The Dublin Coach Experience

devnull · 12-09-2018 9:54pm

punisher5112 wrote: »

Feckers never switch their engines off at terminus's

That's probably to be expected given the millions of km some of them must have on the clock and the number that seem to break down based on this thread, can't be too confident if you turned them off that you will get them going again!

punisher5112 · 12-09-2018 11:28pm

devnull wrote: »

That's probably to be expected given the millions of km some of them must have on the clock and the number that seem to break down based on this thread, can't be too confident if you turned them off that you will get them going again!

Oh I well believe it as have seen many with great trouble after doing so.

Absolutely shocking what they have on the road.

road_high · 13-09-2018 8:13pm

Dublin Coach really don't get any better do they? Dublin to Killkenny today bus absolutely filthy and stink- litter everywhere and even a bag of sick in the back seat that some ignorant dog left behind. There's a constant stench of dried in sweat, stickiness.
Why oh why can't they update their fleet? Surely as capital expenditure spread over 5 years it wouldn't so hard?

Also what is the fetish they all have with Luas Newlands Cross? Virtually no one gets on/off there and I feel it should be a request stop or something. Bus just sat there for about 5 mins for no reason.

devnull · 13-09-2018 8:23pm

road_high wrote: »

Dublin Coach really don't get any better do they? Dublin to Killkenny today bus absolutely filthy and stink- litter everywhere and even a bag of sick in the back seat that some ignorant dog left behind. There's a constant stench of dried in sweat, stickiness. Why oh why can't they update their fleet? Surely as capital expenditure spread over 5 years it wouldn't so hard?

They do update their fleet, but only on certain routes, Belfast got new coaches in 2017 and then they were replaced in 2018 with further new coaches, because on that route they are fighting a deregulated bus war with Aircoach by departing around the same time as they for the same place, something that wouldn't be allowed on routes within the Republic of Ireland. Meanwhile their other routes stick with vehicles that have had punishing lives with their former operators dating back from 2004.

The worry is that the investment on Belfast is only because there is competition, what we have seen with Dublin Coach is when they have saw the competition off, they scale investment in those routes back quite a lot for the next big route. that's why I honestly hope they don't force Aircoach off the route, because whilst Aircoach is not perfect, they tend to invest in all their routes whereas Dublin Coach appear to operate as a two tier operation, the latest route gets the shiny new things whilst the older routes are starved of any kind of investment.

Quackster · 13-09-2018 9:36pm

Playing devil's advocate, they have been willing to open routes that nobody else had shown interest in as well. In Kerry, the BÉ Expressway monopoly was crucifying us with fares completely out of kilter with similar journeys elsewhere on the Expressway network where BÉ had competition.

Now BÉ charges reasonable fares on the Kerry-Limerick Expressway routes whereas fares on Kerry-Cork, on which BÉ still has a monopoly, are the guts of twice the price.

devnull · 13-09-2018 9:42pm

Quackster wrote: »

Playing devil's advocate, they have been willing to open routes that nobody else had shown interest in as well. In Kerry, the BÉ Expressway monopoly was crucifying us with fares completely out of kilter with similar journeys elsewhere on the Expressway network where BÉ had competition.

Now BÉ charges reasonable fares on the Kerry-Limerick Expressway routes whereas fares on Kerry-Cork, on which BÉ still has a monopoly, are the guts of twice the price.

Oh for sure competition on the Intercity Network is a good thing.

The problem with Dublin Coach is that with the exception of the Belfast route, the whole thing feels like it's run as cheaply as possible on as little investment as possible, so not hard to have cheaper fares when you are spending the bare minimum on running the operation day to day.

Someone steps on the Belfast route and sees a brand new coach in good condition, timetables that are friendly and quick journey times and a decent fare and they have a good impression of the company. However the rest of passengers on the other routes have an altogether different experience and their custom almost feels taken for granted.

road_high · 13-09-2018 9:56pm

Have to say I wouldn't fancy heading all the way to Kerry on one of their filthy, smelly coaches. The ventilation system didn't appear to be working so I can only imagine what the hot weather was like on the one I was on today.

Yer Da sells Avon · 13-09-2018 10:01pm

I've never been on one of their buses, thankfully, but I was driving behind one recently on the N7 and had to overtake it (it was doing more than 100km/h, incidentally) because of the filthy black smoke it was producing.

road_high · 15-09-2018 1:39am

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

I've never been on one of their buses, thankfully, but I was driving behind one recently on the N7 and had to overtake it (it was doing more than 100km/h, incidentally) because of the filthy black smoke it was producing.

I can tell you it’s not a whole lot better sitting inside!

sirmanga · 18-09-2018 5:57pm

Using Dublin Coach for the Waterford to Cork route to travel to UCC three days a week.
And the only bus that runs on time has been the first bus at 6.35am that gets to Cork at 8.15am.

The 8.35am service has been at least 40 minutes late every morning. Sometimes an hour. It's supposed to get in to Cork at 10.15am. My classes start at 11 and 12, so this bus would be perfect for me.
But now I'm having to get the 6.35 bus every morning just to make sure I'm there on time. Then hanging around Cork for hours every morning just because Dublin Coach are outrageously late, with no explanation or apology.

punisher5112 · 18-09-2018 6:12pm

Send a complaint to Anne Graham CEO NTA

dhaughton99 · 18-09-2018 6:12pm

I pass the ‘depot’ every other night and amount of buses they have outside that they seem to use for parts is stunning. They had a double decker parked outside, which was set up for doing eye tests on behalf of Pfizer last week.

Jamie2k9 · 25-09-2018 12:19am

My recent experience a driver who couldn't understand any English, not even where the bus stops. Our coach was delayed waiting for a driver change over and the delay was the bus ran out of fuel and they had to stop en route.

road_high · 25-09-2018 6:27pm

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

My recent experience a driver who couldn't understand any English, not even where the bus stops. Our coach was delayed waiting for a driver change over and the delay was the bus ran out of fuel and they had to stop en route.

The fuel gauges probably don't work!

Odyssey 2005 · 25-09-2018 6:36pm

road_high wrote: »

The fuel gauges probably don't work!

You spelt card wrong.:)

Truckermal · 25-09-2018 6:45pm

One broken down at the Portlaoise Toll Plaza earlier!

patrickc · 25-09-2018 11:39pm

theres a 12 setra on the go with a missing tail light the last week that I've seen it, also one of those new double decker ones in the same condition.

Odyssey 2005 · 29-09-2018 6:50pm

Couldn't pick a better place to breakdown. Chaos in Doolin an lunchtime.still there now and it's 18.50. To make things worse the relief bus blocked the other side of the road to load the pax.

Odyssey 2005 · 29-09-2018 6:51pm

Couldn't pick a better place to breakdown. Chaos in Doolin an lunchtime.still there now and it's 18.50. To make things worse the relief bus blocked the other side of the road to load the pax.

Odyssey 2005 · 29-09-2018 6:54pm

WishUWereHere · 30-09-2018 2:17pm

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

..

Stupid question: From wheredid the spare bus depart to get there? Did it have to go down from Knockmitten? The breakdown must have blocked the street for hours.

Odyssey 2005 · 30-09-2018 7:49pm

WishUWereHere wrote: »

Stupid question: From wheredid the spare bus depart to get there? Did it have to go down from Knockmitten? The breakdown must have blocked the street for hours.

Yep came from Dublin. Broke down at lunchtime and wasn't moved until 20.10

.
Place was chaos until about 5.
Mechanics from Dublin also. Saw the same driver today in a Darby o gill coach. Hope they scrap the decker. POS.

dhaughton99 · 30-09-2018 8:03pm

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

Yep came from Dublin. Broke down at lunchtime and wasn't moved until 20.10 .
Place was chaos until about 5.
Mechanics from Dublin also. Saw the same driver today in a Darby o gill coach. Hope they scrap the decker. POS.

Do they have any other depots apart from the one in Knockmitten?

punisher5112 · 30-09-2018 8:34pm

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

Yep came from Dublin. Broke down at lunchtime and wasn't moved until 20.10 .
Place was chaos until about 5.
Mechanics from Dublin also. Saw the same driver today in a Darby o gill coach. Hope they scrap the decker. POS.

I thought those vanhools were a great coach??

I'm sure though they have had a hard life previous.

_Kaiser_ · 02-10-2018 11:33pm

Saw a double deck earlier with the front display apparently dead (sign in the window). More concerning though was the rear engine cover pretty much hanging off.

Are these vehicles not required to be CVRT'd annually? You'd have to wonder how any of them pass.

colm_mcm · 02-10-2018 11:52pm

Was behind a 2009 this morning in Limerick, not sure if it was tye Vanhool Astromega they got from Scotland, but it looked in amazing condition for the age.

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 03-10-2018 12:08am

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Saw a double deck earlier with the front display apparently dead (sign in the window). More concerning though was the rear engine cover pretty much hanging off.

Are these vehicles not required to be CVRT'd annually? You'd have to wonder how any of them pass.

I’m of the opinion that CVRT testing is either conducted in-house or via someone well associated

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 03-10-2018 9:07am

colm_mcm wrote: »

Was behind a 2009 this morning in Limerick, not sure if it was tye Vanhool Astromega they got from Scotland, but it looked in amazing condition for the age.

It looks like a 2009 now, after 6 months with them it will look like a 1989.

end of the road · 03-10-2018 1:51pm

Roberto Square Hangman wrote: »

It looks like a 2009 now, after 6 months with them it will look like a 1989.

that's an insult to a 1989 coach tbh.

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 03-10-2018 1:52pm

end of the road wrote: »

that's an insult to a 1989 coach tbh.

Not just a 1989 coach, any well maintained coach.

The Dublin Coach Experience

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