Cork - BusConnects

there will five times as many buses as bus stops and that buses need replacement every few years

I don't have figures for Cork, but I don't think this is the case. In Dublin there are over 7,000 bus stops while only 1,300 buses.

In general I think there are far more bus stops then buses.

Also when buses get replaced, the ticket machine and validators simply get moved to the new buses. Also it is much easier to maintain the validators in a centralised location like a bus depot, then having vans going around trying to maintain 7,000 bus stops across a city!

While this sort of off bus ticketing it normal for tram stops and some BRT, I can't really think of any city that has done anything like this at all bus stops for regular bus service.

What you do see is the mainland European style, enter via any door and then validate at any validator (couple throughout the bus) with lots of on bus ticket inspectors.

If you are going to have validators at bus stops, well you are going to have to have the expense of ticket inspectors on the bus anyway, so I'd argue drop the bus stop validators all together and instead just do what they do in mainland Europe. People validate their ticket in app before boarding like you can do with the current TFI GO app or on the bus with card at one of the validators. You basically get the same benefit of quick dwell time, while saving the cost of bringing power and tech to thousands of bus stops! Though ideally you want triple door buses if doing this.

I'd argue this is a solved problem in mainland Europe for the last 100 years. No need to make it more complicated.

However it looks like we aren't going with this model anyway, it looks like we are sticking with the London Bus model. Validate your ticket as you enter the front door, exit via rear door.

Just getting the right hand validators and putting in place some sort of flat fare should really speed things up in Cork based on my experience in Dublin. Next gen ticketing and getting rid of cash fares should make it even smoother.

There are far less RTPI poles then bus stops. Less then 1 in 10 I think.

And it doesn't really solve anything, as then you would need to hire lots of ticket checkers, otherwise there would be no way to know that the person actually tagged on at the pole before getting on.

But if you are willing to go that route, you might as well just skip that and just have people tag on using an app before boarding, far less complicated and costly.

If you want to go this route, you really need to go all in on 3/4 door buses and entry/exit through any door. There isn't really much benefit for this with 2 door double deckers, where you have everyone passing through the front door anyway.

What they need to do is just speed up the entry via the front door. Get rid of driver interaction, contactless payment only and new faster validators. Cork also needs the right hand validators and an attractive flat fare so people will use it.

I think that will give you reasonably the fastest option for double deckers, anything faster then that requires 3/4 door style BRT.

Yes, the key decision really is do you have drivers continue to act as sort of ticket inspectors like they do today or do you have them completely ignore people boarding and just drive the bus and instead hire lots of ticket checkers like Luas.

Ironically almost a return to the days of the ticket conductors!

If we are happy to hire lots of ticket inspectors and go that direction, then it opens up lots of options for ticketing and multi-door buses in future, etc.

What annoys me though, is that even if we are following the London Bus model, we are still more then a decade behind! There are definitely ways we can speed it up even within the confines of our current vehicles and London Bus type model.

• Right hand validators on Cork, etc. buses
• Some sort of attractive flat fare from the right hand validator
• Support for next gen ticket contactless cards, etc.
• No cash fares/driver interaction anymore.
• Faster Validators

All the above should be doable without hiring ticket inspectors or changing the bus. Yet it is frustratingly taking years to do even this!