BusConnects Dublin - Big changes to Bus Network

You obviously didn't read it very well then.If they were the only changes you could see I suggest you have a read of it again.

So you can't even give me even one example of a change for the worse to driver's hours in this agreement? Speaks volumes.

Furthermore your claim that drivers will have to work a lot more 12 hour shifts is patently false. Most drivers are on the 5/7 shift and they don't do any at all. They're overwhelmingly covered by senior bogie/euro drivers who choose to do them and as I said the percentage of their shifts which will be over 9 hours is actually reduced by this agreement

My apologies. I mixed you up with the first poster I replied to re the 12 hour shifts.

I'm still at a loss as to what changes to our shifts you believe we've agreed to in the agreement. As you know the amount of hours we can work on average per week/ month or whatever remains unchanged.

As regards the length of our shifts, as opposed to agreed driving time, ie. longer breaks or as regards the reduction in workouts, there is nothing in the agreement that mentions these other than the slight improvements that I referenced. It's a matter of opinion as to whether the company will pursue these but either way whether we passed or rejected this deal is immaterial. As far as I can see schedules will still be negotiated with the unions in the same way as before.

I'm a little confused about the turnback arrangements at New Wapping Street in Docklands. One side of that street is on-street parking for local residents - does that mean it will utilise the existing N4 stop for services in both directions (terminating and beginning)? Where will the bus actually loop around. To be honest, there are better places in the area to terminate the spine than this one.

That's strange, why does the map show the G-spine terminating on New Wapping Street in that case?

OK here go's

Early duties starting earlier(change)

Reliefs can start earlier and finish later(change)

Late duties can finish later(change)

One of your 2 early workouts on a Sunday over the 5 week cycle will change to a split duty (change)

Sign on minutes and sign off minutes gone (change)

w.a.c. time reduced by a third (change) all those minutes add up over time.

If you don't think that those changes are going to effect the length of time away from your home and your work life balance best of luck to you but you're in for a rude awakening.

Only reference to early duties is that duties starting before 5 must finish before 12.30 and those starting before 6 must finish before 13.30. An improvement on the previous agreement. As I said schedules will continue to be negotiated in the normal way. Earliest start on my schedule has been 4.38 for a long time and I don't see any great desire from the company for us to start earlier as journeys before 5am are covered by night shift drivers.

The company may look for earlier starts and later finishes on reliefs but they do that anyway during existing negotiations on schedules. They cannot now start before 11.30 and must finish before 22.30. However we now have a guarantee in writing that shifts that exceed 9 hours will not increase from current levels Monday-friday and will actually decrease Saturday/Sunday.

Late duties can include trips after 23.30. I had assumed this was already the case on some schedules. We now have a guarantee that those shifts will have a 1.30 finish time at the latest. Again these will be few and far between as the vast majority of these trips will be covered by night shift drivers and will require negotiation with unions in the normal way on a case by case basis.

You are correct in that one of our early Sunday workouts can now be a duty with a break. That's one Sunday shift every 10 weeks, hardly life changing. You can still only work 14.5 hours (excluding your breaks) between your early and corresponding late Sunday so no change to driving hours. In addition the latest your early Sunday shift can finish is now 16.00 as opposed to the current 18.00 so it's swings and roundabouts if you ask me.

Sign on/off minutes are gone but these are these are both 2 minutes. Time to turn on/off your ticket machine. Utterly irrelevant to your working day but historically printed on all our schedules for some reason.

Walk around time to check your bus in the morning is changing from 12 minutes to 8 minutes. Again an utter irrelevance to your working day. Ditto with the time allowed to find your bus in the yard after your break which will now be 3 minutes rather than 5.

Overall you're right, there may be some minor change to starting/finishing times when new schedules are negotiated but no I don't think they will greatly alter our work life balance as it stands at the moment. Certainly not enough to reject a 15.5% pay increase to an already decent salary not to mention the three additional annual leave days we'll get to spend with our loved ones

I've been a driver 15 plus years mate. I've seen several of these deals come and go. Always with the same thing, drivers like yourself predicting the doomsday scenarios with no evidence to back it up and inevitably then things carry on pretty much as before and any changes are negotiated in a calm and reasonable manner.

Yes all early buses will now leave the garages at 5.05am and return at the same time 12.30pm with exhausted drivers at the wheel.

Not familiar with all the schedules across all the routes in Dublin mate. Just my own really. I knew the 23.30 last bus practice had gone so assumed there may have been the odd departure after that time but was obviously mistaken. My point stands about them being few and far between stands though.

Agreement covers the five years between 1/1/21 and 31/12/25.

Awards are as follows : 1/1/21 0.5%, 1/7/21 2.5%, ( drivers will receive these backdated amounts, as well as 1000 euro to cover 20019/20, in the most tax efficient manner possible ( presumably some sort of gift card ). 1/7/22 2.5%, 1/1/23 3%, 1/1/24 3% and 1/1/25 3%. In total 15.5%

Service pay will be replace by annual leave on a years of service basis as follows : 5yrs- 1 day, 7yrs-2days, 10yrs-3days, 20yrs-4days, 25yrs-5days and 30yrs-6 days. So 3 days extra annual leave is basically the average

This point doesn't even merit a response but in the rare event that a bus doesn't start, maintenance are on hand to jump start. 4 minutes at the start of a shift or 2 minutes after break makes no odds anyway. In the event that a delay means I miss my terminus departure time I'll be sent out of service along the route till I'm back on schedule so I'll actually be doing less work.

So because you don't like the result, the election was stolen? Sounds familiar!

I was reading the TFI website about the G-Spine including info about the 40 stopping at stop 273 on O'Connell Bridge.

I am familiar with that stop myself as it is currently the stop for the 4, the 7, the 7a & the weekday peak 120 from Ashtown to Simmonscourt Road.

If that bus stop was to include the F-Spine routes at that location as predicted from other posters here. Could there any changes to come later on for the other bus routes that currently stop at 273?

Could these routes change to other bus stops along O'Connell St southbound or possibly D'Olier St?

One thing that I can note about the 4, the 7 and 7a is that they currently have a stop nearby the Savoy Cinema at the top of O'Connell St southbound. Would that stop be retained for these routes that go into Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire via Merrion Road?

... guess I'll take the car today

(add in a couple cancelled 76s, while they're at it)

If this is from Liffey Valley SC, there's something up with the 26/40 routes there where they're cancelled at the very first stop, but are then on the system from the first stops outside of LV (2686 for rte 26, 4688 for rte 40, 7755 for L53). Probably something to do with the new stop across the street from the old terminus location.

Just go here >> https://bustimes.org/stops/8230DB004795 >> and click into any of the crossed-out departure times on the live countdown ticker, the "expected" timings are listed from the first non-LV stop.

Last time I went there locals said it was water works going on in the stretch of Gilford Road between Sandymount Ave and Park Ave, hence the 18 being unaffected