Galway's traffic issues

Ashleigh1986

xckjoo wrote: »

As someone that regularly takes the bus to work I can say that the quality of the buses and drivers is fine, rates are fine, and in the morning the times are accurate. I use the Real-Time App on my phone and am fairly happy with it. The only thing I recommend is to get there a few mins early as they are sometimes ahead.

Once again though, the punctuality of the buses is completely dependant on the volume of traffic on the road since there's so few bus lanes. Going home in the evening I can see the difference. The buses are coming from busier roads so are often delayed.

There's no real delay getting onto the bus either. Nothing I've ever felt bothered by anyway.
In today's world .... Fine doesn't do .
That's why again go bus / city link have taken bus eireanns work .
They are excellent .... Leaving fine in the shade .
Fine .... Isn't going to get people out of their cars to use a fine bus service .

xckjoo

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

In today's world .... Fine doesn't do .
That's why again go bus / city link have taken bus eireanns work .
They are excellent .... Leaving fine in the shade .
Fine .... Isn't going to get people out of their cars to use a fine bus service .

Lord above.

Gobus and Citylink took the times to get to Dublin from 3-4 hours on Bus Eireann to 2.5hrs and gave you buses with toilets on them. Thats why they became successful. They aren't "excellent". It's a bloody intercity bus, not some luxury service.

Most people put up with an awful commute sitting in their car staring at brake lights. Fine would be an improvement.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

You clearly have no idea what proportion of the population don't even have a bank account.

I would say the number of over 18's without a bank account is absolutely tiny, totally insignificant and not even worth considering in the conversation. I would say even the majority of children and younger teens would have a bank account now though possibly not a debit card.

No reason debit card and leap card could not be an option though to cover both bases.

Ashleigh1986

Ha ha ha ....so you think sticking a toilet on a bus has made go bus / citylink successful ???
Brilliant .... You must have done a business degree in university ?

xckjoo

xckjoo wrote: »

Lord above.

Gobus and Citylink took the times to get to Dublin from 3-4 hours on Bus Eireann to 2.5hrs and gave you buses with toilets on them. Thats why they became successful. They aren't "excellent". It's a bloody intercity bus, not some luxury service.

Most people put up with an awful commute sitting in their car staring at brake lights. Fine would be an improvement.

The motorway was the biggest factor in enabling fast bus transit between Galway and Dublin. Ok it took them to companies to actually put on the direct busses but without the motorway they would be a lot slower.

Kingp35

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

You clearly have no idea what proportion of the population don't even have a bank account.

Also about the needs of children. A city I know well tried using debt style cards which could be used for small convenience store purchases too. Absolute disaster: kids used the whole week's bus money to buy sweets on Monday.

The fact that someone doesn't have a bank account is their own problem.

Two incredibly weak excuses for holding everyone else back.

Ashleigh1986

If your going to have bus stops every 200 yards .... Your not going to provide a fast service when taking cash .
Some people on here haven't a clue what an excellent service is .
They're to long dealing with mediocrity .
That wont get people out of their cars .

xckjoo

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

Ha ha ha ....so you think sticking a toilet on a bus has made go bus / citylink successful ???
Brilliant .... You must have done a business degree in university ?

So if you had the choice between 3-4 hours of a trip with no toilet and a 2.5hr trip with a toilet you'd pick the former?

In one response you're ranting about "excellent" service being needed and then the next you're laughing at the idea that someone would pick a method of transport that provides a toilet on a multi hour trip over the one that doesn't. Brilliant indeed.

Ashleigh1986

xckjoo wrote: »

So if you had the choice between 3-4 hours of a trip with no toilet and a 2.5hr trip with a toilet you'd pick the former?

In one response you're ranting about "excellent" service being needed and then the next you're laughing at the idea that someone would pick a method of transport that provides a toilet on a multi hour trip over the one that doesn't. Brilliant indeed.

My point is and your well aware of it ....
GOBUS and citylink are hugely successful because of a number of things .
One of which is having toilet facilities .
It would be extremely foolish to ignore ALL THE OTHER REASONS .
Bus eireann aren't in the same league as these bus providers in so many ways .
Anyone that can't see that is dealing with mediocrity .

ben.schlomo

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

xckjoo wrote: »

So if you had the choice between 3-4 hours of a trip with no toilet and a 2.5hr trip with a toilet you'd pick the former?

In one response you're ranting about "excellent" service being needed and then the next you're laughing at the idea that someone would pick a method of transport that provides a toilet on a multi hour trip over the one that doesn't. Brilliant indeed.

My point is and your well aware of it ....
GOBUS and citylink are hugely successful because of a number of things .
One of which is having toilet facilities .
It would be extremely foolish to ignore ALL THE OTHER REASONS .
Bus eireann aren't in the same league as these bus providers in so many ways .
Anyone that can't see that is dealing with mediocrity .

Out of interest what are these other reasons which make them such an "excellent" service.

xckjoo

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

My point is and your well aware of it ....
GOBUS and citylink are hugely successful because of a number of things .
One of which is having toilet facilities .
It would be extremely foolish to ignore ALL THE OTHER REASONS .
Bus eireann aren't in the same league as these bus providers in so many ways .
Anyone that can't see that is dealing with mediocrity .

Bus Eireann is a statutory corporation (or at least CIE is). Part of the reason Citylink leap frogged Bus Eireann in Galway-Dublin trips is that they aren't required to provide services to all those small towns along the way like Bus Eireann are. They're the only company that would provide the level of service you're talking about. Private companies will not fill the gap if that's what you're talking about. They're also legally required to respond to complaints, etc. Which is nice in this day and age.

Ashleigh1986

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Out of interest what are these other reasons which make them such an "excellent" service.

(1) modern fleet

(2) professional drivers ... Well dressed ...courteous ....safe drivers
(3) clean buses
(4) free wi fi on board
(5) excellent frequently
(6) on board toilets
(7) good rates
.... A lot that bus eireann and its staff could learn from

Ashleigh1986

xckjoo wrote: »

Bus Eireann is a statutory corporation (or at least CIE is). Part of the reason Citylink leap frogged Bus Eireann in Galway-Dublin trips is that they aren't required to provide services to all those small towns along the way like Bus Eireann are. They're the only company that would provide the level of service you're talking about. Private companies will not fill the gap if that's what you're talking about. They're also legally required to respond to complaints, etc. Which is nice in this day and age.

We are discussing here how to improve the traffic choas in galway .
I'm pointing out ....
That people will not get out of their cars to use the present bus service provided by bus eireann .
You could provide plenty of bus lanes but if the service is
(1) old buses
(2) unprofessional drivers
(3) dirty buses
(4) no proper shelter from the weather
(5) no direct line to where people want to go to work
(6) exact bus time arrivals at all stops
..... But that is what your going to get with bus eireann
A crap service run by a strong drivers union .

grbear

Facilitating parking generates a lot of money for Galway Council so I don't think we'll see much I'm the way of efforts to reduce that. Dyke Road alone must take in well over half a million a year.

ben.schlomo

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

xckjoo wrote: »

Bus Eireann is a statutory corporation (or at least CIE is). Part of the reason Citylink leap frogged Bus Eireann in Galway-Dublin trips is that they aren't required to provide services to all those small towns along the way like Bus Eireann are. They're the only company that would provide the level of service you're talking about. Private companies will not fill the gap if that's what you're talking about. They're also legally required to respond to complaints, etc. Which is nice in this day and age.

We are discussing here how to improve the traffic choas in galway .
I'm pointing out ....
That people will not get out of their cars to use the present bus service provided by bus eireann .
You could provide plenty of bus lanes but if the service is
(1) old buses
(2) unprofessional drivers
(3) dirty buses
(4) no proper shelter from the weather
(5) no direct line to where people want to go to work
(6) exact bus time arrivals at all stops
..... But that is what your going to get with bus eireann
A crap service run by a strong drivers union .

Bus eireann in Galway provide modern buses, you seem to think the city buses are old? Many have usb ports.
Buses aren't dirty, in general, not to any degree that would perturb anyone and no dirtier or smellier than some taxis I've been in. Drivers for the most part are fine, I don't need any particular level of service, just drive the bus, again it's no better or worse than some of Galways taxi drivers. And as has been pointed out before bus shelters are not provided by BE. You clearly have issues with BE, obviously as it's a direct competitor your taxi.

Storm 10

Must say the Bus Eireann fleet in Galway is very modern and when ever I use them they are clean, I honestly don't know how the Buses operating in Galway can stick to a timetable given the traffic they have to deal with hats off to them all.

FitzShane

FitzShane wrote: »

Also, it's not uncommon to see 2 or 3 buses running the same route back to back. Why does one not wait for the next timetabled slot to prevent further disruption? BE also has control over that

Bunching is a problem in bus networks, and is self compounding. First bus is late for whatever reason. At every bus stop after that it might pick up people who would otherwise have missed it slowing it down further. Conversely as the second bus arrives at each stop its passengers have been collected by the first so it is quicker and eventually catches up to the first that is getting further and further behind schedule.

It isn't as easy to say why not just wait.
The driver might be due a break or to finish.
The bus will also be needed at the other end for a return trip. Separating the busses from general traffic and having spare capacity helps but that all costs money.

Ashleigh1986

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Bus eireann in Galway provide modern buses, you seem to think the city buses are old? Many have usb ports.
Buses aren't dirty, in general, not to any degree that would perturb anyone and no dirtier or smellier than some taxis I've been in. Drivers for the most part are fine, I don't need any particular level of service, just drive the bus, again it's no better or worse than some of Galways taxi drivers. And as has been pointed out before bus shelters are not provided by BE. You clearly have issues with BE, obviously as it's a direct competitor your taxi.

Ben.... Beleive me bus eireann is no competitor of mine .
I provide a total different service .
I also do airport transfers and tours with 2 of the busiest / high end hotels in the county.
Im not your typical taxi driver in that the standard of car I use and I must wear a suit at all times .
I'm in the service industry for over 20 years .
I know good service , bus eireann do not provide a good service .
GOBUS and citylink do .

ben.schlomo

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Bus eireann in Galway provide modern buses, you seem to think the city buses are old? Many have usb ports.
Buses aren't dirty, in general, not to any degree that would perturb anyone and no dirtier or smellier than some taxis I've been in. Drivers for the most part are fine, I don't need any particular level of service, just drive the bus, again it's no better or worse than some of Galways taxi drivers. And as has been pointed out before bus shelters are not provided by BE. You clearly have issues with BE, obviously as it's a direct competitor your taxi.

Ben.... Beleive me bus eireann is no competitor of mine .
I provide a total different service .
I also do airport transfers and tours with 2 of the busiest / high end hotels in the county.
Im not your typical taxi driver in that the standard of car I use and I must wear a suit at all times .
I'm in the service industry for over 20 years .
I know good service , bus eireann do not provide a good service .
GOBUS and citylink do .

Gobus and Citylink are a different service to Bus Eireann city services. Here is an apple, here is an orange.
And if you do any taxi work in the city then yes they are a direct competitor.
How often do you use city bus services?

Mrs OBumble

timmyntc wrote: »

:rolleyes: So because children might spend all their money on sweets, or pensioners don't have bank accounts, we have to persist using cash on buses to the detriment of everyone else?

I'm struggling to see any detriment: people who pay with cash are the fastest ones to be loaded onto buses at the moment - my estimation is that cash takes about 1/2 as long as Leap fares. If you added functionality to the readers to handle debit cards as well as Leap cards, they'd likely be slower still.

Pensioners aren't the issue: almost all of them have free travel, so have a card to be read anyways.

No matter what the educated elite think about it, there is a substantial minority in any western society who don't have bank accounts. In this country, some have credit union accounts. Some don't even have that, they live in a totally cash economy. Remember that 1 in 6 (as at the most recent survey in 2013) cannot even read effectively.

And the issue with children is not a maybe: it was a real result of a real trial in a real city. They abandoned the all-purpose cash card and went back to one that worked on buses only, because of the feedback from angry parents. You may not be sympathetic to the issue - but it is real.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

No matter what the educated elite think about it, there is a substantial minority in any western society who don't have bank accounts. In this country, some have credit union accounts. Some don't even have that, they live in a totally cash economy.
.

Can you back this up at all as I think it’s total nonsense, the amount of people without a bank account in this county is meaninglessly small. Also if you have a credit union account you have a bank account in reality so not sure why you would distinguish them.

bodhrandude

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Bus eireann in Galway provide modern buses, you seem to think the city buses are old? Many have usb ports.
Buses aren't dirty, in general, not to any degree that would perturb anyone and no dirtier or smellier than some taxis I've been in. Drivers for the most part are fine, I don't need any particular level of service, just drive the bus, again it's no better or worse than some of Galways taxi drivers. And as has been pointed out before bus shelters are not provided by BE. You clearly have issues with BE, obviously as it's a direct competitor your taxi.

BE city services are fairly clean but their Expressway services leave a lot to be desired, some of the buses used from Galway to North West of the country were ancient and manky, but its either them and Feda O'Donnell who have the cartel for that route and even though FD don't have toilets, they are still much faster than BE even if they stop at a lot of towns on the way. I took a Bus Eireann from Dublin in spring to Kilcock in Kildare, now that was a serious antiquated bus.

what_traffic

grbear wrote: »

Facilitating parking generates a lot of money for Galway Council so I don't think we'll see much I'm the way of efforts to reduce that. Dyke Road alone must take in well over half a million a year.

A conflict of interest here alright, which is a problem as they don't have many other independent income streams . The body responsible for "car traffic" in the City makes more money when they generate the "car traffic".

Kingp35

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I'm struggling to see any detriment: people who pay with cash are the fastest ones to be loaded onto buses at the moment - my estimation is that cash takes about 1/2 as long as Leap fares. If you added functionality to the readers to handle debit cards as well as Leap cards, they'd likely be slower still.

I would love for you to explain to me how paying with a debit card would be slower than a leap card? Anyway BE need to upgrade their card system to what Dublin bus use, you just tap as you get on. Takes less than 1 second to pay.

No matter what the educated elite think about it, there is a substantial minority in any western society who don't have bank accounts. In this country, some have credit union accounts. Some don't even have that, they live in a totally cash economy. Remember that 1 in 6 (as at the most recent survey in 2013) cannot even read effectively.

Educated elite? So having a bank account makes you elitist? What utter nonsense. As I said earlier, just because someone wants to live in the stone age does not mean the rest of us should pander to them. If they want to use the bus then they get a bank account like the vast majority of the population. We are so behind the times when it comes to public transport compared to other European countries.

Anyway going cashless should be done on a phased basis giving people plenty of notice, no excuses.

what_traffic

Kingp35 wrote: »

I would love for you to explain to me how paying with a debit card would be slower than a leap card? Anyway BE need to upgrade their card system to what Dublin bus use, you just tap as you get on. Takes less than 1 second to pay.

Wonder what is blocking this? Is it far more expensive system? or a Union issue?

Ruhanna

Your Face wrote: »

Cyclists slow down traffic and many don't abide by the rules of the road, that's a traffic issue.
I say this as a someone who cycles and drives.
I also don't see why anyone should be given a priority.
We share the roads, we don't own them.

There isn't a single road in the entire city where motor traffic (as opposed to individual drivers) is being delayed by people on bikes. If there is, please name one, and give us some proof that it happens.

If you don't see why public transport, bikes and people who travel on foot should be prioritised over private cars then you clearly have no idea about what causes traffic congestion and what causes the greatest environmental damage, including carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions.

It's not a question of owning public roads, but of using them efficiently. Private cars are the most inefficient use you could possibly think of, taking up a hugely disproportionate amount of space, getting in everyone's way and generally making a mess of the city.

Ruhanna

Discodog wrote: »

Three times this week I will do exactly that. The existing ring road, especially after it was reduced in width, becomes a car park. I will spend around 3 hours this week, in the City centre, because there isn't any alternative.

How will your commuting pattern change if there's a new ring road?

Discodog wrote: »

I mention it because there are, for want of a better word, extremists who just want to ban cars. I probably smelt the climate a lot earlier than most. I support the pedestrianisation of the City but you can't just magic cars away.

Cities like Oxford did it because there was a plan. Our Council & Government have no concept of what a plan entails.

What does "ban cars" mean? Pedestrianisation? If our council and government have no concept of such a plan, how will they suddenly get wise if a ring road is built?

Your Face wrote: »

Willfully ignorant post there.
I neither stated nor implied that.

Its a combination of issues, which is seemingly too complicated a concept for some to understand.

What you said was "cyclists slow down traffic". Four words. Not a lot of space there for ambiguity.

Laviski wrote: »

people are not going to swtich to an unrelaible service.

ring road is needed to facilitate change needed to add bus lanes.

Who is currently driving instead of using an unreliable bus service? How will their commuting habits change is a ring road is built?

grbear wrote: »

Facilitating parking generates a lot of money for Galway Council so I don't think we'll see much I'm the way of efforts to reduce that. Dyke Road alone must take in well over half a million a year.

Galway City Council has zero interest in reducing the number of cars in the city. Same applies to the County Council. In fact it's the direct opposite: they have a huge interest in there being more cars in the city and county. What they don't want is traffic congestion. To them the obvious solution is to build more roads and to keep the same level of car parking or even add to it. Why? Revenue. Motor Tax, parking charges, parking fines. If more people come to the city, if more people own cars, if more houses are built in the city and county that need one or two cars for access, and more revenue comes into Council coffers, then they see that as a good thing. Organising public transport and planning a network of bike lanes is a huge pain by comparison, in their world view.

xckjoo

what_traffic wrote: »

Wonder what is blocking this? Is it far more expensive system? or a Union issue?

Think it's because there's one or two routes with multiple zones (404 to Oranmore for example). Not sure why they can't facilitate that but they don't seem to be able at the moment. On the plus side, the Leap card machine doesn't work a fair bit so you get free travel on those buses

96 Pages. Have ye solved Galways traffic problems yet?

what_traffic

xckjoo wrote: »

Think it's because there's one or two routes with multiple zones (404 to Oranmore for example). Not sure why they can't facilitate that but they don't seem to be able at the moment. On the plus side, the Leap card machine doesn't work a fair bit so you get free travel on those buses

Multiple Zones in Dublin Bus fare, you tap off when exiting the bus? Free trips - ah well if they don't maintain and have some of those ticket machines in reserve what do they expect?