A delay to get the bus back on time ?

NUTLEY BOY

Mod. please relocate me if this is the wrong thread for this.

Going from UCD Belfield to Four Courts. 39A from UCD. Made very good progress as far as Aston Quay where the bus pulled in and turned off for a few minutes. The announcement said that it was to allow the bus to get back on time or something like that.

I have had similar experiences with other routes.

What goes on when they are talking about the bus getting back on time ?

EchoIndia

I've had this happen occasionally. Presumably it is done where the bus is running too far ahead of the intended schedule and might catch up with the preceding one. It used to happen in the past that multiple buses on a given route would arrive at a stop together, which was hardly a good way to ensure a consistent level of service.

NUTLEY BOY

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334154#Comment_120334154

Now that I think of it there was another 39A right in front of us at Aston Quay !

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058287519/a-delay-to-get-the-bus-back-on-time

Every individual departure now has an individual stop-by-stop schedule and punctuality is measured against this.

If buses are running too early or too late, then penalties kick in from the NTA.

There are certain stops along each route where it is agreed that buses can pull in and wait if they are running ahead of schedule.

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334205#Comment_120334205

Was it the driver who made the announcement, or was it canned?

I'd imagine that that bus route operates every 10/15 minutes if the buses are coming close together? I drive a bus, and if I'm running early (which isn't too often) I do everything by the book to slow things down... making every free travel passenger scan their pass, waiting for every person to sit down taking off, etc.

L1011

There's a canned announcement for it in the system these days.

I've been on buses where its very clear that the driver is slowing down to get back to time; e.g. slowing to single digit speeds for ramps; but only had one instance of pulling over and deploying that message

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403856#Comment_120403856

Dublin Bus I expect; I must check see if there's a canned announcement of our BE buses, though I don't expect there is.

TranslatorPS

I honestly find the title of this topic rather paradoxical - it can't be a delay if the bus is early xD

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120405226#Comment_120405226

You have to remember that people (and drivers!) in Dublin are conditioned to buses only having a departure time rather than a full stop-by-stop timetable.

That meant that historically buses on finishing duties used to operate at high speed.

That’s quite a change for people to understand.

Occasionally you’ll still see people complaining about drivers at handovers being late, when in fact it’s perfectly possible that the bus in fact could be early.

TranslatorPS

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120405573#Comment_120405573

Believe me, I know ;) The concept of a bus being early in Dublin arrived far, far too late... no pun intended.

bikeman1

It happens on the Swords Road inbound on quiet mornings. They pull in opposite the Viscount pub where there is a safe pull in spot and doesn't delay other traffic or buses.

The announcement is stupid though. It says something like there will be a scheduled delay here. You can't schedule a delay on a bus. It would be better if they simply said the bus is currently running ahead of schedule and there will be short wait here to return to the schedule.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410157#Comment_120410157

The announcement doesn’t say anything about a “scheduled delay”.

It says “Customers, there will be a short delay to get the bus back on time”.

bikeman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410524#Comment_120410524

Ok, short instead of scheduled, but it is not a delay. It would be a delay if the bus was running behind schedule (late driver handover for example) but waiting for the schedule time, means you are on time and not delayed. It gets a giggle from pax who hear it and with friends with me on board (non PT enthusiasts)

NUTLEY BOY

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403839#Comment_120403839

Canned, in a soothing female tone.....

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334154#Comment_120334154

The City Imp drivers on the 123 route in the late 1990s would do this on purpose. More frequently than not, there'd be an early bus waiting on Griffith Ave to start the journey when another would terminate coming from the other direction. The amount of times I've seen both pull off together at the same time, leapfrogging each other on the way into town, skipping certain stops because nobody's getting off and the other bus is already pulled in etc. I even had a driver tutting at me once because I had the temerity to ring the bell and try to alight at my stop.

Electric Gypsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662881#Comment_120662881

Hopefully not soothing enough to give you a boner! Yeah, I didn't know our buses had it. The training we got was useless. I used this the other day when I had to pop into the shop! When I tell the other bus drivers I use it they look at me like I've two heads as if to say "feck the passengers".

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120662881#Comment_120662881

I haven't heard this announcement myself but if it's the same voice as the other announcements then I wouldn't agree that it's soothing. Sounds more like a strict Irish teacher to me. The only soothing voice we ever had in my opinion was the original Luas announcements for the first few years.

davetherave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120665135#Comment_120665135

It's the same voice that says "Customers, please use seats available upstairs."

Yeah, it makes perfect sense. It happens occasionally on an inbound 15b in the mornings. Driver will wait at a stop on the Rathgar road. There is a working timetable with departure times from all stops, rather than just the old bus departs the terminus at such a time and what happens will happen.

When the schools were closed over easter I've even heard the controllers on the radio send a message with words to the effect of Lads, anyone doing a 15 can you slow down and take it handy and stop if you can. I know there's less traffic with the schools closed but some of you are well ahead of schedule.

LXFlyer

They have changed many of the running times since early May to reflect the seasonal reduction in traffic.