Bus Eireann Middle Doors or lack of them

Stephen15

Why when the NTA is buying city buses for DB do they buy them with middle doors but not when buying city buses for Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, the town services or the Wrigthbus DDs they bought for use for use on the Dublin commuter routes such as the 103.

bk

Sigh, yes it is pretty silly, just repeating the mistakes made with DB in he past.

But what is even worse IMO is the lack of a right hand side leap card validator and the need to interact with the driver, despite Cork being fundamentally flat fare! * Makes no sense at all.

* Yes I know that strictly speaking there are two zones. But many routes only operate in the inner zone and even on the longer routes, the majority of people are probably inner zone users.

The solution is simple. Install a right hand validator, set it to the inner zone fare, people looking for outer zone fare continue to interact with the driver.

devnull

I'm not aware of passenger numbers in Cork the last year or two, but really is there a lot of people getting off many stops like in Dublin outside the terminus of many routes?

When I was there last it always struck me that the volume of passengers getting on and off a bus outside terminus stations was not really enough to justify middle doors.

What I will agree with though is having a flat fare and no right hand side validator is silly.

Stephen15

bk wrote: »

Sigh, yes it is pretty silly, just repeating the mistakes made with DB in he past.

But what is even worse IMO is the lack of a right hand side leap card validator and the need to interact with the driver, despite Cork being fundamentally flat fare! * Makes no sense at all.

* Yes I know that strictly speaking there are two zones. But many routes only operate in the inner zone and even on the longer routes, the majority of people are probably inner zone users.

The solution is simple. Install a right hand validator, set it to the inner zone fare, people looking for outer zone fare continue to interact with the driver.

Or just remive outer zone fare altogether and have a flat fare no matter where you going on the the Cork city bus network

boardsuser1

The last buses to be in service in Cork with centre doors were the 1999 VWL's.

The centre doors were rarely used and were ceasing up.

They'd be very handy now though.

People going in the 'back doors' was another problem though thus fare avoidance.

Stephen15

devnull wrote: »

I'm not aware of passenger numbers in Cork the last year or two, but really is there a lot of people getting off many stops like in Dublin outside the terminus of many routes?

When I was there last it always struck me that the volume of passengers getting on and off a bus outside terminus stations was not really enough to justify middle doors.

What I will agree with though is having a flat fare and no right hand side validator is silly.

Maybe not on sds but on dds definitely I don't why the vwds dont have them

dfx-

Strangely enough, I'd have thought the 205 and 208 for example would be ideal candidates for middle doors with lots of people getting off at the colleges.

Certainly more than the need on DB where they're not needed for the vast majority of the time (anytime outside the morning peak really) at the vast majority of the stops on the vast majority of the routes but are a shiny 'added extra' for government policy...

WomanSkirtFan8

bk wrote: »

Sigh, yes it is pretty silly, just repeating the mistakes made with DB in he past.

But what is even worse IMO is the lack of a right hand side leap card validator and the need to interact with the driver, despite Cork being fundamentally flat fare! * Makes no sense at all.

* Yes I know that strictly speaking there are two zones. But many routes only operate in the inner zone and even on the longer routes, the majority of people are probably inner zone users.

The solution is simple. Install a right hand validator, set it to the inner zone fare, people looking for outer zone fare continue to interact with the driver.

Absolutely agree with that. The driver's job should be to just drive the bus and not have to worry about having to handle cash fares, Leap Cards, FTPs, etc.

Evil-1

There was an interview with the NTA about two years ago where they mentioned dual door buses in regional cities, they felt there is no need for them at this time but did not rule out using them in the future.

brighterdays

The 304 in Limerick desperately needs these buses. It boggles my mind how it's not already there. You have to wait for every tom, dick and harry to get off before getting on which is lovely in the lashing rain when it's around 0 degrees!

And yes to the validator too. Having to let the driver physically enter your fare goes against the point of using a card in the first place... Honestly. The place is run by morons.

MGWR

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

The last buses to be in service in Cork with centre doors were the 1999 VWL's.

The centre doors were rarely used and were ceasing up.

They'd be very handy now though.

People going in the 'back doors' was another problem though thus fare avoidance.

That would be fare evasion. Fare "avoidance" means legally avoiding having to pay the fare.

The centre doors on the vast majority of US city buses (at least since the advent of the "new look" bus in 1959) have for decades been passenger-operated, where the grab bars on the door open the doors when an exiting passenger pushes on them; once the passenger lets go, the doors close automatically, preventing fare evaders from sneaking on. And it's not like anyone at DB or BE (or even CIE) would be unaware of this kind of operation, even after all these decades.