Irish Rail: Solution to overcrowding

Father Hernandez

I thought it was a wind up at first:

Irish Rail asking DART users to stagger morning journeys

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/irish-rail-asking-dart-users-to-stagger-morning-journeys-1.4026704

Basically, when the service doesn’t work... blame the customer.

TuringBot47

Nah, they should just charge more for peaktime tickets.
That should weed out some of the lesser people on the carriages.

BDI

Ask people to lose weight

Gregor Samsa

So there’s an app that lets you see how full the trains are, so that you can plan to go earlier or later when it’s less busy. A bit like the way Google tells you how busy a shop or museum is at a given time.

Sounds like a good idea, I don’t see the problem here.

Bunny Colvin

Irish Rail: "We're not there yet but we're getting there"

They said that themselves ten year's ago OP. Give the lads a break.

kneemos

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

So there’s an app that lets you see how full the trains are, so that you can plan to go earlier or later when it’s less busy. A bit like the way Google tells you how busy a shop or museum is at a given time.

Sounds like a good idea, I don’t see the problem here.

People are getting to work presumably. Not sure how they can go earlier or later.

Father Hernandez

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

So there’s an app that lets you see how full the trains are, so that you can plan to go earlier or later when it’s less busy. A bit like the way Google tells you how busy a shop or museum is at a given time.

Sounds like a good idea, I don’t see the problem here.

Not a bad idea but what’s the incentive?

Why would I start work at 10 and have less of my evening for the sake of a seat or quieter train, places to be, things to see.

Could get onboard with off peak fares but you’d imagine they’ll only lump up the price of peak times.

The majority of people have to be in work at approx 9

jahalpin

The peak time restriction on the free travel pass should be restored, most transport systems have restrictions on concessionary and free travel schemes

BDI

Father Hernandez wrote: »

Not a bad idea but what’s the incentive?

Why would I start work at 10 and have less of my evening for the sake of a seat or quieter train, places to be, things to see.

Could get onboard with off peak fares but you’d imagine they’ll only lump up the price of peak times.

I’d get an earlier train or bus if I thought it’d be empty.
It used to make my skin crawl having to sit on the bus trains and buses in the mornings with the stink of garlic, cigarettes and booze.
Other people are horrid with their breathing and living.

0gac3yjefb5sv7

There's only delays on basically every train for operational difficulties...great service.

Can't blame them when they are stuck in traffic, oh wait...there is none...

kneemos

Infrastructure needs to keep up with an increasing population.

suicide_circus

jahalpin wrote: »

The peak time restriction on the free travel pass should be restored, most transport systems have restrictions on concessionary and free travel schemes

YOU CANT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST THE MOST VULNERABLE IN SOCIETY!!!!1

Father Hernandez

BDI wrote: »

I’d get an earlier train or bus if I thought it’d be empty.
It used to make my skin crawl having to sit on the bus trains and buses in the mornings with the stink of garlic, cigarettes and booze.
Other people are horrid with their breathing and living.

So would I. Id be on the first train in the morning and be home by 3 if I could. My job doesn’t allow that unfortunately and certainly not in the minority.

TuringBot47

kneemos wrote: »

People are getting to work presumably. Not sure how they can go earlier or later.

A lot of I.T. companies offer flexible working hours, e.g. 10-6:30, 7:30-4pm etc.

I'm surprised Irish Rail don't promote people to work from home a day or two.
They'd still get their taxsaver ticket revenue and less people on the train.

Allinall

Father Hernandez wrote: »

Not a bad idea but what’s the incentive?

Why would I start work at 10 and have less of my evening for the sake of a seat or quieter train, places to be, things to see.

Could get onboard with off peak fares but you’d imagine they’ll only lump up the price of peak times.

The majority of people have to be in work at approx 9

The incentive is that you get a more comfortable journey.

I would say the number of people who have to be in work around 9 is well in the minority.

Most workplaces these days allow s certain amount of flexibility in working hours.

Jet Black

Still relevant 10+ years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YmvevAvhyM

BDI

Father Hernandez wrote: »

So would I. Id be on the first train in the morning and be home by 3 if I could. My job doesn’t allow that unfortunately and certainly not in the minority.

Your job doesn’t let you get in abit early? Does the spar across the road refuse your custom if you try buy a coffee there 20 mins before work starts?

Edgware

jahalpin wrote: »

The peak time restriction on the free travel pass should be restored, most transport systems have restrictions on concessionary and free travel schemes

I know an oul fellow that does courier work between Dublin and Cork. Goes down on early train and delivers items to office in Cork city, brings stuff back to the Dublin office. Two/three times a week. Nice little earner on free travel. Reading the paper and having bit of grub on the train. (Brings his own sambos)

B0jangles

I remember when they put up posters telling people to turn up on time so that the DART wouldn't be always running late.

That went down SUPER well!

ChikiChiki

Infrastructure does indeed need to keep up with an increasing population. Remember the gall of IR a few years back to increase fares and at the same time trim back number of carraiges on their rush our services.

Awful company.

Wesser

Sounds like a great idea. why do we all have start work at 9. if even 10 % moved their time it would probably make a massive difference

kneemos

Wesser wrote: »

Sounds like a great idea. why do we all have start work at 9. if even 10 % moved their time it would probably make a massive difference

Desperation more like. A temporary relief at best.

God forbid we have forward planning.

Gregor Samsa

kneemos wrote: »

Desperation more like. A temporary relief at best.

God forbid we have forward planning.

Spreading demand across capacity is an excellent example of forward planning.

kneemos

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Spreading demand across capacity is an excellent example of forward planning.

Suggesting your customers change their lives because you can't cope with demand isn't.

Plugging a hole won't solve the problem.

Gregor Samsa

kneemos wrote: »

Suggesting your customers change their lives because you can't cope with demand isn't.

Plugging a hole won't solve the problem.

You have a cinema with 300 seats. You have a movie at 6pm. You have 600 people looking to buy tickets to see the movie. Which is the better use of resources to solve the problem:

A) putting on extra showings at 4 pm and 8 pm

building a new cinema and having a second showing at 6pm

C) extending the capacity of the existing cinema by 300 seats and keeping the existing showing at 6pm

This is like some soviet-era diktat.

We incur all the costs of a market economy, with all of the inefficiency (ie no derived demand) of a planned economy. In other words, you pay your money and you get no choice.

I have a sibling who lives in Dun Laoghaire who has to get a DART in the direction of Bray in the mornings, then at some point switch back to a city-bound DART where she can manage to board safely with her kids. In any other system, the service would just make trains more regular to meet demand, ie obey the basic laws of economics and generate a profit.

What really drives me up the wall is the stock response of Ministers when confronted with this overcrowding... "We are victims of our own success, we now have more people going to work than ever before"... The inefficiency of Irish public transport, along with lack of housing, is going to be a serious impediment to economic growth in the coming decades and these fcukers need to get the finger out fairly pronto.

kneemos

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

You have a cinema with 300 seats. You have a movie at 6pm. You have 600 people looking to buy tickets to see the movie. Which is the better use of resources to solve the problem:

A) putting on extra showings at 4 pm and 8 pm

building a new cinema and having a second showing at 6pm

C) extending the capacity of the existing cinema by 300 seats and keeping the existing showing at 6pm

Analogies are usually pointless,this one even more so.

voldejoie

Honestly, it would serve Irish Rail better to ask that people move down the fcuking train instead of congregating at the doors like dopes, but seemingly that is too much to ask

Atlantic Dawn

Simple things like not putting the heat to unbareable temperatures would help too, the heat makes people take off their coats and thus make less room for people.

Gregor Samsa

kneemos wrote: »

Analogies are usually pointless,this one even more so.

Oh dear, that’s not an answer that inspires confidence in your ability to defend your position!

The answer’s A.

voldejoie

voldejoie wrote: »

Honestly, it would serve Irish Rail better to ask that people move down the fcuking train instead of congregating at the doors like dopes, but seemingly that is too much to ask

The Luas issues the same automated request and it makes absolutely no difference.

"Please move down the tram", Doireann Ní Bhriain gently exhorts, as people stare blankly at their smartphones. But the Luas, for the most part, is sufficiently frequent. Waiting times for the DART are beyond a joke.

kneemos

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

Oh dear, that’s not an answer that inspires confidence in your ability to defend your position!

The answer’s A.

Irish Rail aren't putting on extra showings.

voldejoie

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

The Luas issues the same automated request and it makes absolutely no difference.

"Please move down the tram", Doireann Ní Bhriain gently exhorts, as people stare blankly at their smartphones. But the Luas, for the most part, is sufficiently frequent. Waiting times for the DART are beyond a joke.

I'm very close to being the prick who snaps and starts shouting at people to move down, I'm being pushed to breaking point Last Thursday I missed two DARTs because I literally could not get on, even though there was ample standing space in the main carriage area.

This after missing the connecting DART because my train into Connolly was 12 minutes late, and the supposedly "every ten minutes" DART being substantially delayed due to congestion in Connolly, which happens every day. It's a good thing I have the tax saver because it would tip me over the edge to be paying the full annual ticket price for such a terrible service!

Rant over

Rufeo

Batter them onto the top, be grand.

Gregor Samsa

kneemos wrote: »

Irish Rail aren't putting on extra showings.

They have the extra showings on already. They’re telling people there’s seats available in them.

end of the road

jahalpin wrote: »

The peak time restriction on the free travel pass should be restored, most transport systems have restrictions on concessionary and free travel schemes

it would make no difference to this issue. which is exactly why it was abolished in the first place. bringing it back would do absolutely nothing.

20Wheel

Limit the city center to those born in Leinster.

Boggers are always the root cause.
All boggers rerouted to Cork/Galway/Limerick.

Darc19

Father Hernandez wrote: »

I thought it was a wind up at first:

Irish Rail asking DART users to stagger morning journeys

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/irish-rail-asking-dart-users-to-stagger-morning-journeys-1.4026704

Basically, when the service doesn’t work... blame the customer.

The problem about reading a headline and not bothering to read the article, is you make false assumptions.

Try reading and understanding the article and then see how ridiculous your comment is.

noodler

Dart capacity is an issue.

Dunno what the solution is.

Make stations even long to accommodate more carriages?

The idea we have to wait months to buy carraiges slays me though. One it's a priority and two they've been jammers for years.

McLoughlin

Solution

sdanseo

It's not Irish Rail's fault that there is no political will whatsoever in this country to invest in (or failing that, privatise) public rail transport.

It does suffer from the usual productivity deficit you'd expect from a heavily unionised organisation, but on the whole the staff are committed and good at their job, speaking having been fly on the wall for a bit.

touts

Irish health service can't cope. Tell people not to get sick outside office hours.

Irish Universities can't cope. Tell people not to go to university.

Irish Rail can't cope. Tell people not to travel to work.

There is a bit of a pattern developing in FG problem solving in recent months.

NewbridgeIR

Trains arriving into city for 8.00am are jammed too. It's really only the earlier ones that are quieter.
My train leaves at 7.00am - packed at the second stop (Sallins) and overcrowding the whole way in after that. Four carriages not enough; needs to be six.

LeinsterDub

FF and FG are to blame for this. Irish Rail can't spend money they don't have

Hoppy Jack

To the man clipping his toe nails with wild abandon onto the floor in Pearse Station - please. Stop. Now. Someone has to clean your clippings.

kneemos

touts wrote: »

Irish health service can't cope. Tell people not to get sick outside office hours.

Irish Universities can't cope. Tell people not to go to university.

Irish Rail can't cope. Tell people not to travel to work.

There is a bit of a pattern developing in FG problem solving in recent months.

Except none of that has happened.

Dravokivich

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

This is like some soviet-era diktat.

We incur all the costs of a market economy, with all of the inefficiency (ie no derived demand) of a planned economy. In other words, you pay your money and you get no choice.

I have a sibling who lives in Dun Laoghaire who has to get a DART in the direction of Bray in the mornings, then at some point switch back to a city-bound DART where she can manage to board safely with her kids. In any other system, the service would just make trains more regular to meet demand, ie obey the basic laws of economics and generate a profit.

What really drives me up the wall is the stock response of Ministers when confronted with this overcrowding... "We are victims of our own success, we now have more people going to work than ever before"... The inefficiency of Irish public transport, along with lack of housing, is going to be a serious impediment to economic growth in the coming decades and these fcukers need to get the finger out fairly pronto.

It's actually very difficult for them to get trains. The problem with IRs fleet management is down to early decommissioning of rolling stock.

sdanseo

Dravokivich wrote: »

It's actually very difficult for them to get trains. The problem with IRs fleet management is down to early decommissioning of rolling stock.

Nonsense. The only stock (effectively) decommissioned on the DART system were the 8200s which are riddled with faults.
All the LHB sets were refurbished and have another decade or more left in them.
All the 8400/8500 sets are still in play as are almost all the 29k for commuter.

The issue is that demand has gone up and the chronic procrastination that is the Irish system of government would rather talk shíte about each other on twitter than actually make a decision about anything i.e. fleet expansion.

And until the people put their foot down (difficult but doable, the parish pump is a way of life especially outside Dublin, sure ah it'll be grand) nothing will change.

Dravokivich

ChikiChiki wrote: »

Infrastructure does indeed need to keep up with an increasing population. Remember the gall of IR a few years back to increase fares and at the same time trim back number of carraiges on their rush our services.

Awful company.

They have no control over any of their fares. That's done by the national transport authority .

Dravokivich

sdanseo wrote: »

Nonsense. The only stock (effectively) decommissioned on the DART system were the 8200s which are riddled with faults.
All the LHB sets were refurbished and have another decade or more left in them.
All the 8400/8500 sets are still in play as are almost all the 29k for commuter.

The issue is that demand has gone up and the chronic procrastination that is the Irish system of government would rather talk shíte about each other on twitter than actually make a decision about anything i.e. fleet expansion.

And until the people put their foot down (difficult but doable, the parish pump is a way of life especially outside Dublin, sure ah it'll be grand) nothing will change.

I said fleet management was an issue overall, not just dart.

mdebets

The Dart isn't really overcrowded, they just need to hire the right stuff and they might even be able to cut back on trains during rush hour.