Next stop screens on Bus Eireann

bk

I've complained before about the next stop screens on Dublin Bus in the past and how they are pretty much useless for various reasons * and how I had seen vastly superior screens on buses in Amsterdam years before DB started introducing their screens.

Well I was in Cork a few weeks ago and I was absolutely delighted to see screens similar to the Amsterdam ones on some of the new BE city buses in Cork and they look absolutely brilliant.

They are basically full sized LCD screens that show a wealth of very useful information. The show the current route number, current bus stop name and then the name of the next three stops and finally the name of the destination.

All can be seen at a glance, no scrolling, etc. and allows you to easily see when your stop is coming up and to get up and get ready for it. Brilliant.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see it was in English only, no scrolling to Irish, though perhaps I should keep my mouth shut about that!

I'm absolutely delighted to see screens like these and I hope they are rolled out in Dublin too. Well done NTA/BE

* For those wondering about the problems with the DB screens, they only show you the next upcoming stop. But between switching between Irish first and then English and the closeness of stops in Dublin, I've often seen them not even have time to display the next stop before the bus has wizzed by it, specially with people sitting up stairs. They are almost useless.

The screens on these BE services are much better as they give you plenty of time to see your stop coming as they display the next 4 stops at the same time, which gives you plenty of time to get downstairs, etc.

devnull

I saw them in Limerick and unfortunately I found them highly unreliable, often not working or showing the wrong stops and also getting confused which stop they were at.

bk

devnull wrote: »

I saw them in Limerick and unfortunately I found them highly unreliable, often not working or showing the wrong stops and also getting confused which stop they were at.

That is disappointing to hear, they worked perfectly on the routes that I was on in Cork.

Perhaps their is something in the air in Limerick that throws the GPS off

It sounds more like the driver not entering the correct route details in the system. These sort of systems should be pretty simply and straight forward these days. Anyone can do it on their own phone using the Moovit app.

Peregrine

I found them to be good enough in Limerick to be honest. They were on the VWDs.

LeinsterDub

bk wrote: »

.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see it was in English only, no scrolling to Irish, though perhaps I should keep my mouth shut about that!

English only won't last long and rightly so. There is plenty of time to display the information in both languages.

horseburger

bk wrote: »

I've complained before about the next stop screens on Dublin Bus in the past and how they are pretty much useless for various reasons * and how I had seen vastly superior screens on buses in Amsterdam years before DB started introducing their screens.

Well I was in Cork a few weeks ago and I was absolutely delighted to see screens similar to the Amsterdam ones on some of the new BE city buses in Cork and they look absolutely brilliant.

They are basically full sized LCD screens that show a wealth of very useful information. The show the current route number, current bus stop name and then the name of the next three stops and finally the name of the destination.

All can be seen at a glance, no scrolling, etc. and allows you to easily see when your stop is coming up and to get up and get ready for it. Brilliant.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see it was in English only, no scrolling to Irish, though perhaps I should keep my mouth shut about that!

I'm absolutely delighted to see screens like these and I hope they are rolled out in Dublin too. Well done NTA/BE

* For those wondering about the problems with the DB screens, they only show you the next upcoming stop. But between switching between Irish first and then English and the closeness of stops in Dublin, I've often seen them not even have time to display the next stop before the bus has wizzed by it, specially with people sitting up stairs. They are almost useless.

The screens on these BE services are much better as they give you plenty of time to see your stop coming as they display the next 4 stops at the same time, which gives you plenty of time to get downstairs, etc.

I don't know if the screens you are speaking about are newer type screens, but screens, showing the next few upcoming stops, have been in use on the Bus Éireann 109 for a good few years, over three years. I noticed, around three years ago, that Kilcarne Bridge is spelt Kilcarn Bridge, on the display.

On the double decker 109 services, they are usually located on the left hand side of the bus, in front of the luggage bay.

This is the type of display that is used on the 109. Is this the type of display you are referencing?
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7679/17030353767_d78b39abb4_b.jpg

Padraig Mor

bk wrote: »

That is disappointing to hear, they worked perfectly on the routes that I was on in Cork.

Don't use buses here in Cork too frequently, but would note that the timing on those screens seemed hopelessly inaccurate - i.e. the 'x minutes to these stops' was way off, at least at off peak hours.

devnull

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Don't use buses here in Cork too frequently, but would note that the timing on those screens seemed hopelessly inaccurate - i.e. the 'x minutes to these stops' was way off, at least at off peak hours.

I pretty much noticed that as well in Limerick sone of the timings hugely overestimated the times and others hugely underestimated, although it was about 9 months ago that I was there so maybe it has changed by now.

There was also a strange issue with the displays changing direction before the last stop which was very confusing, is this what happens when the driver changes the ticket machine / LED display destination to inbound before completing the outbound journey I wonder?

bk

horseburger wrote: »

This is the type of display that is used on the 109. Is this the type of display you are referencing?
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7679/17030353767_d78b39abb4_b.jpg

Yup, that is exactly it and looks great IMO.

I had heard that BE has had them a while, just hadn't had the pleasure of seeing them now and surprised no one else had mentioned them!

Hopefully DB and GA will get them too.

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Don't use buses here in Cork too frequently, but would note that the timing on those screens seemed hopelessly inaccurate - i.e. the 'x minutes to these stops' was way off, at least at off peak hours.

Sure, I wouldn't take too much note of the timings. But still great to know that your stop is coming up in three stops. WAY better then on DB.

I'd love to see screens like these on DART and Luas too.