Swords-Dublin Express Bus Service

John R

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Mortons and Matthews I believe, according to telephone conversations I had last week with reliable sources.

Ah, yes. Indeed Matthews do, I had forgotten about them.

Victor

Some images from the day.

AlekSmart

Good to see a smooth start to the SE operation.
Interesting to see the Urbus involvement as they have been one of the more impressive of the private licenced operations way out there in North County Dublin.
Does this mean that SE is now an Eirebus operation or is Antoin still the Licence Holder for SE ?
Is there a sub-contract element involved ?

The main reasons for my asking this is the current somewhat odd situation with the Patton Flyer on the Southside,which from Media Reports confirmed by the Dept has operated a full service since July with No licence whatever ?

Oddly enough after the initial Press reports on this,there has been little or no follow up....wonder what the SP is out in the Borough.... ? :rolleyes:

antoinolachtnai

It's a subcontract and our company is the licence holder. Don't know anything about PF other than that it's very popular and the people in Dun Laoghaire think it's great.

Sizzler

I hope I'm wrong for AOL's sake but I think the service could do so much better if it included some of the higher density areas around the town.

Also people who have invested in bus tickets for the year are invaribaly not going to even contemplate using this service till their ticket runs out.

Wishbone Ash

I travelled on this service today and was very impressed.


I got the 8.09am from outside Penny's. About 20 people boarded and we departed at 8.13am. The drivers was 'Robbie' (he had his name displayed). Approx. 7 more boarded at Pinnock Hill and then it was none stop to Dublin. We emerged from the Port tunnel at 8.26am and it was a bit slow from then on particularly on the East Wall Road A lot of passengers alighted in the IFSC area. Reached Georges Quay at 8.43am. A very impressive 30 minutes at peak time!

I got the 3.24pm service home. About 8 boarded in Eden Quay and we left at 3.29pm picking up one more passenger at the IFSC. The left lane of the tunnel was closed. I thought the return driver (no name displayed) drove far too close to the oil tanker in front of us initially but eased off after a km or two. We we out on the M1 proper at 3.45pm and on the R132 at 3.49pm. We reached the pavilions SC at 3.55pm. Total 26 minutes!

I noticed that everyone had the correct fare even though I didn't see any signage indicating that this was necessary.

Both drivers were well groomed and presentable.

The buses were 48 seater Vanhool Arizees. The appeared to have plenty of poke, were comfortable and had seat belts, footrests and armrests.

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There are a few matters that need addressing in my opinion.

* It would be helpful if the drivers announced when the bus has reached the last stop especially considering that it is a new service and passengers may not be familiar with the route.

* The return bus dropped us off on the Pavilions Roundabout - very inappropriate and potentially dangerous. I don't know whether this was the driver's decision or company policy.

* The bus parks half on the road and half on the footpath outside Ray Burke's former home between journeys. Inappropriate, illegal and potentially dangerous. I noticed a foot patrol Garda taking an interest in this. Again, I don't know if this is a driver's decision or company policy.

And finally, apologies for being pedantic but the word 'Pavilion' is misspelled on the sides of the buses, on the timetable, on the ticket issuing machine and on the tickets themselves. :eek:

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Overall, it was a very positive experience and I will certainly be availing of it again.

Well done antoin!

penexpers

Metrobest wrote: »

I really hope you can prove to the public that private buses can do a better job than the Dublin Bus monopoly.

There weren't any complaints when the 41x was using the port tunnel.

Sizzler

penexpers wrote: »

There weren't any complaints when the 41x was using the port tunnel.

Exactly, just as quick, cheaper and better route.

mickoneill30

Sizzler wrote: »

Exactly, just as quick, cheaper and better route.

And absolutely packed (the Rivervalley one anyway) and frequently full after stop 4 or 5 of the 11 stops that it stops at in Swords. When I asked if there was any possibility of any extra buses I was told there was nothing they could do. What would a private operator do if his buses were packed every time? More customers = more money. It seems the port tunnel caught them by surprise too and they let a private operator get in an application before them. If only they'd known that the council were building a tunnel into the city. Why can't Dublin Bus be informed about this kind of stuff instead of just coming along one day and seeing a shiny new tunnel.
I live right beside stop 10. I used to have to get up earlier and walk for 20 mins down to stop 1 and then have a nice trip around Rivervalley / Boroimhe for a further 10 / 15 mins (just to get back where I started). And that was still better than getting the non express bus. So before I got anywhere I'd been on the go for 30 - 35 mins watching the people who can't figure out bus routes put out their hands at a full bus around stops 6 and above. I wasn't alone.

As for coming home, have either of the posters above been on the 41Xs during the evening? Gardner St. is lovely at this time of the year. You can spend 20 mins on an average day on your 41X gazing out at it.

As a disclaimer I think Dublin Bus are great, cheap and reasonably reliable. But as a priority I want to get in and out of the city quick. If a private operator will do that better for an extra €1 or €2 then I'll be sitting on that bus.

bk

mickoneill30 wrote:

And absolutely packed (the Rivervalley one anyway) and frequently full after stop 4 or 5 of the 11 stops that it stops at in Swords. When I asked if there was any possibility of any extra buses I was told there was nothing they could do. What would a private operator do if his buses were packed every time? More customers = more money.

In fairness, DB want to buy more buses and put them on all routes, but it is the government that has been blocking DB from expanding it's fleet over the last few years.

The government has been blocking DB because the EU wants the government to open up the market to private competition, but the government has been doing it in a typically half arsed way.

mickoneill30

While I agree with you that the government have been messing about Dublin Bus I don't think Dublin Bus are entirely powerless. Antoin is providing 28 express routes into the city each day with 4 buses. The 41X (Rivervalley) timetable didn't change at all this year when the new timetable came out. It's been pretty full since last year. At the least they could have changed a couple of 41Cs in the morning to 41Xs and rejigged the timetable a bit. I'm sure doing that is complicated and requires planning but I'm also sure it's doable.

We really need our government ministers and civil servants to use public transport on a day to day basis. I'm pretty sure we'd see huge improvements pretty quickly if that was the case. I've frequently see Bertie come out of his Drumcondra office, step into his waiting car (that's usually parked on the path) and then get chauffeured up the bus lane. He must think traffic is great.

Sizzler

^^ A lad I work with lives in Boroimhe and he got the 8am 41x service this morning, two 41x's actually turned up and both stopped at the last bus stop in Boroimhe, and both went through the port tunnel, he was in town in 25 mins.

Obviously if you needed to be in work before 830 then this wouldnt have been much use but at least you have the option.

AlekSmart

Micko30,I`d have to disagree with you about the power of Dublin Bus to act in situations such as the 41X.
Up to 2002 Dublin Bus had a somewhat more relaxed relationship with the Dept which allowed for a degree of flexibility in responding to rapidly developing situations.

However in the aftermath of the signing of the "Memorandum of Understanding" between the Company and Dept the situation became a trifle more....emmmm....regularized...:rolleyes:

This essentially means more Civil Service friendly as it now became obvious that we had accquired a second deputy sub principle assistant (grade 6) to oversee the workings of the company.

The 41X situation and latterly the 25X situation in Adamstown saw the company`s customers recieve a swift Departmental kick in the Goolies after the EXTRA buses allocated to it were forcibly removed by Departmental diktat.

Irrespective of arguements on this board and elsewhere about Dublin Bus vs The Private Sector et al,the REAL problem lies in Dublin`s Public Transport being under the control of Proffessional Civil Servants whose appreciation for Public Transport reality is somewhat dulled by their remoteness from its use.

If one reads through some of the stuff coming from the Ministers desk one gets a sense of how situations such as Section 25,sub section 7,paragraphs 3 to 17 as amended by Sections 4 to 9 of the Shannon Waterways Act 1959 is used constantly to explain away Departmental Decisons to order the removal of Buses at 24 Hrs notice from parts of Dublin which in accessibility terms may as well be in Mayo.

The problem is quite simple.....Lack of Interest. :eek:

mickoneill30

Sizzler wrote: »

^^ A lad I work with lives in Boroimhe and he got the 8am 41x service this morning, two 41x's actually turned up and both stopped at the last bus stop in Boroimhe, and both went through the port tunnel, he was in town in 25 mins.

Obviously if you needed to be in work before 830 then this wouldnt have been much use but at least you have the option.

There seem to be a few extra 41Xs on over the last week. I was waiting on the Swords Express bus this morning at Texaco when a 41X came to the stop with 5 people on it. A few weeks ago the buses were jam packed and Dublin Bus couldn't find a spare bus anywhere. Now they've managed to put on extra buses just as a new carrier comes online. If I was a suspicious person I'd say they were putting on extra buses to damage Swords Express.

Wishbone Ash

mickoneill30 wrote: »

If I was a suspicious person I'd say they were putting on extra buses to damage Swords Express.

Just like in Dublin Airport. Anytime a private operator introduces a new route or upgrades an existing service, Dublin Bus or Bus Eireann always manage to revamp their existing service.

Sizzler

mickoneill30 wrote: »

There seem to be a few extra 41Xs on over the last week. I was waiting on the Swords Express bus this morning at Texaco when a 41X came to the stop with 5 people on it. A few weeks ago the buses were jam packed and Dublin Bus couldn't find a spare bus anywhere. Now they've managed to put on extra buses just as a new carrier comes online. If I was a suspicious person I'd say they were putting on extra buses to damage Swords Express.

And which bus did you take

Competition is good as the consumer is obviously benefitting here

Soccerette

Does anyone know whether the 8.40am service from Swords is as busy as the earlier ones when it reaches the Texaco garage? Thinking of leaving it till the later service but if it's as busy as the earlier ones it'll probably just whizz past me like the 8am bus did this morning :mad:

Victor

Soccerette wrote: »

Does anyone know whether the 8.40am service from Swords is as busy as the earlier ones when it reaches the Texaco garage? Thinking of leaving it till the later service but if it's as busy as the earlier ones it'll probably just whizz past me like the 8am bus did this morning :mad:

Drop antoinolachtnai a private message.

Soccerette

Victor wrote: »

Drop antoinolachtnai a private message.

Great - cheers