Anyone noticed the Dart service is seriously getting bad?

Johnny Versace

I used to think the bus service was bad, but it hurts me to say the Dart service is now worse.

I rely on it heavily, and lately I've noticed there are problems EVERY DAY.

Example...

Tomorrow there will be no Darts southside
Today I found Pearse and Tara street closed for some reason, so had to walk to connolly
Yesterday a train broke down and I was sitting in a station for 45 minutes
The previous day there were delays for 40 minutes for some reason
The previous previous day long delays again...

It's become a joke. I simply cannot rely on them whatsoever anymore.

They're making Dublin Bus look great...

Victor

http://www.irishrail.ie/dart/news_centre/travel_alerts.asp?action=view&news_id=66

BrianD

Well, unless you live under a stone you would have known that there no DARTS south of Connolly and between Howth and Howth Junction!

senordingdong

I agree with Johnny on this one, regardless of easter and the dart upgrade. Even at times when there was no delays iv had to wait up to a half an hour for a dart whcih is ridiculous, not to mention the snails pace the thing travels at and the ridiculous prices.
Its a joke.
And yes...sometimes it does make Dublin Bus look more appealing.

senordingdong

In fact...come to think of it...i remember when the dart upgrade was workin on the southside and i was waitin three quarters of an hour for a dart....and there was no irregualr delays.
They must have figured theyd need less trains on account of the delays.

Idiots.

senordingdong

Not to mention the the filth of the feckin thing.

senordingdong

Oh and do you want to know what really pisses me off? Well im gonna tell you anyway! When they change drivers at Clontarf....and the sons of bitches feel the need to have a twenty minute chat, nobody knows what about but i can bet you that its not about methods of making the dart go faster!

Hence making an already slow and late train, even later.

senordingdong

You could even say that i hate CIE.

nlgbbbblth

I get a train from Newbridge to Heuston, then the 90/90A/91 bus to Eden Quay and then the DART to Blackrock every morning with the reverse journey in the evening.

the DART is the most unreliable part of the journey.

what really bugs me is when I tell people of the commute I do and they come out with the totally inane/inaccurate statement like "Oh the DART's great isn't it?"

these are the very people who insist on driving everywhere - on their own - and clogging up our roads.

The DART was never great, it sucks.

loyatemu

hey senor - you can edit your posts you know - rather than posting 6 times in a row.

the DART has been fairly unreliable recently but when it is running on time it is quicker and more comfortable than the bus and less stressful than driving so i guess you just have to take your chances...

Johnny Versace

Originally posted by senordingdong
Oh and do you want to know what really pisses me off? Well im gonna tell you anyway! When they change drivers at Clontarf....and the sons of bitches feel the need to have a twenty minute chat, nobody knows what about but i can bet you that its not about methods of making the dart go faster!

Hence making an already slow and late train, even later.

Yes! I work in East Point Business Park, and this point really bugs me...

I've now decided to walk to work. It takes me 45 minutes, but at least I know my journey will be consistant!

And I'm getting fit...

And saving 80 quid a month...

senordingdong

80 quid? youd spend 80 quid a month on that heap of ****e?
You're right...you ARE better off.

And what the hell are you talking about loyatemu?
"the DART has been fairly unreliable recently but when it is running on time it is quicker and more comfortable than the bus and less stressful than driving so i guess you just have to take your chances..."


Its NEVER on time.

John R

With all of this unreliability and late running I wonder why IE are so keen on increasing capacity, buying new trains, relaying tracks, replacing the OHLE, upgrading the power supply network, refurbishing the original 20 year old fleet and adding flexibility to the signalling system?

It couldn't be because they are trying to improve the service could it?

ixoy

Originally posted by John R
With all of this unreliability and late running I wonder why IE are so keen on increasing capacity, buying new trains, relaying tracks, replacing the OHLE, upgrading the power supply network, refurbishing the original 20 year old fleet and adding flexibility to the signalling system?

It couldn't be because they are trying to improve the service could it?

Yes but the service currently seeems worse than ever. Every day we have to pause outside Connolly whilst they do whatever they have to do (when we get in, generally, all the platforms were free so it wasn't a case of moving many trains). There's the fact that, when these delays occur, there's generally no message from the driver as to why we're delayed or how long we'll be. That's a simple courtesy that would cost nothing.

As much as anything else, it's the attitude of CIE that has everyone so irate. The chat at Clontarf garages is another example of this. It's a complete two-fingers to their customers. It's not as if we'd have the option of taking our business elsewhere.

As to these vast improvements, they appear to be at huge cost in both monetary and convenience terms and cannot be counted as worthwhile until we've actually seen proof of their implementation.

BrianD

Lets face it the delays at the Fairview depot are relatively minor. The big problem seems to be the congestion around Connolly. This area is supposed to upgraded to increase capacity but now has been deferred. With all the extra services on the Maynooth line and outer suburban lines the situation will not get better until Brennan drops the Metro White Elephant and puts some money into the existing infrastructure TODAY!

loyatemu

Its NEVER on time.

that's an exaggeration - it's rarely more than 10 minutes late. Adtmittedly that's still not great but it's better than the bus.

And the delay at fairview, while annoying, is never 20 minutes. The longest I've ever been stopped there is maybe 3 minutes and it's usually no more than 30 seconds.

senordingdong

Originally posted by loyatemu
Its NEVER on time.

that's an exaggeration - it's rarely more than 10 minutes late. Adtmittedly that's still not great but it's better than the bus.

And the delay at fairview, while annoying, is never 20 minutes. The longest I've ever been stopped there is maybe 3 minutes and it's usually no more than 30 seconds.

I beg to differ...the dart is often late, as mentioned earier; with "no reason or explanation."
And no i dont believe thats better than the bus. Anyone can understand how buses get caught in traffic, stuck behind traffic lights and other delays that are associated with roads...the dart has none of these problems but still fails to be on time.
I also feel that the slowness of the dart is a contributor to this, it wouldnt kill them to go a little faster, especially if theyre already running late.

As for the delay at Fairview, i was stuck there for twenty minutes once, while the drivers switching places (who were obviously good friends) had a long chat.
As if that wasnt enough, when we were within thirty seconds distance of connoly station, the dart stopped again for a furhter ten minutes to wait on and allow an arrow train coming from a different track cut ahead of us.

I wouldnt have minded but i was genuinly in a hurry that day.

John R

Originally posted by senordingdong
I beg to differ...the dart is often late, as mentioned earier; with "no reason or explanation."

Just because you don't know why it is late doesn't mean there is no reason.

And no i dont believe thats better than the bus. Anyone can understand how buses get caught in traffic, stuck behind traffic lights and other delays that are associated with roads...the dart has none of these problems but still fails to be on time.
I also feel that the slowness of the dart is a contributor to this, it wouldnt kill them to go a little faster, especially if theyre already running late.

No, it wouldn't kill them. It would kill them, you, other passengers on your train and probably others as well. Trains are not like road vehicles, you can't just go a bit faster if you are late, you can't jump a red light and get away with it and you can't just nip in before the train on the other track. Unlike motorists in this country train operators are very well trained with safety as the most important priority.

As for the delay at Fairview, i was stuck there for twenty minutes once, while the drivers switching places (who were obviously good friends) had a long chat.
As if that wasnt enough, when we were within thirty seconds distance of connoly station, the dart stopped again for a furhter ten minutes to wait on and allow an arrow train coming from a different track cut ahead of us.

I wouldnt have minded but i was genuinly in a hurry that day.

Do you seriously believe the train was stopped for 20 minutes because the drivers were chatting? Did you check to see if the signal was green? Did you ask the drivers what the delay was? Did you complain to a member of staff that you thought the drivers were not doing their job, either at the time or later? Can you give a date and time of this incident so your accusation can be checked?

ixoy

Originally posted by John R
Do you seriously believe the train was stopped for 20 minutes because the drivers were chatting? Did you check to see if the signal was green? Did you ask the drivers what the delay was?

Did the driver have the manners to tell the passengers what the delay was? I bet he didn't. That's one of the things that really irritates me. He/She has the ability to communicate with us all at the flick of a switch, inform us about the delay. Instead they are seen to be chatting outside and being incredibly ignorant often. No wonder they don't gain much sympathy. There of course exceptions to this, but the previous example is clearly not one of them.

Johnny Versace

Anyone ever been to Germany? You can set your watch by the trains.

...

Sometimes the Darts come early. Why don't they wait in the station until the time that they're actually supposed to be in the station? I think this seems logical, but they are unable to do this.

froggie_1

i live in Galway at the mo and dont depent on public transport, nos cos i have a car, i walk everywhere!
but i did live in Dublin and its the old story in this country...everything done half assed. "twil do" attitude. well it wont fcukin do and i for one (as are the rest of ye) am really sick of it. its comical the way things are done in this country. I mean can we do anything right?
we are, as a politician whose name i cant remember put it, a lounge bar nation.
were too busy going for a few scoops and talkin bout how locked we were the other nite to do things properly. many excuses are offered for the lack of public transport in this country. Dublin should have had an underground years ago, but our govt. always had bigger problems: The North and so forth. It kinda represents all thats bad bout our little country:
cost of living too high.
salaries are brutal
lack of infrastructure
no competition for most service providers
corrupt govt.
road works take months to complete instead of days, cos they wont do them at night!

as Johnny says one look at any german city, New York, or Paris and u can see how it SHOULD be done,

this country is really startin to wreck my head. (sorry if im veerin off topic)

Stark

Anyone who complains about Dublin Bus should move to Cork sometime. I mean the buses are every 7 minutes, and people kick up an awful steam when one doesn't arrive (it just means you're waiting 10-15 mins). In Cork, if the drivers are feeling lazy then you could be waiting at least an hour for a bus and that isn't even during rush hour. It seems they decide to do their bit during rush hour, then when it's off-peak time they don't bother. And don't get me started on the whole "having a chat while changing driver" thing. Or bus drivers deciding to take a break in the middle of a journey, leaving the bus for 20 mins without telling the passengers what's going on or anything.

I've been living in Dublin for a year and I found Dublin Bus to be nothing short of top-notch reliable. I was down in Cork for a day a month ago and I ended up waiting an hour and a half for a bus (they're supposed to be every 15 mins) when I should have just walked the 45 mins home (that's the worst thing, you never know when you're in for a long wait so you don't know whether to start walking home. And you always think if you've been waiting for ages, that most of the wait should be over).

Johnny Versace

Stark - Dublin Bus has dramatically improved along my (old) route - the 46a.

I think other parts of Dublin might be badly serviced though.

Stark

I use the 123 bus regulary and have never had a problem with it even when the drivers would have had an excuse not to show up (generally CIE don't need much of an excuse). Also when I've had to use other buses to various parts of Dublin, I haven't had a problem.

Would be nice when people are complaining if they could provide examples, how long they were waiting etc.

senordingdong

Originally posted by John R
Just because you don't know why it is late doesn't mean there is no reason.

Thats true but it is a recurring thing. It hasnt just happened once or twice but every time if used the dart in the last year. Im just arguing that if a bus is two or three minutes late, it is accpetable if the bus was stuck in traffic, whereas the dart suffers the same problem, it doesnt have the same excuses.
This bugs me because the dart is supposed to be a quicker more reliable form of transport than dublin bus.

Originally posted by John R
No, it wouldn't kill them. It would kill them, you, other passengers on your train and probably others as well. Trains are not like road vehicles, you can't just go a bit faster if you are late, you can't jump a red light and get away with it and you can't just nip in before the train on the other track. Unlike motorists in this country train operators are very well trained with safety as the most important priority.[/B]

It would only kill them, me, the other passengers etc...if they crashed, which is unlikely becasue "train operators are very well trained with safety as the most important priority"
Im not questioning the drivers, but what bugged me most about that other incident is while waiting those ten minutes for the arrow train to over take, the dart could have pulled into conolly station and left.

[/B]

Originally posted by John R
Do you seriously believe the train was stopped for 20 minutes because the drivers were chatting? Did you check to see if the signal was green? Did you ask the drivers what the delay was? Did you complain to a member of staff that you thought the drivers were not doing their job, either at the time or later? Can you give a date and time of this incident so your accusation can be checked? [/B]

Yes i do believe that, infact, i know it, and im not only stubborn enough to stick to it, i can expalin it. I was in the front carriage sitting on the left side of the train. The train stopped as per usual and after a few minutes i noticed we were still stopped. I turned off the music i was listening to and could not only here other passengers complain amongst themselves but we could faintly hear the conversation the drivers were having, i dont believe they were discussing the dart as loud laughter could be heard every now and again in theyre conversation. Then, only after the first driver could be seen walking away from the train towards the garage did the dart start moving again.
Yes i did complain, to the complaints officer that just happened to be sitting next to me...what the hell differrence would it have made if i complained? It had already happened and i had been made late. The conductor doesnt have a magic wand to turn back time and make me not late just because i complained about the incident.

senordingdong

Originally posted by froggie_1
Dublin should have had an underground years ago, but our govt. always had bigger problems: The North and so forth.

Dublin cant have an underground, to give a rough explanaition...
In other countries that hve an underground system, the law states that a person only owns the land under his house as far as ten feet down, whereas the law here states that if you own a house, you own all the land underneath it, all the way to the centre of the earth.
Therefore the government cant just burrow underneath peoples homes because....well its pretty obbvious why they cant, i dont need to expalin any more, just look at the port tunnel.