Dublin Coach Experience Discussion Thread

LXFlyer · 16-08-2017 11:02am

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Or.. Cyclists should realise that there's more than just their needs to be catered for and there's only so much space to go around. Perhaps they should request the Council to take another look at the situation instead?

A bit of common sense and give and take from both sides would seem to be a more practical solution than confrontational protests and irritated drivers/passengers.

Irrespective of the cyclists' issues, the space provided for the buses and coaches at that stop is not sufficient to cope with the number of services licensed to serve it.

That's a problem across the city centre and needs addressing.

In particular a second bus station is needed for longer distance services where passengers can wait indoors and facilities provided for them.

16-08-2017 11:22am

LXFlyer wrote: »

In particular a second bus station is needed for longer distance services where passengers can wait indoors and facilities provided for them.

Absolutely. Galway has it that way.

howiya · 16-08-2017 11:57am

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Or.. Cyclists should realise that there's more than just their needs to be catered for and there's only so much space to go around. Perhaps they should request the Council to take another look at the situation instead?

A bit of common sense and give and take from both sides would seem to be a more practical solution than confrontational protests and irritated drivers/passengers.

It's illegal to park there. Common sense, give and take etc shouldn't come into it.

howiya · 16-08-2017 12:03pm

LXFlyer wrote: »

Like so many other locations around Dublin City Centre, too many bus/coach services have been licensed to serve that stop. They need to move some of the services to another location that doesn't impact on cyclists.

Agree they need a second bus station somewhere. A suggestion I would have until such is built is that Custom House Quay be reduced to one traffic lane (outer lane) and giving the inside line to facilitate buses with the cycle lane on the outside of it.

The cycling crowd might not view it as very safe with buses pulling in/out but for the majority of time the coaches are there they're stationary.

brokenarms · 16-08-2017 12:29pm

howiya wrote: »

It's illegal to park there. Common sense, give and take etc shouldn't come into it.

I completely agree with what they are doing. They are making a stand that will benefit both bus and cycle users with regards bad parking.. but

The Irony of it all is they are highlighting the fact that that area needs more coach parking.

Which may well do away with the cycle lane there.

boardsuser1 · 16-08-2017 12:34pm

brokenarms wrote: »

I completely agree with what they are doing. They are making a stand that will benefit both bus and cycle users with regards bad parking.. but

The Irony of it all is they are highlighting the fact that that area needs more coach parking.

Which may well do away with the cycle lane there.

They're probably afraid of the Dublin Coach breaking down in the cycle lane and then it'll cause even more mayhem.

Look at their history, breakdowns, especially in the old Setra's is very common :rolleyes:

devnull · 16-08-2017 12:38pm

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

They're probably afraid of the Dublin Coach breaking down in the cycle lane and then it'll cause even more mayhem.

Look at their history, breakdowns, especially in the old Setra's is very common :rolleyes:

Just as well that only coaches operating on the "haves" side of Dublin Coach, aka the Belfast route with it's new Tourismos operates down there then rather than the "have nots" with their frequent use of ex Aircoach Setras on the other routes!

Can't imagine vehicles less than a year old will break down a lot!

boardsuser1 · 16-08-2017 12:55pm

devnull wrote: »

Just as well that only coaches operating on the "haves" side of Dublin Coach, aka the Belfast route with it's new Tourismos operates down there then rather than the "have nots" with their frequent use of ex Aircoach Setras on the other routes!

Can't imagine vehicles less than a year old will break down a lot!

Those tourismo's are a great coach.

The only way such a new coach would break down is by neglect, which is possible, in saying that, i have yet to hear of one of the new ones breaking down.

Has anyone here been on them (The Mercedes)?

devnull · 16-08-2017 1:03pm

Indeed, I wouldn't say the Tourismo's are quite the same standard as Setra but not far off, although generally people who ordered Setra now ordered Tourismo since Setra's are sadly no longer made for the UK and Ireland.

I've seen one of the 142's broken down twice but I haven't seen any issues with the 171s so far.

lanomist · 16-08-2017 2:53pm

I travel with Dublin coach on a regular basis from Newbridge to the Red Cow- Airport and have been generally happy with the service except on two occasions when the issue was with the driver. The first occasion was when getting the 6.20 am from Newbridge to the airport and we were concerned that at times the driver was breaking very hard. When we were on the m50 a lady at the front of the bus let a scream at the driver and he braked very hard as he was about to run into the back of a truck, the lady told him his eyes were closed
and he was falling asleep. When we were disembarking she told him to go get some black coffee to keep himself awake. My sister in law e mailed the company but never got a reply.
The second incident was leaving Dublin airport bus park and as we approached the exit an elderly couple came pushing a luggage trolly and wavering at the driver but he totally ingored them and kept going. When we arrived at the red cow there was about ten people boarding and one lady asked the same driver was it the bus to Portlaoise, he replied that if she got back off and walked around the front of the bus she would see Portlaoise written on the bus. Surely it was easier just to say yes.

Quackster · 21-08-2017 10:56am

Noticed that a Tralee/Killarney to/from Red Cow ticket bought online is only €15 rather than the advertised €20 (that I assume would be charged if bought from the driver).

I imagine it's a quirk in the booking system as Tralee/Killarney to/from Kildare Village is being charged at the advertised €20.

JeffK88 · 21-08-2017 11:19am

Had a great experience last night on the 2030 service from the Airport. Driver refused to drive coach from Red Cow onwards due to electrical issue with a bulb above him. He couldnt see the change he was given passengers is what I picked up. Instead of informing passengers, instead said driver roared down the phone to the office about the bus ...roll on an hour and 15mins later after the 2130 bus had overtaken an almost angry mob had formed on the bus along with a group of young lads and two women who continued to threaten to shoot eachother the whole way back to Newbridge while the rest of us sat in complete darkness. Thats Dublin Coach ... oh and it was the Kinglong coach which now looks as if it rolled down a hill.

Straight Talker · 21-08-2017 12:57pm

JeffK88 wrote: »

Had a great experience last night on the 2030 service from the Airport. Driver refused to drive coach from Red Cow onwards due to electrical issue with a bulb above him. He couldnt see the change he was given passengers is what I picked up. Instead of informing passengers, instead said driver roared down the phone to the office about the bus ...roll on an hour and 15mins later after the 2130 bus had overtaken an almost angry mob had formed on the bus along with a group of young lads and two women who continued to threaten to shoot eachother the whole way back to Newbridge while the rest of us sat in complete darkness. Thats Dublin Coach ... oh and it was the Kinglong coach which now looks as if it rolled down a hill.

God talk about picking the wrong bus to get on lol.

boardsuser1 · 21-08-2017 1:31pm

JeffK88 wrote: »

Had a great experience last night on the 2030 service from the Airport. Driver refused to drive coach from Red Cow onwards due to electrical issue with a bulb above him. He couldnt see the change he was given passengers is what I picked up. Instead of informing passengers, instead said driver roared down the phone to the office about the bus ...roll on an hour and 15mins later after the 2130 bus had overtaken an almost angry mob had formed on the bus along with a group of young lads and two women who continued to threaten to shoot eachother the whole way back to Newbridge while the rest of us sat in complete darkness. Thats Dublin Coach ... oh and it was the Kinglong coach which now looks as if it rolled down a hill.

Was he sacked? :pac:

This ad was updated today:

https://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1642886

brokenarms · 21-08-2017 2:21pm

JeffK88 wrote: »

Had a great experience last night on the 2030 service from the Airport. Driver refused to drive coach from Red Cow onwards due to electrical issue with a bulb above him. He couldnt see the change he was given passengers is what I picked up. Instead of informing passengers, instead said driver roared down the phone to the office about the bus ...roll on an hour and 15mins later after the 2130 bus had overtaken an almost angry mob had formed on the bus along with a group of young lads and two women who continued to threaten to shoot eachother the whole way back to Newbridge while the rest of us sat in complete darkness. Thats Dublin Coach ... oh and it was the Kinglong coach which now looks as if it rolled down a hill.

Makes you wonder why he did not just carry everyone for free after the light broke. Or if it was a H&S reason for passengers in the back, why was there not a replacement brought out.

Was it his call or the controller?

JeffK88 · 22-08-2017 1:25pm

brokenarms wrote: »

Makes you wonder why he did not just carry everyone for free after the light broke. Or if it was a H&S reason for passengers in the back, why was there not a replacement brought out.

Was it his call or the controller?

They sent out a replacement bus just an hour and bit after by the time we all boarded the replacement bus the 2130 drove by. Im not sure who's it was.

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 1:31pm

JeffK88 wrote: »

They sent out a replacement bus just an hour and bit after by the time we all boarded the replacement bus the 2130 drove by. Im not sure who's it was.

When you consider how close their depot is to the Red Cow, an hour is a joke.

The driver gets nothing extra in wages for waiting around to make it worse.

brokenarms · 22-08-2017 2:09pm

Seems to me, most of this Bull Sh1t is due to.

.Cutting corners,
.Not paying decent wages or hours worked
.Bad management.
.Bad maintenance.

In other words.

Privatisation .

Yet people are crying out for more of the same.

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 2:21pm

brokenarms wrote: »

Seems to me, most of this Bull Sh1t is due to.

.Cutting corners,
.Not paying decent wages or hours worked
.Bad management.
.Bad maintenance.

In other words.

Privatisation .

Yet people are crying out for more of the same.

You got it in 1

It's all about the race to the bottom.

bk · 22-08-2017 3:16pm

brokenarms wrote: »

Yet people are crying out for more of the same.

Of course we are, BE couldn't be arsed running coaches between two of our largest cities after 6pm or using the shiny new motorways that the government built for billions. Nor could they be arsed having toilets on board and were late to getting wifi and power.

The services of the likes of Aircoach, Citylink, GoBus/GoBE are vastly superior to BE's services.

DC seems to be a bad apple amongst the privates, but the rest of the privates seem to be running a fantastic, innovative and high quality services.

BTW DC seem to be getting away with this bad quality of service because they have a monopoly on the routes they operate. I've always said monopolies are bad, doesn't matter if public or private, you just end up with the same lazy practices when you face no competition.

22-08-2017 3:37pm

brokenarms wrote: »

Seems to me, most of this Bull Sh1t is due to.

.Cutting corners,
.Not paying decent wages or hours worked
.Bad management.
.Bad maintenance.

In other words.

Privatisation .

Yet people are crying out for more of the same.

Yet Citylink, via Callinan Coaches, have none of the above issues. And Bus Éireann have many other problems.

bk wrote: »

BTW DC seem to be getting away with this bad quality of service because they have a monopoly on the routes they operate. I've always said monopolies are bad, doesn't matter if public or private, you just end up with the same lazy practices when you face no competition.

Just look at the Belfast route for proof of this. Brand new coaches due to Aircoach competition, but they put their crap on the other routes.

Weepsie · 22-08-2017 4:42pm

I'd booked a Dublin coach to go to Limerick for a work thing afew weeks ago. I was on the correct quay at 8.05 10 mins before departure. There was no bus 35 minutes later. I had to cancel the work training.

They ignored numerous mails and calls until I eventually got a response. They claimed the bus was there and left on time.

It's possible it left from the opposite quay, and not the one advertised as normal but it was definitely not on the correct quay. They refused to issue a refund and I wouldn't recommend them as they have lied and basically claimed I have lied.

I provided all my location data too to show I was there.

devnull · 22-08-2017 4:48pm

Weepsie wrote: »

hey ignored numerous mails and calls until I eventually got a response. They claimed the bus was there and left on time.

It's possible it left from the opposite quay, and not the one advertised as normal but it was definitely not on the correct quay. They refused to issue a refund and I wouldn't recommend them as they have lied and basically claimed I have lied.

I provided all my location data too to show I was there.

Next time if you have the same problem reference that if they do not reply to the mail within 7 days you will escalate the matter to the National Transport Authority or even better cc them on the mail and you may get a different approach.

Weepsie · 22-08-2017 4:54pm

Edit : I forwarded on all my communicated to the NTA and DC. I'll see what they say.

Quackster · 22-08-2017 6:32pm

So it looks like the NBRU has just been censured. Don't agree with their position but it absolutely should be heard.

Stephen15 · 22-08-2017 6:40pm

bk wrote: »

Of course we are, BE couldn't be arsed running coaches between two of our largest cities after 6pm or using the shiny new motorways that the government built for billions. Nor could they be arsed having toilets on board and were late to getting wifi and power.

The services of the likes of Aircoach, Citylink, GoBus/GoBE are vastly superior to BE's services.

DC seems to be a bad apple amongst the privates, but the rest of the privates seem to be running a fantastic, innovative and high quality services.

BTW DC seem to be getting away with this bad quality of service because they have a monopoly on the routes they operate. I've always said monopolies are bad, doesn't matter if public or private, you just end up with the same lazy practices when you face no competition.

BE is CIE, IE is CIE so I would say they did that in order to get people to fork out the extra bit and use the train.

pjohnson · 22-08-2017 6:43pm

Quackster wrote: »

So it looks like the NBRU has just been censured. Don't agree with their position but it absolutely should be heard.

Does the NBRU only have spam accounts on boards to release their position? I remember O'Leary rambling on a NBRU twitter? Do they not have an official way of releasing statements?

irishgirl19 · 22-08-2017 7:56pm

Coach over took us on Sunday in monasterevin at speed when there was no broken white line on the road.
He then beeped. We were doing speed limit ffs

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 8:20pm

irishgirl19 wrote: »

Coach over took us on Sunday in monasterevin at speed when there was no broken white line on the road.
He then beeped. We were doing speed limit ffs

A coach can only do 100km/h flat out!

What was the speed limit. Don't know the area hence the question.

TheQuietFella · 22-08-2017 8:52pm

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

A coach can only do 100km/h flat out!

What was the speed limit. Don't know the area hence the question.

Officially yes! In reality no!

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 9:27pm

TheQuietFella wrote: »

Officially yes! In reality no!

All coaches I've driven only done 100!

They are governed by a limiter

Are you suggesting that the limiter was tampered with?

L1011 · 22-08-2017 9:30pm

Prior to the coach limit increasing to 100 I saw many coaches going vastly above the limit - tampering or vague interpretations of the law had to be going on there considering there's a limiter and a tacho recording normally. Was passed by a coach when I was doing ~115 on the M8 - digital speedo that I know was at worst 1% out.

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 9:34pm

L1011 wrote: »

Prior to the coach limit increasing to 100 I saw many coaches going vastly above the limit - tampering or vague interpretations of the law had to be going on there considering there's a limiter and a tacho recording normally. Was passed by a coach when I was doing ~115 on the M8 - digital speedo that I know was at worst 1% out.

I know coming down the hill on the motorway in Cork around the mitchelstown area you can comfortably hit 115. On a flat that no chance.

How old was the coach?

TheQuietFella · 22-08-2017 9:35pm

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

All coaches I've driven only done 100!

They are governed by a limited.

Are you suggesting that the limiter was tampered with?

No, I'm not!

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 9:36pm

TheQuietFella wrote: »

No, I'm not!

If it was going over 100 it must have been!

Make the authorities aware of it.

TheQuietFella · 22-08-2017 9:43pm

I've travelled enough times up & down the motorway for our bus to be
overtaken by other operators. I've often heard the drivers pass comments
but wouldn't commit to an official statement!

L1011 · 22-08-2017 9:45pm

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

I know coming down the hill on the motorway in Cork around the mitchelstown area you can comfortably hit 115. On a flat that no chance.

How old was the coach?

It wasn't there; and to be honest I've no idea at this stage - this was a number of years ago clearly

I haven't noticed it as much since the limit went up - primarily because you see coaches going at the faster limit all the time so one wouldn't stand out as much.

soundman45 · 22-08-2017 9:46pm

Look at YouTube video of dublin coach speeding on outside lane of three lane section of N7 approaching Naas I think.

Quackster · 22-08-2017 10:07pm

Would DC's older stock still be on analogue tachos?

mixery · 22-08-2017 10:19pm

Quackster wrote: »

Would DC's older stock still be on analogue tachos?

yes

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 10:30pm

Quackster wrote: »

Would DC's older stock still be on analogue tachos?

Anything before May 2006 would have the analogue tacho's.

A dream to employers who love exploitation.

They don't like digi tacho's, i prefer them

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 10:35pm

No shortage of the word 'delays' here

https://twitter.com/DublinCoach1?lang=en

Quackster · 22-08-2017 10:37pm

Cork Truck Driver wrote: »

No shortage of the word 'delays' here

https://twitter.com/DublinCoach1?lang=en

"Dublin Coach Group - QUALITY IN TRANSPORT."

:D:D

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 11:34pm

Quackster wrote: »

"Dublin Coach Group - QUALITY IN TRANSPORT."
:D:D

They have 1000 less followers than they are following, must be a sign that they aren't as good as they think.

Their Facebook page is full of complaints.

Did I forget to mention that they charge drivers for their uniforms?

JCX BXC · 22-08-2017 11:36pm

Nobody even bothers to like or comment on the many delay messages on their facebook page anymore.

boardsuser1 · 22-08-2017 11:45pm

JCX BXC wrote: »

Nobody even bothers to like or comment on the many delay messages on their facebook page anymore.

Just seen that on the Facebook page.

devnull · 22-08-2017 11:49pm

I know in the past some negative comments were deleted, unsure how widespread it was or how long it was going on for mind.

AlekSmart · 23-08-2017 6:20am

devnull wrote: »

I know in the past some negative comments were deleted, unsure how widespread it was or how long it was going on for mind.

Is anybody aware as to whether the NTA monitors non-PSO operators Customer Care arrangements,in the same way they Monitor Bus Atha Cliath & Bus Éireann ?

Is there a facility whereby a company such as Dublin Coach could voluntarily sign-up to the NTA's PSO standards,which would show a degree of positive intent from DC management given these allegations of social-media manipulation now surfacing ?

05-09-2017 3:31pm

I'm travelling to Kerry late on Friday with my girlfriend's dad. The only service that suits me after work is Dublin Coach so I guess I'm travelling with them again for that reason alone. Wish me luck! :pac:

We're heading to Limerick on Sunday evening and I'm getting Citylink back to Dublin, which I'm looking forward to.

devnull · 05-09-2017 4:23pm

Looks like they have at least two of the old coaches off service now:
https://flic.kr/p/X7pH8o

Dublin Coach Experience Discussion Thread

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