roster so they should be same drivers.

In the evening the 84x is usually the last run the driver will do so the quicker they get to wicklow the quicker they get back to garage and home. That will all change soon enough when DB bring in timing points like GAI have.

Really, I wonder what is the difference, are the 84X drivers under huge pressure from the garage. I have met the odd really good 84X driver and the occasional bad 145 driver but typically it 145 = good, 84X = bad.

punisher5112

CramCycle wrote: »

Really, I wonder what is the difference, are the 84X drivers under huge pressure from the garage. I have met the odd really good 84X driver and the occasional bad 145 driver but typically it 145 = good, 84X = bad.

No pressure some just drive as hard as possible as it's such a long run out and then getting back to the garage...

Driving on the motorway stuck at 65km/h is depressing.

CramCycle

punisher5112 wrote: »

No pressure some just drive as hard as possible as it's such a long run out and then getting back to the garage...

Driving on the motorway stuck at 65km/h is depressing.

Doesn't really explain them cutting up other road users and punishment passes. There is a real bad streak in some of them or a simple non caring. I find it hard to believe they are the same drivers.

mia_malkova

CramCycle wrote: »

. 145 drivers, typically the best you will find (in my experience, not always I will admit), the 84X, it is as if their jobs depended on getting from A to B with scant regard for the law ASAP was the only thing worth getting up in the morning for.

CramCycle wrote: »

Really, I wonder what is the difference, are the 84X drivers under huge pressure from the garage. I have met the odd really good 84X driver and the occasional bad 145 driver but typically it 145 = good, 84X = bad.

Its the same drivers, the 84x and 145 are on the same roster.
They are all 145 drivers and a few of their duties do 84x

punisher5112

mia_malkova wrote: »

Its the same drivers, the 84x and 145 are on the same roster.
They are all 145 drivers and a few of their duties do 84x

Not all. There are a few extra works.

CramCycle

Must simply be the pressure on the route or the subset of drivers. Possibly the 145 being so frequent but there is a noticeable difference to me and others I work with or live beside have commented on it.

punisher5112

One thing I've heard a lot from drivers is many people are treating it exactly like the dart as there is no interaction with the driver....

Joker2019

CramCycle wrote: »

Must simply be the pressure on the route or the subset of drivers. Possibly the 145 being so frequent but there is a noticeable difference to me and others I work with or live beside have commented on it.

I don't see why they would be worse. It's similar in length to other cross city routes such as the likes of the 44 or 155 and I don't think drivers are any worse on those two routes. There are some bad drivers out there don't get me wrong like in all walks of life and jobs but that's not to say the majority of DB and GAI drivers do an excellent job under some challenging circumstances such as traffic, anti social behaviour and crappy duties.

dublinman1990

I was trying to get the 114 at Blackrock this evening. I observed some misinformation at the RTPI board at Blackrock Station. It did not have the RT departures for the 17 & 114 displayed on it. It instead displayed a message that the next departure from there was at midnight for the 17 to Blackrock. I thought that was a bit of a joke because I then walked up to the next stop up to Carysfort Avenue. Two of the other RTPI boards in Blackrock hadn't any info on the 17 or the 114 on them.

The times from Dublin Bus came on them without any problems. I thought this was a little bit strange to highlight this stuff happening today. This lack of information on the RTPI boards at Blackrock wasn't too much of an issue for the GAI routes afterwards though because both the 17 & 114 eventually turned up on time this evening.

I did wait quite a while for the 114. My waiting time was about 40 minutes. I got it from Carysfort Avenue just after 17:50.

While I was on the bus; there was some communication going on between the driver & from GAI's control centre at Ballymount to ask why was there issues with the RTPI not coming up on their bus services today. The reply which came back from control centre was that because there was diversions in place all over Dublin today because of the Dublin City Marathon. Your man from control centre also said to the driver that he should try to run the bus service on time for the rest of your shift on that route this evening & to report back to control if the driver had problems with maintaining the schedule.

I had also seen some official signage from GAI before you go up the staircase inside the bus. I didn't read the signage because I only glanced at it.

With of the diversions going on in some parts of Dublin because of the marathon; was the 114 able to run a full service while the 17 was off for sometime earlier today?

Also; was the RTPI able to work properly throughout the rest of Dublin for GAI today?

john boye

I'm not sure what that post is even about.

CramCycle

Joker2019 wrote: »

I don't see why they would be worse. It's similar in length to other cross city routes such as the likes of the 44 or 155 and I don't think drivers are any worse on those two routes. There are some bad drivers out there don't get me wrong like in all walks of life and jobs but that's not to say the majority of DB and GAI drivers do an excellent job under some challenging circumstances such as traffic, anti social behaviour and crappy duties.

Possibly the 145 drivers are not under as much pressure due to frequency?

Joker2019

CramCycle wrote: »

Possibly the 145 drivers are not under as much pressure due to frequency?

The 84x is every 10 mins and if there is a 145 or 155 missing there can be more 84x than 145/155. Also the 84x doesn't tend to be full either I see it most mornings and I don't even see people standing on it most days.

dublinman1990

john boye wrote: »

I'm not sure what that post is even about.

I was trying to point out that, because the Dublin City Marathon was taking place in Dublin this morning, there was some confusion occurring in the RTPI system later on in the evening when GAI were running their bus services from Blackrock. There was no restrictions at all with buses going in or out of Blackrock Station this evening. All of GAI's buses were running on schedule without curtailments from there.

Although there were some issues with GAI real time departures not appearing at all on the real time bus stop displays in Blackrock this evening. The same issues happened with Dublin Bus as well earlier today as the RTPI information was not available on their apps or on their website because of rolling diversions taking place due to the Dublin City marathon. But the Dublin Bus real time had returned to normal after the marathon was finished in the City Centre.

The route of the Dublin City marathon usually runs along some of the 17 route from the N11 at Fosters Avenue right up to the Clonskeagh Mosque.

There were two other GAI routes affected by the diversions from the marathon today. They were the 18 & 175.

I asked a question about the 114 route running a full service today because that route's timetable is now integrated with the 17 at Blackrock. When I arrived at Blackrock Station just after 17:10 today. There were no buses available when I got there. I then read the RTPI board at the station which gave me the misleading message that the bus service not running from Blackrock Station until the 17 got into Blackrock at midnight. That message was still wrong because the Go-Ahead bus services did not have those restrictions at all.

On Go-Ahead Ireland's twitter account; I read 3 tweets that the diversions for the 17, 18 & 175 were meant to be in place from 8am to 7pm tonight. But they did not happen as these restrictions had stopped earlier in the day for the 17. I was waiting for the 114 near PTSB in Blackrock for about 35 minutes. A 17 bus to Rialto had made a stop there to pick up passengers at 17:43. An 84 to Newcastle arrived at that stop 2 minutes later. And 5 minutes after that the 114 arrived at the stop to allow me get dropped up at St Augustine's School at the top of Carysfort Avenue.

There were also diversions in place for some Dublin bus routes today which run on the N11. The 46a, 47, 145 & 155 were all diverted through Mount Merrion Avenue, Rock Road, Booterstown, Merrion Gates, Sandymount, Irishtown & Ringsend going either to or from the City Centre.

Joker2019

I drove past an RTPI screen today and it wasn't displaying any times for either DB or GAI routes. It said to check the DB or TFI website for service info or something along those lines.

dashcamdanny

CramCycle wrote: »

Possibly the 145 drivers are not under as much pressure due to frequency?

This is what I dont understand. Drivers are employed to drive in a safe manner at a modest pace. There is no controller in DB who will book you for being late. There should be no pressure. And you will get paid for late breaking.

You may get in hot water for being early, but you can be late a 1000 times as long as you get everyone there safely. This is where many laps are dropped. Not enough time in the duty bills.

If you have an accident for driving too fast you will look very guilty. SO its silly to even try and stick to end times. Just drive to the conditions.

Phat Cat

I was at Dún Laoghaire station this morning and the 63 due at 8:25am never showed up. I had no choice but to wait for the next one at 9:05am, that never showed up either. Finally the 9:30am bus showed up, so that's over an hour wait at a peak time! That's an absolutely deplorable service and totally unacceptable even by Go-Ahead's very low standards.

punisher5112

Phat Cat wrote: »

I was at Dún Laoghaire station this morning and the 63 due at 8:25am never showed up. I had no choice but to wait for the next one at 9:05am, that never showed up either. Finally the 9:30am bus showed up, so that's over an hour wait at a peak time! That's an absolutely deplorable service and totally unacceptable even by Go-Ahead's very low standards.

I hope you contacted them and the NTA.