Salthill bus service is brutal.

bodhrandude · 18-10-2015 08:26PM #1

This is a Bus Eireann city service that just never seems to be on time or sticking to the schedule. Friday evening at the Eyre Square bus stop was a joke, I was waiting for the 5 pm bus with a packed bus shelter, the 5 pm drives past towards the bus station but never returned like it usually does a few minutes later. Twenty five minutes past five, two more Salthill buses drive into the station, eventually one came our way about nearly half an hour after it should have been. I got no reason for the delay from the bus driver, WTF! was that about.

ciano1 · 18-10-2015 09:02PM

Typical.. But eireann is generally brutal!

ben.schlomo · 18-10-2015 10:38PM

Used to use the 409 a lot and the 0945 was more often than not missing in action.

thesandeman · 19-10-2015 12:47AM

Jaysus Dude, you could have walked. It's a bodhran you were carrying not a double bass!

Serious answer is the drivers had probably put in their allowed hours and were obliged to take a break.
Does the bus from Mervue not continue to Salthill anymore (it's been a while)?

syklops · 19-10-2015 01:20AM

thesandeman wrote: »

Jaysus Dude, you could have walked. It's a bodhran you were carrying not a double bass!

Sure its only a couple miles, just walk. Make your own arrangements. We could save the country a lot of money if we abolished Bus Eireann tomorrow and people made their own arrangements. Back when the bus drivers striked in 2013(?) the bus timetable became 100% accurate. I knew the bus wasn't coming and made my own arrangements, instead of standing at the bus stop for 20, 30, 40 minutes wondering is it coming soon.

thesandeman · 19-10-2015 02:48AM

syklops wrote: »

Sure its only a couple miles, just walk. Make your own arrangements. We could save the country a lot of money if we abolished Bus Eireann tomorrow and people made their own arrangements. Back when the bus drivers striked in 2013(?) the bus timetable became 100% accurate. I knew the bus wasn't coming and made my own arrangements, instead of standing at the bus stop for 20, 30, 40 minutes wondering is it coming soon.

I'm afraid to put the *joke goes over head* MEME thing up just in case it breaks Boards again but just imagine that it's here.

Storm 10 · 19-10-2015 08:33AM

Have you not taken into account what the real problem here is its Galways diabolical traffic, every day I see buses in bumper to bumper traffic all over the City I don't know how they manage to operate a timetable it's impossible

gordongekko · 19-10-2015 11:38AM

^^^^ what he said. Friday evening is peak traffic time. It's not unusual for a bus to be late during this time.

Mrs OBumble · 20-10-2015 12:42PM

I regularly catch the Salthill bus at 8pm - have never found it to be late. But I wouldn't extrapolate from that to saying that it's perfect.

Many routes have timetable challenges around 5-6pm, due to traffic. I don't think it's fair to say that the entire service is brutal because it's shyte one day: I'd say about 90% of buses I catch are running either on time or up to 5 minutes late.

Whereisgalway · 20-10-2015 06:51PM

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I regularly catch the Salthill bus at 8pm - have never found it to be late. But I wouldn't extrapolate from that to saying that it's perfect.

Many routes have timetable challenges around 5-6pm, due to traffic. I don't think it's fair to say that the entire service is brutal because it's shyte one day: I'd say about 90% of buses I catch are running either on time or up to 5 minutes late.

The sooner bus eireann is privatised the sooner the better. I regularly get buses and am never confident that one will actually show up! The transports app they have are unreliable and a joke. Correct me if I'm wrong but bus eireann have refused to relase data concerning the punctuality of their service.
I'm a imagine and most people who agree that the statistics would be an absolute rout. Would they even break 50%? I do wonder. 5 minutes late is 5 minutes too late. ill leave the absurd pricing for another day

Eeden · 21-10-2015 01:28AM

thesandeman wrote: »

Jaysus Dude, you could have walked.

Not everyone can walk. And not everyone who "looks fine" can walk. Some people can only walk a short distance, for one reason or another. If someone wants to take the bus, you should assume that they want to take the bus, and not tell them to just walk.

thesandeman · 21-10-2015 05:44AM

Eeden wrote: »

Not everyone can walk. And not everyone who "looks fine" can walk. Some people can only walk a short distance, for one reason or another. If someone wants to take the bus, you should assume that they want to take the bus, and not tell them to just walk.

Another *joke goes over head* MEME is required.

ben.schlomo · 21-10-2015 08:45AM

thesandeman wrote: »

Another *joke goes over head* MEME is required.

Twice in 12 posts, can people not read or interpret!?

what_traffic · 21-10-2015 10:27AM

Need more bus lanes in the City Centre.

cgcsb · 21-10-2015 10:31AM

No point blaming Bus Éireann, they don't have the power to paint bus lanes on roads and ban cars from certain streets, so they are basically at the mercy of traffic. Your issue is with Galway City Council and it's opposition to public transport and cycling.

Mr_A · 21-10-2015 11:19AM

Friday in Galway are a disaster for getting around. The 409 service is generally very good, but on a Friday the buses get stuck in traffic and it's more unreliable.

Anyone have any idea why Fridays are so especially bad?

what_traffic · 21-10-2015 11:29AM

Will also need less private cars and car parking in the City Centre to make space for buses.

Fitz* · 22-10-2015 09:09AM

The Bus Eireann service in Galway is awful as a whole.

I have not seen a 405 bus on time since the start of the summer & I get it twice daily. Yesterday I was waiting at an end of line stop for 56 minutes for a bus that is supposedly every 20 minutes. I asked (albeit cheekily/rudely) had the times changed and that I was waiting an hour for the bus, but he looked away and refused to answer.

A second bus for the same route showed up less than a minute later.

ben.schlomo · 22-10-2015 09:55AM

FitzShane wrote: »

The Bus Eireann service in Galway is awful as a whole.

I have not seen a 405 bus on time since the start of the summer & I get it twice daily. Yesterday I was waiting at an end of line stop for 56 minutes for a bus that is supposedly every 20 minutes. I asked (albeit cheekily/rudely) had the times changed and that I was waiting an hour for the bus, but he looked away and refused to answer.

A second bus for the same route showed up less than a minute later.

It definitely isnt awful, unreliable at certain times yes. When i used the 409 regularly it was just the 0945 from Eyre Sq that would never show up, if i got to the stop and the next bus was due anywhere more than 20 minutes then id walk, was there no real time board telling you of the times when you waited an hour?

Fitz* · 22-10-2015 10:25AM

ben.schlomo wrote: »

It definitely isnt awful, unreliable at certain times yes. When i used the 409 regularly it was just the 0945 from Eyre Sq that would never show up, if i got to the stop and the next bus was due anywhere more than 20 minutes then id walk, was there no real time board telling you of the times when you waited an hour?

Any 405 bus after 5.30 is incredibly unreliable and waiting 40 minutes or more for a bus is not uncommon. The bus stop timetable states that it runs every 20 minutes up until 7pm. For a place where many people work & commute back into the city, you would think that they would have common sense and start a route there in the evening time instead of having it as a finish point.

wp_rathead · 22-10-2015 10:30AM

The 405 is an absolute cluster fnck between 4.30 and 6.30

what_traffic · 22-10-2015 11:15AM

Need more bus lanes in the City Centre or else ban private car traffic from certain roads/bridges if we want reliable bus timetables and bus journey times.

beardybrewer · 22-10-2015 12:01PM

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

Fitz* · 22-10-2015 12:47PM

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

As far as I can see, they don't. I don't see them in many places either.

ben.schlomo · 22-10-2015 01:20PM

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

They do. The one at GMIT used to be very reliable. If it was 20 minutes or more then id walk back into town from there and a 409 rarely passed me on the route back in.

biko · 22-10-2015 01:22PM

what_traffic, stop posting the same thing over and over, You wishlist has little bearing on the current situation thanks

TerrorFirmer · 22-10-2015 02:40PM

I use the 405 all the time and find it generally very reliable. Obviously at certain times traffic affects it as it does other routes also but overall, I'm happy with it.

cgcsb · 22-10-2015 02:45PM

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

They're based on distance multiplied by a traffic factor so say 1km = 4 minutes *1 for off peak times and *1.5 for peek times etc.

Mrs OBumble · 23-10-2015 01:15AM

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I use the 405 all the time and find it generally very reliable. Obviously at certain times traffic affects it as it does other routes also but overall, I'm happy with it.

This.

There have been some times this year when I've waited 40 minutes (should only have been 5 minutes). Probably about 3-4 such instances in the last 9 months. Frustrating, yes. But I can deal with that level of service-failure.

wp_rathead · 23-10-2015 01:40AM

I get into Eyre Square consistently at 4.40, waiting for the 405 towards Ballybane. More often I'll be waiting till after 5.30 for a bus
I just call the electric timetable that is there the random number generator
It's a pain
But I know it is because the traffic at 4 kinda screws whole thing up - in the morning the timetable is spot on

45mhrc7evo1d3n · 23-10-2015 09:09AM

beardybrewer wrote: »

Do those electric signs that state bus times update for delays?

In my experience, when there's been a big delay on the 401, the electronic signs say something like "real-time information not available". Very unhelpful.

Salthill bus service is brutal.

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