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X-buses - anomalies re pick-up and drop-off stops

  • 16-07-2024 07:53PM
    #1
    Hippodrome Song Owl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,540 ✭✭✭


    I understand and appreciate the general idea behind pick-up and drop-off only stops on express routes in Dublin to prevent it from being clogged up with short-hop journeys and to reduce delays. But surely there's a case to be made that if an X bus gets you from A to B, then it should also get you from B to A?

    I recently became aware that the Celbridge express routes (X27 and X28) will bring you from Celbridge to Liffey Valley, but they will not pick up at LV so they're not an option for the return journey. This strikes me as bizarre, given LV is a major stop (buses going outside the Dublin region, for example, all pick up here, and it's a significant interchange stop) andespecially in the context of inadequate capacity on the C-spine (particularly bad on the C4 to Celbridge). Also given Celbridge is still a significant distance to go from LV with Lucan traffic causing delays. Meanwhile, the X routes are regularly half empty outbound at LV.

    This makes no sense to me. Where is the best place to raise this so it can be reconsidered?



Comments

  • #2
    p_haugh
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭p_haugh


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058360001/x-buses-anomalies-re-pick-up-and-drop-off-stops

    Not an express route, but similar scenario - the 133 has an outbound stop between UCD and Stillorgan (at the Talbot Hotel), but no equivalent inbound stop.



  • #3
    Fizzy Duck
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 208 ✭✭Fizzy Duck


    I would presume it is because passengers will use them to travel between the City and Liffey Valley, taking a seat from a passenger travelling further. I've only driven a 39X once and that was the explanation given to us for similar anomalies.



  • #4
    john boye
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,761 ✭✭✭john boye


    Different case but The 77X has an inbound journey in the morning but no corresponding departure in the evening. Always found that odd



  • #5
    Hippodrome Song Owl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,540 ✭✭✭Hippodrome Song Owl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122389507#Comment_122389507

    But they already do - the outbound X routes all drop-off at LV, just not pick up.



  • #6
    Muller1991
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 232 ✭✭Muller1991


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122389575#Comment_122389575

    Travelled on the route for years and to be fair it wasn't much of an express route either only skipping two stops more or less the entire route from Tallaght into town. Before Network Direct happened there was an evening service a long with the 50x 15c 15d and the 15f. They where cancelled when the 54a, 65b where re routed through Aylesbury and Kiltipper etc. The 50x was cancelled when the 15 min frequency appeared on the 27. replacing both the 50 and 77.



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  • #7
    john boye
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,761 ✭✭✭john boye


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122390823#Comment_122390823

    I've noticed that it usually just stops at any stop, negating any benefits.

    Yes I remember all that, there was a 49x too and even the seldom seen 65x at one stage. Just weird how the 77X ended up without a return.



  • #8
    Muller1991
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 232 ✭✭Muller1991


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122391161#Comment_122391161

    It's been over 10 years since I've travelled on it but as far as I remember the only stop it skips is the one just after the Halfway house in Walkinstown and is set down only from there until the Central Bank.



  • #9
    Hippodrome Song Owl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,540 ✭✭✭Hippodrome Song Owl


    Well, I contacted the NTA to request the X-routes pick up passengers outbound at Liffey Valley. My suggestion has now been put on file in a filing cabinet with the "relevant department". Apparently feedback is reviewed regularly and, "I can assure you", taken in a serious manner! At least I got a response I suppose.



  • #10
    Glencarraig
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,656 ✭✭✭Glencarraig


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122389115#Comment_122389115

    I have regularly used the 133 from Wicklow town and always ask the driver to let me off at Brewery Road, never have been refused.



  • #11
    p_haugh
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭p_haugh


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397265#Comment_122397265

    The few times I've used it, it's been hit or miss if the driver agrees to let me off at an unofficial stop.



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  • #12
    mikeybhoy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,659 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122389575#Comment_122389575

    Same with the 46e. 2 inbound buses in the morning and nothing in the evening.



  • #13
    halfpastneverr
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 150 ✭✭halfpastneverr


    69X has a weird routing where it serves the Green Isle & Camac Valley inbound in the morning, but just goes straight up the N7 in the evenings and nowhere near either. Have seen a few tourists get caught out by it. Also suffers from the usual X route problem of drivers new to the route stopping at every bus stop, negating the point of the X service & higher fare.



  • #14
    mikeybhoy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,659 ✭✭✭mikeybhoy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122409165#Comment_122409165

    Can hardly blame the drivers for doing this easier to just let people off than arguing



  • #15
    Hippodrome Song Owl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,540 ✭✭✭Hippodrome Song Owl


    To update this, I noticed recently that the X routes on the outbound C-spine have been appearing on the RTPI display at Liffey Valley (they didn't previously), and today, I finally got on one. They still do not appear on the live bus stop information on the TFI app, and the timetable still lists all outbound stops after Heuston as Alighting.

    I asked the driver of the X-bus I got on since when they started pick-up at the stop. He looked bemused and said they'd always stopped there. However, many times I put my arm out and they sailed past half empty, and when one let me board last year because someone was getting off, the driver confirmed it was a drop off only stop.

    So I'm not sure what the story is officially now?



  • #16
    Hippodrome Song Owl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,540 ✭✭✭Hippodrome Song Owl


    Updating this again having sought official clarification from TFI after a few weeks of hit and miss attempts to get on the X buses outbound at Liffey Valley.

    Unfortunately the bus stop remain Alighting only for these routes, despite the buses now being listed as due on the RTPI display at the stop. It's madness given the fact the C4 (and to a lesser extent C3 and 52) can't cope with the volume of passengers at the stop, which has dangerous levels of overcrowding in the evenings.

    Response from TFI below:

    "they spoke with the controller of the X routes, he has confirmed that the last pick up on these routes is Memorial Gardens,
    stop no. 7012. If waiting at stop no. 2213 and a customer happens to be alighting here, the drivers should allow passengers
    to board, however if no one is alighting the drivers will not stop here. Drivers of these routes will be reminded of this."



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