Disruption to Dublin Bus services

angel01 wrote: »

I saw AAroadwatch twitter posted about it, I can't get any answer from the garage and of course nothing on the DB website :rolleyes: so does anyone have any information?

RTÉ1 9am news reports that all Dublin Bus services cancelled until further notice, also a lot of Taxi companies not taking any bookings this morning.

I tried to get to work this morning, checked the Dublin Bus website to see if they had any disruptions - no info there, so I ended up waiting at the bus stop for 30 minutes before I gave up. Found out about the service suspension on RTE.

I understand the weather is a problem, and it's a bank holiday, but surely they could at least write "NO SERVICE" on their website or something?

spadder wrote: »

I lived in north USA for a while. This is only a bit of light snow with frost.

Its a relative thing. It may be only a light bit of snow with frost in comparison to Chicago or Toronto, but in Irish terms, its severe.

Having said that, we don't have the population density or climatic conditions which would make it necessary to invest and have on stand-by the infrastructure required to keep the roads clear for the few occasions we experience these conditions (or, no longer, the fiscal base to make it affordable!).

And yet somehow the Airport Coach service is still running like clockwork as it does each and every day. Why is that?

devnull wrote: »

In fairness, I'd say it'd be easier to drive a tri-axle coach rather than a bus in the conditions!

I'm sure I've seen tri-axle double decker buses - on the 46A and 145 routes anyway. Perhaps they could at least put them on the road or are they not the same thing?

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that due to extreme weather conditions a limited bus service is operating only on the below routes from 14:00hrs.

Bus services can only operate on the main corridors where roads have already been gritted. Dublin Bus are closely monitoring the situation, please check back here throughout the day for further updates.

Dublin Bus apologises for any inconvenience caused.

Last Updated 14:00hrs.

Bus routes operating a limited service are;

13 - from City Centre to Ballymun

15 - from City Centre to Spawell/N81 Roundabout

25 - from City Centre to Newcastle Road/N4 Junction

27 - from City Centre to Darndale roundabout

33 - from City Centre to Skerries

39 - from City Centre to Ashtown

40 - from City Centre to N2/St Margarets Road

41 - from City Centre to Swords Manor(not River Valley)

46a - from City Centre to UCD Belfield

51b - from City Centre to Red Cow

65b - from City Centre to Belgard Road/N81 Junction

77 - from City Centre to Walkinstown Roundabout

151 - from City Centre to Drimnagh Road

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/Travel-News/Bad-Weather/

Weather Disrupts Bus Services
Friday, January 01, 2010

Disruptions to bus services due to extreme weather conditions, please see below for further details.

Friday 1st January 2010
Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that due to deteriorating weather conditions the limited service has been withdrawn and there are no bus services operating on Friday 1st January 2010.

Saturday 2nd January 2010
Dublin Bus will closely monitor weather conditions, please check back here regularly for further updates.

Dublin Bus apologises for any inconvenience caused.

Last Updated 17:00hrs.

It was not put up on their website until 9.30am.

Somebody asleep at the wheel im afraid.

Just to ensure that we understand just WHO was "asleep at the wheel" let us be clear that it was NOT the Drivers.

The majority of Divers turned up for work at ALL Dublin Bus garages.
There was no problem with staffing and the first Drivers would have reported in some garages as early as 0800.

What transpired subsequently will require some further investigation,but it is fair to say that there was a lack of even the minimum levels of cohesive or strategic planning to to allow for safe operation of Bus services.

Senior Operational advice appeared to be lacking or worse still indescisive.
It appears that Depot Administrative staff had difficulties in contacting any Senior Operational staff who might have been useful in supplying accurate data in relation to what Road Treatment was ongoing or where it was planned.

Local Depot Administrators were relying on AA Roadwatch,Local Garda Stations and Staff reports in some attempt to get a "Bigger Picture" of what was happening out on the streets.

If,as we now know,general conditions were so bad,then it would have been seriously remiss to despatch some hundreds of Buses out to do battle with the elements which were being largely ignored by the Statutory Bodies with responsibility for dealing with them.

The culture of modern management also ensured that "Health and Safety" became the major deciding factor in any action taken,or not taken in this case.

Health and Safety in this case more accurately relates to Corporate Liability or the exposure to same if,subsequent to a Managerial decision to begin services,there were to be a major accident.

I think most people would concur that todays conditions were certainly not conducive to safe operations,but the lack of support shown by the City/County Administrations did much to worsen the situation.

I cannot comment on Aircoach operations but I do know that their management were also reliant upon non-official sources for their roads information and their services were also curtailed as far as Stillorgan in the main.

They did also have some close-shaves and minor tips with other items of street furniture but as their total risk- exposure is significantly lower than Dublin Bus then their decision to operate may have been easier to take.

The Dublin Bus decision would also have had to take into account the non-weather related ( but certainly "Liability" related) situation "in the estates" where DB services are expected to penetrate.

My own experiences in a South Dublin estate at 20.30 on New Years Eve leaves me in no doubt whatever that many of the disadvantaged bored local youths had quite a range of interesting japes planned for any Buses coming along later/today.

However none of the above should be regarded as an excuse for the TOTAL shutdown of an EU Capital City`s public transport system after a medium snowfall which occurred 8 hours previously.

Dublin Bus should have had the situation under far more sustained observation since mid new years eve.
It IS a failure of Management Reporting Systems that it was not aware of its own situation and in a position to advise it`s own staff and customers appropriately.

THAT,however is a slightly different topic to the actual road conditions which have been allowed to bring the country to a standstill.

We know now,courtesy of the National Archive,that back in 1979 we had a National Emergency Co-Ordination Committee which had not met for over 7 years previously.

It would appear that little has changed in 30 years.:mad:

Tomorrow should be an interesting scenario !!