BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

TheChrisD wrote: »

You're also completely skipping over the option of the W8 direct from Tallaght to Celbridge via "the back roads". 18.6km, Google Maps says 27 minutes driving, so maybe 30-35 for the bus; so the whole trip could possibly be done in an hour if the interchanges are fast enough.

Yes, I didn't mention that one because the frequencies were a good bit lower, and also I don't know what those roads are like.

Hopefully the interchanges will actually be properly synced though - it should be possible considering they're all terminating at/starting from the same place.

Media make a lot of money out of car advertising, nothing out of public transport.

Also (like Saorview) it's abundantly clear that the so-called journalists writing about public transport don't actually use it or have the first clue about what they're writing about.

Stephen15 wrote: »

Still a need for revenue protection as people could still sneek on particularly if the driver dosen't care which is fair enough or for people on fake welfare passes etc.

A lot tougher for people to sneak on when there's only a single way to pay, and a flat fare. Right now people can sneak on because the driver is distracted by cash fares or people doing a custom stage journey Leap transaction. There should be far fewer distractions for drivers in future.



If the driver doesn't care, well I'm sure the CCTV monitoring in buses would be capable of spotting that.

devnull wrote: »

I know in the past in DB, it was not permitted for CCTV to be used as evidence as part of any disciplinary action against drivers, unless a law (as opposed t a rule) had been broken or the Gardai had been involved in the matter.

Essentially I believe the point to that is that there is an agreement that the CCTV is there for safety reasons and not to nanny the drivers or to check up on them.

Using CCTV for monitoring of staff is a huge data protection issue


https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Data-Protection-CCTV/242.htm

vectorvictor wrote: »

When you have a transport authority that takes a kick to the nuts and bends over regarding the colour of a bus .. well , I think we all know how bus connects is going to end up.

You feel that making buses usable for people with disabilities is 'bending over'?

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

You feel that making buses usable for people with disabilities is 'bending over'?

Yes.

Hyped up nonsense. Somebody not able to see a big bus coming with a bright orange number/destination display and on stop RTPI showing when it is due is unlikely to be out unaccompanied.

Two yellow reflective stickers at the top of the bus would have achieved the same if it's such a big deal.

Or they could have just consulted with the relevant stake holders before designing a livery.

Either way it's incompetent

devnull wrote: »

Just seen a story in the Irish Independent stating that bus fares are to rise for people if there is a flat fare. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/revealed-bus-fares-to-rise-for-some-customers-under-new-busconnects-scheme-37292253.html.



Note how many paragraphs down it is before they mention the key fact that it is a multi-mode fare, which really is something is key to the story. Pretty much standard I think for anything about public transport in the media to look for something negative. That's before you take into account they equate a stage to a stop.

Of course some people are going to lose out, but having a properly integrated fare for all modes and reducing the number of fares and driver interaction is overall a very positive thing for me since it will speed up journeys a lot and make the service more efficient.

Thats the Irish media for you.

If they decided in the morning to speed up the SlainteCare rollout and give 97% of the population free GP care, there would be front page stories about the 3%.
In fact they DID moan about this. SlainteCare is something the country has needed for ages, the big problem with the health system was one govt began reforms then some other govt gets in slams the brakes on and starts over, now we have a plan (an outline but its a start) that has all party agreement, which will provide universal coverage and structural reform no matter who is in charge...and they found a way to whinge about this. There was one part to honestly complain about (the lack of a funding model) but they didn't say "this is great but here is a big bit the govt is missing", they said "here is the bit thats missing therefore this is crap".

I was amazed to listen to Joe Duffy during the debate about the Ballybrophy line, people calling in saying "dey say nobody uses it well i use it!"....no woman we didn't mean LITERALLY nobody uses it, we meant not enough people use it...did the 7-8 people think a rail line should keep going just for them??? Apparently! No concept of the big picture.


This is the fundamental problem with our political system and why I think we should move to a PR-LIST style system from PRSTV, that way we'd be voting for parties rather than candidates and the debate would be about national policy not parish pump bs. What happens now is because local govt has no power our national TDs are worrying about the local roads and local this and that not national big picture, if you have a junior minister or minister in your area you will get better funding for xyz, so the country is governed like a broken jigsaw puzzle rather than one joined up stragetic bit.

My fellow FFers and many in other parties don't like the idea of party list because they say it will give too much power to party HQ and disempower local people, so lets do MMPR at least, like Germany, where you have two ballots, a mix of party list and constituencies - at least then we'd have some kind of national strategic thinking. You may think this is politics and it's nothing to do with this but it's exactly to do with it - it's why we don't have joined up thinking and a few outlying estates can threaten to derail a brilliant strategic redesign of the bus network. Parish Pump is killing this country.




Back to the journos you can see it with the ridiculous reaction to the introduction of the PSC cards "OH NO THEY'LL HAVE YOUR PPS NUMBER ON THEM....YOUR PPS NUMBER!!!!!! "....You mean like the old cards did?
"OH NO THEY'LL HAVE A PHOTO OF YOU"...you mean like the state already did with my passport? "BUT IT'S BIOMETRIC...BIO - METRIC!! DOESN'T THAT SOUND SCARY???? BIO METRIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY HAVE YOUR DNA AND PRINTS!!!"...no...they don't...but what if they did? The US govt has your fingerprints if you went on holidays there, you don't care about that why would you care about your own govt having them?
People wanting to continue using an old fraudtastic travel pass just to avoid the state having information they already have! and the media supports this!


Look at the BusConnects coverage in general, they focus on the tiny number of estates that are losing a DIRECT connection to the cc totally ignoring that these people will, mostly, still get a faster ride to the same place.

It's Joe Duffy Syndrome, they don't understand the concept of you lose out slightly so that the rest of society can be improved. We all deal with this all the time. None of us likes taxes being taken out of our wages but we do it for the greater good.

They do it because this helps them sell papers, get eyeballs and generate clicks because there is something in the Irish psyche that loves being a professional whinger.


I saw similar whinging about the Belfast Glider, I was up there myself and took a ride on it and loved it, much quicker. I noted that most of the articles were talking about it in theory "Translink claims...." and it hit me...its been running now..and none of these people writing about it have ACTUALLY TRIED IT. One moany whingy article said "this route replaces the 4X which used to have 7 stops...but the Glider has many more stops...Translink CLAIMS it will still be faster..." , whereas the one journo who actually bothered to try that trip made the same stops point and noted "its still as fast as the 4x despite more stops". It's clear many Irish journos don't use PT themselves.

One thing I love about Glider the most - and I would love to see done at major DB and Luas stops here - is you tag before you get on, not only no driver interaction but no halting AT ALL when the thing arrives, you just jump on and off you go.


I appear to be in the extreme minority in politically involved people in not wanting to pander relentlessly with this BusConnects thing, it really is depressing just how quickly they will pander to peoples fears (yes Comac I'm talking about you - this won't make you a TD, you're using tactics that belong in 1999). I do appreciate the fear of the changeover, that peoples experience of waiting for DB is not a quick changeover but a long wait at a bus stop that does not even have a shelter (eg even major stops like Wyatville Road flyover and the Brides Glen interchange which absurdly have no shelter or timers even though they're major new stops) but we have to try SOMETHING what else can we do? Just leave it as it is? We have to try something new at some stage and hopefully tweak the bits that don't work.

What you have to understand about the politcos doing this is, while yes, some of them are too stupid to understand the plan, most of them either don't care, or are intentionally lying about it. Its a reason for them to get their nose out there and build a "profile" for themselves. Why do you think Robert Troy keeps making these really bizzare announcements like over the bus livery, saying the kind of stuff that suggests he's banged his head too hard? He does not care what he says he has people telling him to get his name out there as often as possible to build a profile. What you need to get about PR people is most of them are really terrible at PR, it's ironic but it's true, any of us who have worked in the industry know this, but politicos often think PR people have some kind of secret key to the human psyche and are geniuses who can make them the next Obama, but of course if they were that good they'd be working for Nike not advising a TD, something they, again, don't get.

The other thing is they are trapped in a time warp, many of them don't get that politics has changed massively post recession the entire game is different now, the millennial's and gen x'ers are way more informed and care way more about policy than the older generations (one of the big things about old politics you were always told was nobody cares about policy, still applies to over 50s unless the policy area affects them) - so they know more, and when you try to pander to them and use old tactics on them you just end up looking ridiculous, even many of the younger politicos don't get this as they are taking advice from the older guys thinking it's sage wisdom.

A few years ago there was a FG td, drowning in localism talking about how he'd resign if a local emergency room was closed, it was, and they asked him if he was gonna resign, he said he never promised that - out came the youtube video. They don't realize they are in a new world most of them, and the ones following this old skool way of doing things are going to get a terrible shock at conventions and elections over the next few years. You'd think Cormac would have already learned this lesson from the last general election.

devnull wrote: »

Dermot O'Leary whipping up fear by spreading misinformation saying that places such as Cabra, Tyrrelstown and Tallaght among others won't have any direct services because of BusConnects.

I like the way he literally cannot conceive of a public consultation which doesn't involve him being in a backroom with the government hashing out what he really wants out of all this.

NBRU's leadership are opposing busconnects on union time while pulling down their union wages paid out of union dues. Looking at that part of your payslip must be interesting if you're a union member right now.