BusConnects Dublin - Bus Network Changes Discussion

Some observations over the first two days

E1 & E2 - Lots of buses on both routes but with bunching. The issues seem to be down to the scheduled running times along the route. For example, on the E1 there is a scheduled 22 minute gap in the morning at D’Olier Street. There is no bus to Bray between 08:06 and 08:28. There seems to have been a massive problem with scheduling the overnight services. Instead of the “approx every 30 minute” night schedule on the combined E Spine, buses are schedule to run with gaps of approx 15 and then 45 minutes each hour. A simple tweak here would balance this out for a more consistent 30 minute frequency.

The short working E1 buses seem unable to show the short working to Parnell Square. Some buses this morning showed “Parnell Square 1” or else just showed out of service. I’m not sure if all buses were updated or if there was no short working display created.

19 - This route needs a lot of attention. The running times are not suitable for the service, they are either too generous with buses crawling along or else they are bunching - for example, there were three 19s outbound on Homefarm Road this evening at 17:25. Some missed departures yesterday - the one I tried to catch was cancelled as was the following bus. 

There are timetables missing along the route - there’s no information at all at Dublin Airport - no timetable, marked bus stop or RTPI screen. No bus stop marking on Merrion Square and drivers seem unsure where to depart. The RTPI screen does show the 19, but at such a busy stop it only shows closer to departure time. The stops which do contain timetables appear to be old versions. The 19 has been a mess since day one - and the forthcoming timetable changes suggest it won't settle down soon.

X1 & X2 - Confused passengers and drivers on both morning and evening services. TFI apologising to people on social media of cancellations. Drivers missing stops, TFI on social media are contradicting their published information and app planner on routings. Still no information online on where to catch the bus in the city centre - these express routes have now been taken away from the bus priority of College Green, Kildare Street, Stephen’s Green and Leeson Street and now sit in traffic on Kildare Street with no bus priority. The X2 through Bride’s Glen is adding on extra time to an express service - but passenger numbers observed today here were high. The loss of the 84 connection here needs to be addressed and it is clear the X2 has been put into Cherrywood as a possible solution. The bus stops in Bride’s Glen for the X2 are incorrect. A new stop ‘8274’ has been erected opposite the Luas stop for outbound X2 services, but buses do not serve this stop - instead they stop on the opposite side of the road at stop 7639, this stop lists the X2 but no timetable. Lots of passengers complaining of the extra journey times of 30 minutes on their commute.

L1 and L2 - Multiple cancelled buses today. Massive gaps in service to Newcastle. TFI apologising to people on social media.

L26 and L27 - Cancelled trips today on the L26 - gaps of an hour between some buses. An L27 seemed unable to display the destination so ran with as not in service on the journey.

11 - The timetable on the Northside needs to be looked at. Running time and loadings are affecting the Southside leg of the 11 with most buses running delayed today. As mentioned previously on this thread, large timetabled gaps in service is a big issue for passengers previously served by the 46A. The 11B Sunday timetable looks to be too tight - the 15 minute frequency was difficult to maintain.

Leap Cards - One of the biggest issues is that the new Dublin Bus BusConnects routes in this phase are not recognising Annual tickets - meaning anybody with a Leap card is being charged fares on the new services. This is affecting tax-saver passengers, and holders of annual bus/combi tickets. TFI are telling passengers to call Leap Card and operators, but they all now loop back to TFI under the new consolidated customer information centre. There are possibly hundreds of passengers due refunds so check your tickets and history. I'm sure this will be resolved but it's a big problem to be charging passengers who have already purchased tickets.

I appreciate there will always be issues on the first few days, but there are clear problems affecting passengers. You’d hope these will be addressed before the week is out, but TFI seriously need to look at the 19, X1 and X2 as a priority. The timetable, routing and changes need to be looked at. The 84X had a loyal passenger base - buses were busy and it was a well run service - what has happened to the X1 and X2 is shocking. It would be great for TFI to just admit they got it wrong - keep the numbers X1 and X2 but just reinstate the old timetable (including the daytime service) and routing and find another solution to link Cherrywood and North Wicklow.

I know it's early days for the new TFI customer service centre - but the level of information is extremely poor. They don't understand the network and are giving out incorrect information on social media. Days like today should be where they shine!

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To be fair, the current "interchange" at the Red Cow was very much a temporary arrangement that was put in place in advance of the G-spine. There's plans in for a much better set-up, with proper canopies and a building hosting a cafe, toilets & driver welfare facilities.

While it might be a personal thing, it seems to me that go ahead entrance into the market has been disastrous for all passengers. Db has its fair share of problems but go ahead have been consistently poor, sometimes dreadful, in my experience anyway, and seemingly the experiences of many in this thread.

On the earlier map it showed it using the M50 but I see the latest map has changed the routing. Did they not check the route beforehand?

Funnily enough I was just about to reply to mikeybhoy that DB seem to have started cancelling delayed departures lately instead of sending them OOS to a point en route to start but I guess they're still doing that too then.

They definitely pick up the running further in. 41s / 41Cs run empty to the airport and start from there inbound.

I think they should do it in reverse, only pick up on the unique part of the route and once it shares with another closer to town, then go set down only and take the number off the scrolls.

In my 41 example, people had a huge gap in Swords but in Santry had 1 and 16 to choose from. And more and more the closer into town.

I feel like it might make a little more sense on something like the L12, given that it's a rather short route otherwise. But either way, as you said, if they decide to do it at all, it would mean having to get more drivers and buses to do it.

TFI Live says this is the schedule for the next couple of hours for stop 113, the first stop where the southbound E1 and E2 services overlap….

2:00 E1

2:14 E2

3:00 E1

3:14 E2

this is exactly what I predicted on Saturday last, before these services were even launched, based on the published timetable - a gap of 15 minutes followed by no bus for 45 minutes. Completely barmy.

It was meant to serve the new stop by Cherrywood Luas on the inbound journey, which is accessible from the M50. But with the final delay to the launch, it seems they decided to revert to Brides Glen Luas in both directions.

Go ahead off to a stinker again today also.

Of the 7 S4s from Liffey Valley 5 are cancelled, including 3 in a row.

Some go ahead services out of Bray also cancelled

I noticed they cancelled the last N2 a few weeks ago also.

What's going on with GoAhead? They've always been worse than Dublin Bus but this is abysmal.