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Dublin Bus shift change in town

  • 10-11-2022 12:33am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭


    Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere or a similar thread exists. I couldn't find anything.

    I got the number 1 bus today on Pearse Street going northbound. This was the first stop for the bus.

    The bus arrived to Parnell Square eight minutes late. At this point, there was a shift change which delayed it further.

    What's the story with this? Could they not change shift at the first stop???!!!



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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭brianc89


    Also, maybe it's my bias but I feel like every single bus I take into town has a shift change. It's SOOO annoying!!!



  • Registered Users Posts: 24,908 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    You get a bus to go from Pearse Street to 'town'?

    Now that is a bit weird (unless of course you are elderly or have a disability).



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,997 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    The no. 1 bus goes from Pearse St to Ballymun/Santry - who knows what the OPs destination was, as they didn't say.

    There's a bus depot beside Mountjoy Sq, which might account for the driver change at the nearest stop on that route - and most changes happening in the city centre.



  • Registered Users Posts: 223 ✭✭DaBluBoi


    Route 1 is currently operated by Broadstone, though. The bus depot beside that park is a different one called Summerhill...



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  • Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭brianc89


    Wait, so can you guys explain exactly how shift change works at Dublin Bus?

    Why do you need to be near a depot? Is it assumed they drive to work and need to park somewhere?! Or need facilities at lunchtime etc.

    You would assume they could use their own bus network to get to a "logical" place to change shift such as the first or last stop?!



  • Registered Users Posts: 9,134 ✭✭✭markpb


    If drivers did shift change at the end of a route, DB would have to pay wages while the driver is travelling from the depot to the start point and vice versa. Imagine how much money that adds up when you consider all the drivers working each day. I assume it's significantly more efficient for the shift change to happen at the depot if the route passes close to it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭brianc89


    Wait. What?

    Am I the only smuck in the country who doesn't get paid to commute to work? OMG.

    I am bringing this up with my boss immediately 🤣



  • Registered Users Posts: 18,639 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    Driving hours could be the reason. Drivers can't drive for more than 4.5 hours, so driving to the end of the route could easily have a driver run out of driving time before they reach the end. Then you have a bus stuck and no one available nearby to take it and the passengers.

    How do they get to the last stop without wasting a lot of their shift? There is rarely any facilities at the last stop either, so where does the driver wait? It's bad enough that the drivers have to sit on the bus and urinate in the bushes on their breaks.



  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    Drivers on scheduled services of less than 50km in length can drive for 5hrs 30mins and do not use tachograph cards.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    Drivers don't get paid to commute to work they start work when they sign on in the garage.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,228 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    The Driver change has been at Parnell St for decades, so should hardly be a shock to any regular users.

    Its completely obvious why it happens there if you think about it for even twenty seconds as Parnell St is the most concentrated intersection of bus routes anywhere in the city. (And Pearse Street isnt).

    Not sure why you call it a Shift change, maybe it is one, but I always thought it was just drivers changing routes from one bus to another, in which case they might jump off a bus going one direction and hop on a bus going another direction.

    I would guess their work routine is different to the regular work routine that people have where they can kick back and have a cup of tea, go to the jacks, sign on to boards and whinge about buses or whatever. When they are driving, they are driving.

    I'd imagine drivers cant be driving for more than 90 minutes or so, and rightly so.



  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    How long does it take to do a driver change 5 mins max. A bus could easily be at the stop for the same time if there was a heavy loading given how bad dwell times are in Dublin.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,637 ✭✭✭gipi


    There used to be a Dublin bus club off O Connell St, near Marlborough St, if I recall. Maybe Parnell Square is used for driver changes as it's close to this venue?

    It's been a long time since I was in the area, don't know if the club is still there.



  • Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭brianc89


    Sorry just to be clear here, I'm not having a go at any Dublin Bus drivers. Absolutely not. I just want to understand how the system works.

    I've used lots of public transport in European cities over the years and shift / driver change mid-route in the city centre seems to be a feature of Dublin Bus only.

    When you're traveling just a few km, let's say from Drumcondra to George's St, then a 3-5 minute addition to your journey is a lot, when you only need to go a few extra stops the other side of the river.



  • Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭brianc89


    We live in a big busy city. 5 minutes is a lot of time if you're running late for an appointment or need to catch a connecting bus / train etc.

    Especially if you're only going another 2 or 3 stops. Sometimes you decide to get off and walk and sometimes you wait for the bus to get going again.

    Of course with Murphy's Law, you always make the wrong choice and are left sitting there, or watching your bus speed past you, cause it left as soon as you got off!!!



  • Registered Users Posts: 23,246 ✭✭✭✭Dyr


    I hope you're not implying that Dublins unique approach to public transport is in some way inferior because it's not the norm in other countries

    You probably think that the customer should come first or some other foreign notion, 😫



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,050 ✭✭✭✭LXFlyer


    The driver changes happen at Parnell Square on the 1 for the simple reason of proximity to the staff canteen at Earl Place. That’s where they have their breaks in the city centre.

    Historically Parnell Square is where cross-city routes change drivers.

    Bear in mind that the 1 used to continue to Sandymount. It is only a temporary situation until the A Spine launches.

    Other routes change over drivers outside depots if they pass them.

    Mid-route driver changes happen with most urban operators across these islands - it is not specific to Dublin.



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,050 ✭✭✭✭LXFlyer


    Driver changes happen only at the start or end of a shift, and when they are going on or returning from their break. They don’t get off one bus to drive another, unless there’s been disruption.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,744 ✭✭✭beachhead


    Driving hours would have a lot to with where a changover takes place as well as convenience.I'm sure the duty roster manager would have selected changover points for each route.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 820 ✭✭✭Burt Renaults


    It only really becomes a problem when the first driver (i.e. the one taking their break) is in a hurry and arrives at the handover point way too early.



  • Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭brianc89


    Okay thanks that makes sense on the 1.

    In general, the driver changes have gotten much much quicker, so credit to the drivers for that.

    But I still find it frustrating that this happens at all. You get to the city centre and only need to go 2 or 3 more stops - but then the bus stops for 3-5 minutes. It can add up to 50% onto your journey if you're doing a relatively short journey.



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,050 ✭✭✭✭LXFlyer


    Again, in the case of the 1 this is a purely temporary situation for a number of years until when the A Spine launches.

    There are going to be situations like this while the network is transitioning over different phases from the old network to the new BusConnects version.

    The 1 & the 40 both have temporary termini at Shaw Street and Earlsfort Terrace respectively until the A and F Spines launch, when those routes will be subsumed into new cross-city spine routes.

    This will happen with other routes as we start to go through the other phases and some routes get split in two. The section of routes that are not BusConnected will have to terminate at similar locations.

    There’s not much you can do about it given the much reduced number of suitable locations to terminate bus routes in the immediate city centre.

    Mid-route driver changes are a fact of life where you have long cross-city routes and no facilities near either end for drivers to break at.



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,050 ✭✭✭✭LXFlyer


    Yes, pre-AVL I was amused by how people couldn’t grasp that the second driver might not actually be late turning up, but rather the first driver arrived too early! It’s less of an issue these days with the AVL box.



  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy




  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    Mid route driver handovers are hardly unique to DB



  • Registered Users Posts: 910 ✭✭✭brianc89


    Yeah because life in a big city is just that simple. 5 minutes here, another 5 minutes there, missed connections, another 5 minutes over there.

    If you keep adding up meaningless minutes, very soon you have a meaningful number.

    But yeah, you should have just left earlier. How dare you expect that bus timetables might run efficiently and without delay.



  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    What a load of codswallop. Give yourself enough time to make a connection and you won't miss it.

    Buses have a departure time not an arrival time very possible the bus was running correctly to the timetable when the driver changeover occurred.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    You forgot to mention the N4 handovers at DCU and uses staff cars to allow drivers break in Harristown. Wonder how they've come to the conclusion that using staff cars is more efficient than having a break room in DCU.



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