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Bus Eireann - seriously poor

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Hi all,

Just wondering if any of ye have had other issues with the BE city services in Cork.

My route, 223 has been notoriously poor but this week really is taking the pi$$.

Yesterday, first day back to college, I rely on the once a day (7.39 am) 223 service that goes direct to CIT rather than the usual South Mall.

This service picked me up in Rochestown, late as usual, however instead of going to CIT like it's supposed to, the bus went into the city to the bus station, parked at a bay, the driver got out and barked back at us that there was a driver change.

This was nearly 9am and this bus is supposed to be in CIT at 8.35am.

Another driver got on at the bus station a few mins later, drove around the corner, parked the bus. Looked back at us all and said "what are ye all doing here lads?!" And told us to get off the bus and walk to Patrick's Street to catch another service to CIT.

His response when asked what happened; "ah we needed the bus for something else". I arrived to CIT an hour later than I was supposed to, and missed half my first lecture of my first day back.

Just unbelievable.

And it gets worse. Today, this morning, I'm waiting for the same 7.39 am service to CIT. And the bus never showed up. Nothing. I was waiting for over an hour until I finally hopped on the next bus I saw which was only going to town. Late again.

Spoke to the most obnoxious man in the inspectors office at Parnell Pl bus station this morning, who refused to give me his name and when I asked about these services he simply began to rant about lack of drivers, "operational issues" (a blanket excuse that seems to be used by both drivers and customer service) and told me that "because we're not Dublin the drivers are treated like scum".
Absolutely obnoxious and unprofessional. I contacted the services manager in Capwell Depot but have not heard back yet.

I'm just lost for words at how poor this company is. They are nearly always late, however simply not showing up and also diverting services and kicking people off the bus to walk to another service is just unforgivable and a disgrace.

Monkstown, Passage West, Rochestown and other areas all rely on this service and it is absolutely ridiculous that we have to put up with these shananigans. It's just so, so poor. This again is a once a day, 5 times a week service that us students in these areas have to rely on.

Apologies for the long post but I wanted to stress just what's actually going on here.

What are my options here, with regards to bringing it to the attention of others and government bodies if needed? Because this isn't acceptable at all.

Thank you.

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[Deleted User]

So far, in order to simply lodge a complaint and have it listened to, the OP has been suggested to contact the following :

BE Twitter
BE Facebook
Contact nta.
NTA boss Anne Graham
bus eireann chief executive
any manager you can get.
any local TD.
Martin Walsh or Tom O’Leary in Capwell
Broadstonein Dublin, the head office of Bus Eireann.
Joe Duffy

With the following being the actual points of contact made by the OP

The bus driver
Someone who refused to identify themselves in the inspectors office and gave his name as "customer service advisor"
the services manager in Capwell Depot
Emailed BE
Tweeted BE
CEO of BE

The response that came was from
Regional Manager via the CEO

Does nobody else see all this as the most ludicrous of situations for a front line public service that is supposed to be customer focused?

Is the CEO now the customer service representative?

This, in a nutshell, is the problem with BE. There is no accountability

hufpc8w3adnk65

[Deleted User] wrote: »

This, in a nutshell, is the problem with BE. There is no accountability

Sssssshhhhh

You can’t say things like that or they’ll all be out striking again!!

jamesbere

I use bus eireann fairly regularly so I've seen the bad side to them. There a mess only getting worse. And as for that real time information, Holy Christ it's frustrating.

5mins
3mins
2mins
1min
Departed (no bus)
35 mins

Curb Your Enthusiasm

jamesbere wrote: »

I use bus eireann fairly regularly so I've seen the bad side to them. There a mess only getting worse. And as for that real time information, Holy Christ it's frustrating.

5mins
3mins
2mins
1min
Departed (no bus)
35 mins

I brought this up with the regional manager for BE Cork also. Unfortunately he couldn't tell me much as to why it happens so frequently. "Phantom buses".

jamesbere

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

I brought this up with the regional manager for BE Cork also. Unfortunately he couldn't tell me much as to why it happens so frequently. "Phantom buses".

I don't know what system they use to track buses but it's useless. I mean take my taxi, I fairly straight forward app that let's you track your car very easily. Surely it can't be too difficult to implement something similar. They have a map feature alright but it's hard to use on your mobile.

Its worse its getting aswell, the last two buses I got were 5 mins earlier then what it said on real time. The ones I tried to get before that either never showed or were really late (although traffic was probably a factor there)

They need set up a new city service from scratch before it goes tits up

Gamb!t

The current infrastructure needs to be changed sooner rather than later.

They need a couple of hubs in the city.Take for example the number 7 bus,it goes from Ballyvolane (which has heavy traffic congestion) to town and then to Douglas(also heavy congestion).

They should run the number 7 from Ballyvolane to town (current bus station) and have another bus running from Capwell to Douglas to reduce the delays due to congestion.Plenty of other routes such as bishopstown - Mayfield could also benefit.

Also the 220x from EMC that runs through Ballincollig -Town - Douglas -Carrigaline is a complete disaster. Doesnt turn up half the time(on time) I heard which is no wonder.

mordeith

I've twice companied to Bus Eireann about issues with different aspects of the service from Cork. Just got a stock reply with an offer of a free return trip on my route. I always refused the ticket and just asked that the issue be addressed.

end of the road

MrMac84 wrote: »

Sssssshhhhh

You can’t say things like that or they’ll all be out striking again!!

no they won't.

Deleted User wrote: »

So far, in order to simply lodge a complaint and have it listened to, the OP has been suggested to contact the following :

BE Twitter
BE Facebook
Contact nta.
NTA boss Anne Graham
bus eireann chief executive
any manager you can get.
any local TD.
Martin Walsh or Tom O’Leary in Capwell
Broadstonein Dublin, the head office of Bus Eireann.
Joe Duffy

With the following being the actual points of contact made by the OP

The bus driver
Someone who refused to identify themselves in the inspectors office and gave his name as "customer service advisor"
the services manager in Capwell Depot
Emailed BE
Tweeted BE
CEO of BE

The response that came was from
Regional Manager via the CEO

Does nobody else see all this as the most ludicrous of situations for a front line public service that is supposed to be customer focused?

Is the CEO now the customer service representative?

This, in a nutshell, is the problem with BE. There is no accountability

i agree on the face of it it is ridiculous. however the way to look at it is the more people contacted the more people know about it and the greater chance of the issue possibly being dealt with. as strange as it sounds we are in some way lucky we have a number of points of contact to complain about the service. in the uk outside london for example, people don't seem to be so lucky, they seem to just have the operator's main channels to contact and it's a case of hope for the best. what we have is far from ideal but at least if anything, there are no excuses for the relevant people not to know about the customer's complaint.

Mardyke

Gamb!t wrote: »

Also the 220x from EMC that runs through Ballincollig -Town - Douglas -Carrigaline is a complete disaster. Doesnt turn up half the time(on time) I heard which is no wonder.

The 220X goes from Grange Manor. The 220 goes from EMC.

It's slightly annoying that a public bus service goes right up the driveway of a private enterprise. And then on occasion the 220X will fail to show completely.

Gamb!t

Mardyke wrote: »

The 220X goes from Grange Manor. The 220 goes from EMC.

It's slightly annoying that a public bus service goes right up the driveway of a private enterprise. And then on occasion the 220X will fail to show completely.

http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1475578239-220x.pdf
It goes from EMC also.

Evil-1

The control room for the RTPI in Cork is actually in Dublin, so its no surprise there are buses that do not run showing up on the system and going un noticed. Route 203 is a prime example, on Monday nights there is a scheduled departure from St Patricks St to Leghnamore every 20 mins, and these appear on the RTPI, problem is that in reality there is no service between 2130 and 2250 irrespective of what the timetable or RPTI states, this is now so bad that regular users of the service are aware of the gap and have simply given up waiting for buses that never run, and this route receives a PSO payment for services that did not operate.

Sephiroth_dude

Evil-1 wrote: »

The control room for the RTPI in Cork is actually in Dublin, so its no surprise there are buses that do not run showing up on the system and going un noticed. Route 203 is a prime example, on Monday nights there is a scheduled departure from St Patricks St to Leghnamore every 20 mins, and these appear on the RTPI, problem is that in reality there is no service between 2130 and 2250 irrespective of what the timetable or RPTI states, this is now so bad that regular users of the service are aware of the gap and have simply given up waiting for buses that never run, and this route receives a PSO payment for services that did not operate.

In Ballincollig there is suppose to be a bus on the hour and on the half hour mark, they never show up on the half hour mark at all, nearly always late on the hour too.

-Toppy-

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

In Ballincollig there is suppose to be a bus on the hour and on the half hour mark, they never show up on the half hour mark at all, nearly always late on the hour too.

I was waiting the other day to go into town on either the 220 or 220x and three showed up together!

And then the 220x decided to go the 220 route and vice versa /sigh

At least the fares are cheaper these days

-Toppy-

Sephiroth_dude

-Toppy- wrote: »

At least the fares are cheaper these days

The only saving grace.

Mardyke

-Toppy- wrote: »

I was waiting the other day to go into town on either the 220 or 220x and three showed up together!

And then the 220x decided to go the 220 route and vice versa /sigh

At least the fares are cheaper these days

If all passengers reported this to the names mentioned in this thread it might help

They shouldn't be allowed get away with it without some answers

As for fares, it would need to be free before it started to be worth the hassle !

Gamb!t

-Toppy- wrote: »

I was waiting the other day to go into town on either the 220 or 220x and three showed up together!

And then the 220x decided to go the 220 route and vice versa /sigh

At least the fares are cheaper these days

Ive had problems in the past with the 220x from ovens to town where a certain driver would at times not pick up people at the EMC stop as he would say he is going to grange manor but not come back.Rude guy with a ****e attitude too.

Mardyke

Gamb!t wrote: »

Rude guy with a ****e attitude too.

Could you narrow it down!

IMO no bus should drive up the driveway of EMC - a public bus going into a private enterprise. And that same private enterprise stopping people from Grange Manor walking on EMC grounds to get to the bus stop (before the 220X started).

Gamb!t

Mardyke wrote: »

Could you narrow it down!

IMO no bus should drive up the driveway of EMC - a public bus going into a private enterprise. And that same private enterprise stopping people from Grange Manor walking on EMC grounds to get to the bus stop (before the 220X started).

I think they added the stop to accommodate the afternoon and evening shifts outside which is handy sometimes if it arrives on time.

-Toppy-

Correct the EMC stop is actually outside the EMC Security hut before you actually go onto EMC premsises

Toppy

Mardyke

Another 220X no-show this evening.... too cold an evening to waste 30 mins waiting for a bus only to end up back home in the end.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Mardyke wrote: »

Another 220X no-show this evening.... too cold an evening to waste 30 mins waiting for a bus only to end up back home in the end.

Please hound the contacts I mentioned in my post, anyone else looking for email addresses for Bus Eireann Cork management please pm me.

Ralf and Florian

punisher5112 wrote: »

Contact nta.

Email nta boss Anne Graham

Contact bus eireann chief executive and apply same to any manager you can get.

Also suggest any local TD.

That's shocking and is not on.

Keep a record of it all and keep at them about it.

I complained this complete bellend of a driver about a particular incident last year via that woman. This guy is usually on the No 202 and No 207 and is well known for for his aggressive and rude approach to passengers. Got an email back from Anne Graham saying they were speaking to the driver in question blah blah blah. He's still driving, you're wasting your time with this bunch, the unions are too powerful.

end of the road

Ralf and Florian wrote: »

I complained this complete bellend of a driver about a particular incident last year via that woman. This guy is usually on the No 202 and No 207 and is well known for for his aggressive and rude approach to passengers. Got an email back from Anne Graham saying they were speaking to the driver in question blah blah blah. He's still driving, you're wasting your time with this bunch, the unions are too powerful.

the unions in this country are not powerful and have nothing to do with this driver still driving or the NTA'S handling of the issue.
it is likely that unfortunately they were unable to get enough tangible evidence to do anything about this driver's alleged behaviour. you may not like that but the reality is to take disciplinary action against the driver would require more evidence then a simple complaint.

Gamb!t

Ralf and Florian wrote: »

I complained this complete bellend of a driver about a particular incident last year via that woman. This guy is usually on the No 202 and No 207 and is well known for for his aggressive and rude approach to passengers. Got an email back from Anne Graham saying they were speaking to the driver in question blah blah blah. He's still driving, you're wasting your time with this bunch, the unions are too powerful.

Is this the guy with the English accent because if its the same guy the sooner he is booted out of BE the better?

end of the road

Gamb!t wrote: »

Is this the guy with the English accent because if its the same guy the sooner he is booted out of BE the better?

if his behaviour is as claimed, then absolutely he should be.

SusieBlue

No 202 for over 45 minutes this morning, ended up getting a taxi and was late for work.
The app was showing 3 mins, 2 mins, DUE and then 45 minutes (there is meant to be a service every 10 mins). Within a couple of minutes of it changing to 45 minutes, it would go back to 3 mins, 2 mins etc but nothing would show.

Going to complain via the links posted here, its actually a disgrace at this stage and cannot be depended on.

zilog_jones

The real time information is as good as useless for Cork city buses in my experience - it seems to have no bearing on the actual location of the buses. I've pretty much given up on getting the bus into town, the half hour walk is usually quicker than waiting for a bus that may or may not exist (215/215A).

lostinsuperfunk

The real-time information only seems to work properly on a few routes. 205 and 208 seem to be ok. For others, it seems to be just automatically issuing the timetabled departure times, regardless of whether a bus is coming or not.

After 35 minutes waiting for a 223 on South Mall (its initial departure point), a 220 pulled up and I asked the driver if he knew what might have happened to my 223. He immediately said he knew nothing about it (fair enough), then pointed to a phone number on a sticker on his windscreen and told me to call it. He didn't offer to enquire himself.

I called the number, it's disconnected.

Epilogue: the 223 did show up shortly afterwards, 40 minutes late on initial departure. How can people rely on this service?

Cherry_Cola

Probably the same thick system they have at the station where it'll say boarding when there's no bus there.