calling on all bus users in dublin 15

confused-dazed

i found this on a bus i got in the last few days and thought all bus users in dublin 15 should see it.

Random

The fact that the buses are beyond packed at peak times as it is pretty much means people are gonna return to bringing their cars.

Stinjy

thats madness buses are scarse enough as it is and they had ads looking for new bus drivers not too long ago aswell!!

Naos

Big deal.

9 buse's to be taken out, that won't change much. The buses never come on time anyway.

kazzpop

Naos wrote: »

Big deal.

9 buse's to be taken out, that won't change much. The buses never come on time anyway.

Did you ever think why buses never come on time? -

Traffic chaos in city centre most reasons why ... plus non bus users using bus lanes, on average i would say the 37 comes on time......... maybe a min or too out the 39 never comes on time - shopping centre holds it up mostly....
Its not drivers fault that the bus is late, its traffic.. weather conditions, etc......
Public transport is for the public.... so make an effort and support it

oblivious

kazzpop wrote: »

Traffic chaos in city centre most reasons why ... plus non bus users using bus lanes, on average i would say the 37 comes on time......... maybe a min or too out the 39 never comes on time - shopping centre holds it up mostly....
Its not drivers fault that the bus is late, its traffic.. weather conditions, etc......
Public transport is for the public.... so make an effort and support it

An some some very bad plaining of routes, with the continuous extension of the 39 route

ParkRunner

kazzpop wrote: »

Did you ever think why buses never come on time? -

Traffic chaos in city centre most reasons why ... plus non bus users using bus lanes, on average i would say the 37 comes on time......... maybe a min or too out the 39 never comes on time - shopping centre holds it up mostly....
Its not drivers fault that the bus is late, its traffic.. weather conditions, etc......
Public transport is for the public.... so make an effort and support it

€4.40 to get the bus from Blanchardstown to and from town everyday. A wait of about 15-20 minutes for a 39 is not unusual. Chances are you won't get a seat or you will be sitting upstairs in a smoke filled atmosphere and/or someone deciding that they will be dj for the day putting their phone on loudspeaker. I gladly walk the extra 15 minutes to the train station

Hard Larry

I can't believe they are making cuts in D15.

I thought the cuts would come on routes near the Luas.

To hit these routes makes no sense. Its not like the buses are ever empty especially the ones going through the Town Center.

The way I looked at it was, if the country is in recession won't more people be inclined to use public transport and use their cars less? Surely someone in Dublin Bus can see this.

oblivious

Hard Larry wrote: »

I can't believe they are making cuts in D15..

I really thought that Leo Varadkar you start showing an interest in the area, nothing on his site about it

Nevyn

Email him about it with the attched img and tell us if he gets back to you .

glossy

confused-dazed wrote: »

i found this on a bus i got in the last few days and thought all bus users in dublin 15 should see it.

Thanks for the info,

WonderAmy

confused-dazed wrote: »

i found this on a bus i got in the last few days and thought all bus users in dublin 15 should see it.

Its no good that the bus company is cutting the buses in the Dublin 15 area. They should be cutting the buses that they have on certain bus route's for example the 46a you could be standing at a bus stop for over half an hour or more waiting for a bus and at least one 46a will pass you every few min's.

I do be around the Dublin 15 area and I find the buses are OK but there could be more routes around the area and Dublin Bus should not be taking the buses away.

Gaspode

I dont understand how companies like Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus come to some of their decisions!

They are in the business first and foremost of providing buses, and AFAIK that's their one and only function, and their one and only source of income.
So if they have difficulties with losses or high costs, surely the last thing they should do is cut back on the one income earner they have??

They should be clearing out the background staff, management, etc (no offence folks!) but certainly not letting drivers go or dropping routes.

It's very hard to see the logic of the decisions, except to suspect that the decisions were made by the very managers who would be in the firing line if drivers, routes and services were kept!!

Either way, customers seem to be way way down the list of priorities here.

Zaph

I heard a guy on the radio from Dublin Bus a couple of weeks ago explaining the logic behind the decision to cut back on certain routes. The way they looked at it was that overall passenger journeys are down, so obviously fewer people are using the buses, which means they need fewer buses. All fine so far, can't argue with that. He gave two reasons for journey numbers being down. First, a large number of immigrants have gone back home and they were heavy bus users. D15 has a large immigrant population, so it stands to reason (by Dublin Bus's logic) that they've all gone home so they won't need as many buses there to transport them. Second, and this was the one I really loved, unemployment figures are up so people aren't using the bus to go to work. Surely if people are unemployed they're more likely to use the bus than their car as it's cheaper? It's not as if they've stopped needing to get from A to B just because they haven't a job. In fact they're probably more likely to need regular transport for interviews and job-hunting. Maybe I was imagining things recently, but if Dublin Bus are to believed clearly nobody in D15 has lost their job lately.

katzenjammer

*sigh* ..... Seems like only yesterday there was soft, sweet murmurings of a shiny new bus service which would head straight into town via the phoenix park....:(

Turbulent Bill

Zaph wrote: »

I heard a guy on the radio from Dublin Bus a couple of weeks ago explaining the logic behind the decision to cut back on certain routes. The way they looked at it was that overall passenger journeys are down, so obviously fewer people are using the buses, which means they need fewer buses. All fine so far, can't argue with that. He gave two reasons for journey numbers being down. First, a large number of immigrants have gone back home and they were heavy bus users. D15 has a large immigrant population, so it stands to reason (by Dublin Bus's logic) that they've all gone home so they won't need as many buses there to transport them. Second, and this was the one I really loved, unemployment figures are up so people aren't using the bus to go to work. Surely if people are unemployed they're more likely to use the bus than their car as it's cheaper? It's not as if they've stopped needing to get from A to B just because they haven't a job. In fact they're probably more likely to need regular transport for interviews and job-hunting. Maybe I was imagining things recently, but if Dublin Bus are to believed clearly nobody in D15 has lost their job lately.

I'm no fan of Dublin Bus, but if cuts have to be made it's better that additional services at peak times be reduced, i.e., have less frequent services at peak times but keep a constant timetable during the day. DB has to keep its public service obligation - retaining the (presumably profitable) peak services and cutting less busy buses would go against this. Due to unemployment, immigrants returning home etc. it's natural that peak demand would reduce - most commuters travel at peak times.

The biggest problems for D15 buses are unrealistic journey times (leading to the timetables breaking down), continuous extension of the 39 service and the lack of bus tracking - it's impossible to plan when you don't know when a bus will actually arrive.

oblivious

Hi all

Here is an email from Leo varadkar on the matter


I was in touch with the local area manager
for Dublin Bus who is a very decent guy and has always been on the level
with me. He tells me that the cuts will be minimal given the massive fall
off in passengers using the bus across Dublin since the recession began.
However, I am sure that there will be some impact in terms of reduced
frequency.

Dublin Bus is already heavily subsidised and the subsidy was increased
this year though this was ofset by reductions in the fuel subsidy.
Needless to say, it's all borrowed money and no government could afford to
subsidise CIE even more.

It seems to me that the management should have tried to negotiate a
cost-cutting programme with the unions including voluntary redundancy and
reductions in pay and allowences if necessary. If the unions agreed to it,
jobs could have been saved and services maintained or even improved.

Where buses are taken out of the system, Dublin Bus should not be allowed
to spread the cuts over all routes. Rather the Minister should force them
to give up some of their routes to private operators.

Across the public and private sector, people are taking cuts in pay and
benefits to maintain jobs and services. I'm down 14% since already. I
don't think the CIE companies should be any different.

Regards



Leo

frecklier

The 39 is a joke. I used to get it when I lived in Clonsilla. Coming from town, after an hour on the bus, you'd get to Molloy's Liqour Store in Coolmine, just a short trip from home, and it would suddenly turn right and continue for another half hour through the shopping centre. I stopped getting it.
Why not have some 39's that go through the centre, and some that go through the village, and some that go express into town?
Dublin Bus could up their numbers if they did a strategic revamp of their services. Where I now live, i get the 120. It goes every 10 minutes during the whole day. Totally unnecessary, especially since most of the buses get delayed at the train crossing, and you can end up having 3 of them arriving in town at the same time. Could easily be reduced to every 20 minutes outside of peak hours.
Why should we the public be subsidising Dublin Bus to continue with their archaic, inefficient practices?

AlekSmart

€4.40 to get the bus from Blanchardstown to and from town everyday.

EF,yer robbin yourself,get a Travel90 twn-trip smartcard for €18 and youre saving 80c a day straight away and more if you need to hop on another bus within 90 mins of first use.

Leo Varadakar`s response is quite interesting as it comes from one of the few politicians who seems interested in the concept of Public Transport for itself rather than for lining the pockets of yet more "Seanie Fitz" types (Of which the industry has quite a few)

I was in touch with the local area manager
for Dublin Bus who is a very decent guy and has always been on the level
with me. He tells me that the cuts will be minimal given the massive fall
off in passengers using the bus across Dublin since the recession began.
However, I am sure that there will be some impact in terms of reduced
frequency.

I assume this to be Gareth Quinn at Phibsboro,and whilst his description of such cut`s as minimal may be well intentioned it simply cannot be accurate in the context of the amount of vehicles and staff being removed.
There appears to be a belief on the company`s part that these cuts will be accompanied by some magical new Bus Priority Initiatives from God or some other entity and unless these are actually forthcoming then its going to be a DISASTER for D15`s Bus users



Dublin Bus is already heavily subsidised and the subsidy was increased
this year though this was ofset by reductions in the fuel subsidy.
Needless to say, it's all borrowed money and no government could afford to
subsidise CIE even more.

This issue is very well outlined in the latest Deloitte report which in general terms failed to find any great evidence of Lack of Value for the curent VERY low level of "Subsidy".The reality is that a universally available Public Transport Service has a cost and the question is do we want to meet that cost

It seems to me that the management should have tried to negotiate a
cost-cutting programme with the unions including voluntary redundancy and
reductions in pay and allowences if necessary. If the unions agreed to it,
jobs could have been saved and services maintained or even improved.

Totally agree with LV on this. The approach taken by Dublin Bus management on this appears to have been driven by a form of panic after a handbagging from Noel Dempsey and some "unpleasantness" between him and Dr Lynch the CIE chairman.What is very obvious from the Dublin Bus proposals is the total absence of ANY form of marketing initiative or in fact ANY suggestions on regaining ridership

Where buses are taken out of the system, Dublin Bus should not be allowed
to spread the cuts over all routes. Rather the Minister should force them
to give up some of their routes to private operators.

Disagree fundamentally here.Firstly there should be NO cuts,instead,restructure,reorganize,revitalize and MARKET the options which COULD be provided by those 120 Buses

Across the public and private sector, people are taking cuts in pay and
benefits to maintain jobs and services. I'm down 14% since already. I
don't think the CIE companies should be any different.

The general income fall off is being felt in Dublin Bus too with the general basic wage now a reality for most bdrivers as overtime disappears.SO there is no difference in the CIE groups fortunes. Indeed there is a rather ominous warning from dr Lynch of a serious deficiency in the CIE group Pension Fund which may yet cause trouble.

One final point which needs to be made is that ALL Bus Atha Cliath services require Department of Transport Approval and as such ALL routes as currently operated are at the Departments Behest...so when Minister Dempsey rants about Routes going to places where no passengers exist,he is in fact begging the question as to what HE as Minister is doing about that ???

The reality is that His DEpartment is currently refusing Dublin Bus permission for several major service improvements due to its very narrow interpretation of the 1932 Road Transport Acts and it`s so called conflicts with EU Competition law.....as defined by former Attorney General Michael Mc Dowell.

With much of the Old Guard of EU Fiscal and Social norms now in tatters perhaps it`s time the DEpartment of Transport began to act IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST rather than seeking to ensure some sort of commercial fair play for the private sector per-se.

AlekSmart

Why should we the public be subsidising Dublin Bus to continue with their archaic, inefficient practices?

Frecklier,The practices you describe in the D15 area are NOT of Dublin Bus`s making and certainly NOT of it`s Drivers making.

The continuing reluctance of the Department of Transport to accept the needs of the large numbers of Dublin Bus users in this area remains a serious issue.

The supposed conflict in the D15 area between the URbus routing and the 37`s etc simply defies any logic in the manner by which the Department uses it as an excuse to deny service improvements to a huge number of people.

*Dallas

i love the way they say certain routes will be cut, but there's no mention of new time tables.

its funny how Blanchardstown and Finglas are having routes cut, yet areas on the southside with buses and the Luas dont get cut? :mad:

i vowed as long as im living in Dublin 15 i will drive, cycle, walk or crawl rather then use Dublin Bus ever again