BusAras Issues

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Corca Baiscinn

server down wrote: »

There are far worse bus stations in the world. It’s fairly bright and airy inside.

Ah now,come on, that sounds a bit like Leo and the Homeless Crisis!

rebel456

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

Ah now,come on, that sounds a bit like Leo and the Homeless Crisis!

Because Ireland will always have the worst situation ever? It is ok to compare ourselves internationally. I've been to some pretty grim bus stations throughout Europe, Bus Aras for all its faults is actually fairly decent in comparison.

Corca Baiscinn

rebel456 wrote: »

Because Ireland will always have the worst situation ever? It is ok to compare ourselves internationally. I've been to some pretty grim bus stations throughout Europe, Bus Aras for all its faults is actually fairly decent in comparison.

But we're not responsible for all the grim bus stations elsewhere whereas we are responsible for Bus Aras and as a transport hub in our capital city imo it lets us down. I wouldn't be embarrassed bringing a visitor into Connolly or Heuston to catch a train, (apart from no left luggage) whereas I would be if I were taking them into Bus Aras

yabadabado

The social welfare offices are moving out of the building next year so doubt there will be anything done until that happens.

The whole building needs to be renovated so hopefully work is done when they decide what is happening. It's prime office space .

Patser

yabadabado wrote: »

The social welfare offices are moving out of the building next year so doubt there will be anything done until that happens.

The whole building needs to be renovated so hopefully work is done when they decide what is happening. It's prime office space .

Renovations started on Wednesday, as I said earlier in thread. There are now temporary portaloos outside the building (in corner of yard) as the Gents have been closed off and are currently being completely gutted. Also there are different contractors crawling around the inspecting and preparing to replace the doors, lighting and signage.

So far all the things I've seen suggest a renovation and revamp of what is currently in place as opposed to any sort of new uses - so nothing as regards mezzanine, unused retail units etc.

yabadabado

Sorry missed that part where they had started.
I suppose they will only be so much done especially when BE dont owe the building.

Be interesting to see what happens to the office space.

Del.Monte

Anybody who thinks that Busáras is bad now is lucky that they didn't have to use it in the 1970/80s. As for the toilets.....never been and never will venture there.

rebel456

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

But we're not responsible for all the grim bus stations elsewhere whereas we are responsible for Bus Aras and as a transport hub in our capital city imo it lets us down. I wouldn't be embarrassed bringing a visitor into Connolly or Heuston to catch a train, (apart from no left luggage) whereas I would be if I were taking them into Bus Aras

And we can of course do our best to make Bus Aras attractive and inviting. But your little jibe 'sounds a bit like Leo and the Homeless Crisis!' signifies that Ireland must be different from the rest of the world. We can compare ourselves abroad, to bus terminals in other countries. From experience Bus Aras is not, by far, the worst place I've been to. It's bright and airy. Thankfully the restrooms are getting a much needed spruce up.

What won't change is the menacing feel of the area around Bus Aras, the downtrodden clientele who congregate there. The new toilets will still have blue lights fitted to deter drug the use.

tooManyChoices

That's great news on the renovations and new clients upstairs.

I'd still like to see a hotel. Plenty of demand in the area and while the place might be marmite to Dubs, it is an iconic building in a prime location so will have no trouble attracting punters.

I'm delighted even with it being commercial space. Hopefully it will provide some extra funds and incentive to keep the building well maintained.

yabadabado

tooManyChoices wrote: »

That's great news on the renovations and new clients upstairs.

I'd still like to see a hotel. Plenty of demand in the area and while the place might be marmite to Dubs, it is an iconic building in a prime location so will have no trouble attracting punters.

I'm delighted even with it being commercial space. Hopefully it will provide some extra funds and incentive to keep the building well maintained.

Whatever happens the office space it woukd be great if the top floor was made into a restaurant/bar .Fantastic views from up there and would really look well with the mosaic/wood/marbel all restored .

The Theatre in the basement was rumoured to be getting restored a few years back and maybe that is something that could happen depending on what the gov. do with it after DSP move out.

Del2005

rebel456 wrote: »

What won't change is the menacing feel of the area around Bus Aras, the downtrodden clientele who congregate there. The new toilets will still have blue lights fitted to deter drug the use.

Transport hubs in many countries seem to attract dodgy people. Have seen similar hanging around train stations or bus depots in Europe and the States.

trellheim

did there not use to be a restaurant on the top floor when it opened or am I thinking of somewhere else.

yabadabado

trellheim wrote: »

did there not use to be a restaurant on the top floor when it opened or am I thinking of somewhere else.

Top floor is a staff canteen .Not sure if it was ever open as a public restaurant but may have been originally.

Evil-1

Its hard to know what to do with Busaras, it is a fantastic design thats just been very down at the heel of late, you could pump money into it and restore it to its former glory, but that then leaves you with its other major issue, its lack of space for buses.
I agree that Busaras should be open during hours of bus operation no matter how late, but given Bus Eireann's current financial position its is understandable why it shuts down as early as possible, perhaps more imaginative use of its retail space could pay for longer opening hours?
If the building was not a listed structure then it may have been possible to blow out the ground floor completely and increase the bus spaces by reducing the size of the waiting area and changing the entry exit points for buses, however I doubt planning for such a redesign would be granted.
Moving to a new site altogether has been mentioned several times, but lets be honest here, Busaras is in a prime location and combined with Luas and Connolly across the road its an ideal city center hub, I can not think of another city center location where a bus station of reasonable size would fit that would be as convenient as the Busaras site.
Perhaps going down is the answer despite being insanely expensive a new basement level for buses could be built without disturbing the existing building structure, however the costs involved makes that option the stuff of fantasy.

XPS_Zero

Is it practical to use some of the lower floor space for new commercial spaces? Let BE have the rent and maybe % of the revenue it would help their dire finances.  An O'Brians, a bar a lot of things would make a fortune there.  I know it's a bigger country but I was amazed in London and LA and NY how many commercial spaces they fit into even small stations they're basically shopping centers with transport services.  It would be a great way to stop BE's financial bleeding.
Might take some property transfers between BE and DSP but that's not too complex surely.

bobbyss

XPS_Zero wrote:

I wasn't aware they did that, this is like closing a police station at 9pm, if there are services operational then the building should be open to house the people and keep them warm.

Spent many a morning sitting there waiting for a bus in wintertime. In the freezing cold. The benches are near doors. The doors are invariably left open. There Is no heating in Bus Arus as far as I am aware.

Stephen15

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

But we're not responsible for all the grim bus stations elsewhere whereas we are responsible for Bus Aras and as a transport hub in our capital city imo it lets us down. I wouldn't be embarrassed bringing a visitor into Connolly or Heuston to catch a train, (apart from no left luggage) whereas I would be if I were taking them into Bus Aras

To be fair most bus stations I have been to across Europe are more often than not the poorer cousins of their rail counterparts. The general consensus seems to be fcuk the bus passengers because they are paying less than the rail passengers.

Tbh I'd more worried about the buses running on time than the state of a bus station. Having a large bus station in the first place lets us down and goes to show for the ineffectiveness of our rail system.

yabadabado

Stephen15 wrote: »

To be fair most bus stations I have been to across Europe are more often than not the poorer cousins of their rail counterparts. The general consensus seems to be fcuk the bus passengers because they are paying less than the rail passengers.

Tbh I'd more worried about the buses running on time than the state of a bus station. Having a large bus station in the first place lets us down and goes to show for the ineffectiveness of our rail system.

Busaras isnt exactly big .Always going to need buses no matter how good a rail sytem is.

L1011

XPS_Zero wrote: »

Is it practical to use some of the lower floor space for new commercial spaces? Let BE have the rent and maybe % of the revenue it would help their dire finances.  An O'Brians, a bar a lot of things would make a fortune there.  I know it's a bigger country but I was amazed in London and LA and NY how many commercial spaces they fit into even small stations they're basically shopping centers with transport services.  It would be a great way to stop BE's financial bleeding.
Might take some property transfers between BE and DSP but that's not too complex surely.

It has had more food retail and a bar before - in fact there is a special category of liquor licence on the books just for it!

Padraig Mor

Patser wrote: »

There are port-a-loos after being placed here yesterday, as a stop gap as it's planned to close off the Gents tomorrow and completely gut and replace them.

Start of the proper refurbishment of station hopefully

Came off the bus from Cork on Saturday and popped into the portaloos for a pee.


Jaysis!:eek::eek::eek:


If you thought the old bogs downstairs were bad.........

veryangryman

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Came off the bus from Cork on Saturday and popped into the portaloos for a pee.


Jaysis!:eek::eek::eek:


If you thought the old bogs downstairs were bad.........

Public transport

elperello

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Came off the bus from Cork on Saturday and popped into the portaloos for a pee.


Jaysis!:eek::eek::eek:


If you thought the old bogs downstairs were bad.........

Are they the building site type?

NufcNavan

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

But we're not responsible for all the grim bus stations elsewhere whereas we are responsible for Bus Aras and as a transport hub in our capital city imo it lets us down. I wouldn't be embarrassed bringing a visitor into Connolly or Heuston to catch a train, (apart from no left luggage) whereas I would be if I were taking them into Bus Aras

I wouldn't feel too bad about it.

Ever been to Port Authority in New York?

It is a mega version of Busaras. A humongous kip.

strandroad

NufcNavan wrote: »

I wouldn't feel too bad about it.

Ever been to Port Authority in New York?

It is a mega version of Busaras. A humongous kip.

No point in using US examples in public transport discussions to be fair... It's a horrific country for it.
It's probably one of the reasons we are where we are, we are looking at English speaking countries only while we should be looking at Europe.

NufcNavan

strandroad wrote: »

No point in using US examples in public transport discussions to be fair... It's a horrific country for it.
It's probably one of the reasons we are where we are, we are looking at English speaking countries only while we should be looking at Europe.

Of course. I wouldn't let the crappyness of Busaras off the hook but still, it is funny in a sense that a city as impressive and vast as NYC has one of the worst bus stations I have ever been in.

If you want to kill a few minutes have a read of some of the google reviews for Port Authority. Very amusing.

vectorvictor

elperello wrote: »

Are they the building site type?

I think that would be unfair to building sites - my experience on Sat morning was toilet seat smeared with poo and the contents of a few too many bowels staring back at me. In this day and age a flushable portaloo shouldn't be a huge ask - they would have been better investing in one of these than offering us 4 or 5 pots of ****e.

How they got away with current toilets until now is a mystery - glad health and safety acted eventually.

My understanding is that the gents are being refurbished into the ladies and the ladies will become the gents so us blokes could have portaloos to deal with for a while.

strandroad

NufcNavan wrote: »

Of course. I wouldn't let the crappyness of Busaras off the hook but still, it is funny in a sense that a city as impressive and vast as NYC has one of the worst bus stations I have ever been in.

If you want to kill a few minutes have a read of some of the google reviews for Port Authority. Very amusing.

NYC is crumbling in general when it comes to infrastructure.. this is a very good read:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/nyregion/new-york-subway-system-failure-delays.html

GM228

L1011 wrote: »

It has had more food retail and a bar before - in fact there is a special category of liquor licence on the books just for it!

It's called an Omnibus Station Licence, but it's actually a standard On-Licence, only difference is it is authorised by the Minister for Transport, and yes you are correct it is unique to Busáras.

XPS_Zero

strandroad wrote: »

NYC is crumbling in general when it comes to infrastructure.. this is a very good read:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/nyregion/new-york-subway-system-failure-delays.html

The entire US is crumbling in terms of infrastructure. They are not a country to copy (on any public policy in fact with the odd rare exception). Sure they've great subways etc but even there the NY /Chicago and LA systems in my experience, are not as modern and developed as the ones in western europe