Bus eireann bus drivers.......

Lockstep

Most bus drivers in Galway are grand (Bus Éireann and City Direct), there's a City Direct driver with a mustache who's a pure friendly guy.
THere are a few knobs in both companys but they are infinetly better than the ones in Dublin.

evercloserunion

kickoutthejams wrote: »

Most bus drivers in Galway are grand (Bus Éireann and City Direct), there's a City Direct driver with a mustache who's a pure friendly guy.
THere are a few knobs in both companys but they are infinetly better than the ones in Dublin.

Oh Christ yeah. Country folk really can't complain about their bus drivers until they've met some of the absolute wánkers on Dublin Bus routes. That said though, some of those are sound out as well, but as always it's the ***** you remember.

s_carnage

evercloserunion wrote: »

Oh Christ yeah. Country folk really can't complain about their bus drivers until they've met some of the absolute wánkers on Dublin Bus routes. That said though, some of those are sound out as well, but as always it's the ***** you remember.

Country folk?? As in anyone who doesn't live in Dublin city?!?!?

inisboffin

s_carnage wrote: »

Country folk?? As in anyone who doesn't live in Dublin city?!?!?

*LOL*:D:D

Mrs OBumble

inisboffin wrote: »

Almost ALL people (I am trying to think of exceptions..) over a certain age travel free in this country. The pass has almost been the OAP version of an id to get into a night club for younger folks, proving they were old enough.

Only people who are permanently resident qualify for a free-travel pass. (http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/social-welfare/social-welfare-payments/extra-social-welfare-benefits/free_travel)

I'd say there are a fair few older people in the country who aren't permanently resident, and thus aren't eligible. There will also be some who are permanent residents now but who don't bother to apply for a bus pass, because they're over the means-test levels for non-contributory pensions.

inisboffin

JustMary wrote: »

Only people who are permanently resident qualify for a free-travel pass. (http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/social-welfare/social-welfare-payments/extra-social-welfare-benefits/free_travel)

I'd say there are a fair few older people in the country who aren't permanently resident, and thus aren't eligible. There will also be some who are permanent residents now but who don't bother to apply for a bus pass, because they're over the means-test levels for non-contributory pensions.

As a friend of mine said "If there's a big bird in the garden, it's *probably* a crow, it *could* be an eagle, but it's probably a crow"

For the sake of clarity I will re-state. The MAJORITY of old people in this country are eligible for free travel. Thus drivers often don't always check their passes to play 'spot the illegal foreigener' or whatever.
This old woman was treated like sh*te imo. That's just the way I was brought up. I trust my instinct. I would rather err on the side of helping a scammer than let an old woman burst into tears (and if a scammer, she was working her arse off to scam a measly bus fare) for want of someone defending her. I hope someone would do the same for me

CaptSolo

biko wrote: »

What I'd like to see but that means giving the buses GPS and a central system for calculating times/congestion/etc.

Does anyone here know details about a bus transport planning meeting tonight?

There were posters in Galway but details are scarce - I only heard about it from a person who saw a poster. The meeting appears to be official, possibly organised by the Galway City council (but no information could be found on their website).

This meeting would be a good place to voice concerns about the bus organisation. Sorry for not having exact details (what I heard is it is on at 8:30pm, in either Harbour or Bay hotel, but would be good to confirm this)

P.S. If this is an official meeting, someone has taken special care to prevent people from learning about it.

gossipcailin

Galway Labour Party are holding a Public Meeting on "Integrated Transport for Galway" in Harbour Hotel tonight (thurs) Feb 26th @ 8.30pm. Speakers are Tommy Broughan TD (spokesperson on Transport) and Michael D Higgins TD(Galway West TD).

Just to clarify I am not a labour supporter I only know this cos I got handed a leaflet while browsing the market on Saturday but seemingly everyone is welcome.

muppetkiller

Just to add my Rant for today ..
I got on the Number 9 bus this morning at 9:50am for the 10am bus ..the driver took my money along with a number of other passengers then had a chat with the inspector and simply walked off with him. 20 min later there's still no bus driver and about 20 people sitting on the bus frustrated and angry..when along strolls the 10am bus driver without a care in the world.
I complain to him saying that he's over 10 min late and that i'd been sitting in the bus for 20 min to which he calls me a liar and that I'd obviously arrived late for the 10am bus and missed it !!!!! I then demanded a refund after showing him the time printed on my ticket (to prove I wasn't making it up) and he practically throws the money at me.

I ring the bus station in Eyre Square then to complain about him and when my first line to the nice lady on the other line IS " Hi there I calling to make a complaint about one of the drivers and service in general of the Number 9 bus route" she then said just one moment please and I'll transfer you....and HUNG UP !!!!!!

rant over ....I'll walk from now on

Gaillimh1990

Ring them again

jayoo

I can only really comment on the drivers which i have travelled with, mostly the derry bus, and they are all nice guys

Cris Crossin

Sometimes I think rudeness and inefficiency are prerequisites for the job as a Bus Eireann employee. I saw a spectacular display of bad behaviour by a number of them working together to cause as much confusion and annoyance as possible a few months ago in Bus Aras.

The Galway bus was supposed to leave at 6pm, but it was nowhere to be seen and the tourists in the queue kept asking me with panicked expressions if they had missed the bus. So I asked a passing Bus Eireann neanderthal if I was at the right stop and where the bus might be. First he tried to avoid me and then grunted '6 o'clock' and stormed off before I could explain to him that it was already 6.10pm.

Anyway, we kept waiting and two buses for different destinations loaded up with passengers from the same bay that our Galway bus was supposed to be leaving from. This meant that there were three queues at one stage for the same bay. So some of the tourists started to queue for these two buses and then got roared at by the driver of one bus - 'I'm not going to Galway!!!!'

Eventually the 6pm Galway bus started to load at 6.45pm, by which time the passengers for the 7pm Galway bus had joined the queue. The 6pm bus was not stopping until Athlone but the 7pm was serving all stops. The passengers who thought they were queuing for the 7pm bus (who would blame them?) then got shouted at by the 6pm bus driver who seemed to think they should psychically know that his wasn't the 7pm bus. I take the train or Citylink now.

Yddil

DouglasWinthrow wrote: »

Ok , i feel i have to say something here,

Its not their job to be nice to you.

Its not their job to say hello to you.

It is in fact , not their responsibilty to do ANYTHING EXCEPT get you to your destination safely and in a reasonably timely manner.

Maybe someone was rude to you? Sadly , welcome to the human race , he doesnt have to be your friend just becuase hes driving you somewhere.

Now before everyone starts teh "YEAH , BUT SERVICE WITH A SMILE IM A CUSTOMER !!!11!!1 ONE"

Who cares , youre paying for a busride , not a smile.

And secondly , for all the "YEAH BUT WE KEEP THEM IN JOBS BY GETTING THE BUSSESS , THAT WHAYT THEY SHOULD BEEEE NICEE TO MEE"

No , you arent keeping them in jobs, bus eireann runs the ****test , most unprofitable routes , just to provide a service.

So to conclude

You cant expect a bus eireann drive to be nice to you.

So dont

OK, so not being friendly is one thing, I'm not a manic about these things, but my sister just came home with the most awful story.. she's on a rural school bus route, and the bus driver wasn't familiar with the route, so while she was on the phone she asked him to stop further up the road. He stopped an opened the door & she hung up her phone, apologised and asked him to drive on another half mile to her stop. He REFUSED even thou he was driving past it anyway & had three other kids to let off. He made her get off the bus in the pouring rain WITH her two ton scholl bag & walk the half mile, even thou he let the other kids off!!! I know maybe she'd been a bit rude by being on her phone, but its not the place of a bus driver to provide punishment to anyone!!
Not only that, but my sister is almost 18 years of age, i sincerly doubt he'd ever treat an adult that way...
They're paid to do a job.....

Panthro

i was over in oz there at christmas,
and as i got on the bus at the airport to take me to melbourne, the STRANGEST thing happened...

the bus driver said "gudday mate, how are you today?" in a very cheery and upbeat way..

i still cant get over it..a bus driver..friendly?

madness!

wolf99

Originally Posted by Kenno90
My next door neighbour works for them , and he's one og the nicest people you'll ever meet (always gets me a free ticket lol)

preface my post by saying most drivers are inordinately nice for people that drive all day every day, mostly up and down the same stretch of road...

however I have seen and bee on both ends of the quoted. Getting preferential treatment because your a friend, crony, ex-co-worker, etc does end up with someone else paying the price. IE: the difference is made up at someone else's expense.

A more specific experience I had recently was with a never before seen or since Dublin driver on the Dublin to Galway route.
I had a two stage ticket, and had been informed before by another NICE dublin driver in dublin that a multi stage return ticket should only be punched by the driver of the last stage.
This driver however was about to punch my ticket on the first stage, I aaked him not to, explaining the above and he roared at me for a good 5 mins then went ahead and punched it!!

learning my lesson, the next time it happened (on a different route) I didnt say anything and ended up with about 5 holes in my ticket, which confused the driver on the last stage of my return journey and he had to consult with the station-master as to whether I should buy a new ticket!! luckily they let it slide....

however letting it slide is not good enough. It worked out well for me on this occasion but If i'd been lying thats lost revenue for a loss making service.
If they'd followed rules, I would have been stuck halfway across the country!

Seems the drivers themselves HAVE NOT GOT A CLUE as to how things are supposed to be done.
Not necessarily their fault...

pointofnoreturn

wolf99 wrote: »

Originally Posted by Kenno90
My next door neighbour works for them , and he's one og the nicest people you'll ever meet (always gets me a free ticket lol)

preface my post by saying most drivers are inordinately nice for people that drive all day every day, mostly up and down the same stretch of road...

however I have seen and bee on both ends of the quoted. Getting preferential treatment because your a friend, crony, ex-co-worker, etc does end up with someone else paying the price. IE: the difference is made up at someone else's expense.

A more specific experience I had recently was with a never before seen or since Dublin driver on the Dublin to Galway route.
I had a two stage ticket, and had been informed before by another NICE dublin driver in dublin that a multi stage return ticket should only be punched by the driver of the last stage.
This driver however was about to punch my ticket on the first stage, I aaked him not to, explaining the above and he roared at me for a good 5 mins then went ahead and punched it!!

learning my lesson, the next time it happened (on a different route) I didnt say anything and ended up with about 5 holes in my ticket, which confused the driver on the last stage of my return journey and he had to consult with the station-master as to whether I should buy a new ticket!! luckily they let it slide....

however letting it slide is not good enough. It worked out well for me on this occasion but If i'd been lying thats lost revenue for a loss making service.
If they'd followed rules, I would have been stuck halfway across the country!

Seems the drivers themselves HAVE NOT GOT A CLUE as to how things are supposed to be done.
Not necessarily their fault...

Interesting experience, I've had confusion before with drivers and just asked honestly did they get the training or information providing to them, and either they think you are questioning there judgment or they reply and "No, it's a crap system!"
So the driver isn't the blame, it's there bosses bosses that are! CIE, BE and Dublin Bus are just yet another public servant body ran the old boy's club way where nothing get's done and we have to pay the price, (as well as the drivers frustration)

This is why i give up with public transport in Ireland, some Drivers are motivated some not, some understand the value of a random commuter that may take the bus occasionally and answer questions, other just don't care and show there anger about the system to the customer!

Complain to the controller or inspector (if you can find them) and state your case, they can't argue with you and it's there job to take on your feedback, make it sound that your view is accountable and even so go as far as making a complaint. but if you really don't think the bus driver wasn't at fault then blame BE as a company problem!

Fuinseog

Gaillimh1990 wrote: »

does ne1 else agree that they r so grompy and moany... most of dem barely even say hello!!!!!!:mad::mad::mad::(:(:(

i have rarely come across a grumpy bus driver in this country apart from dublin bus drivers doing the night link and that is understandale.

Fuinseog

Xiney wrote: »

Crazy. Mr Xiney and I just had a most unpleasant experience with a driver on the no 9 this evening - I was debating whether to post about it and now I guess I will.

First, as the number 9 was coming up to the stop just before Dunnes towards Parkmore, we crossed the street to get on it. The bus driver asked us where we were going to and we told him Eyre Square, he (rather grumpily) told us to go across the road and wait there. That's fair enough we supposed, though it'd never been a problem on the number 3, which is the bus we usually take (and actually has pretty sound drivers for the most part). It wasn't very cold out and it wasn't raining though so we didn't mind at all.

Since we were waiting for him, we decided to get our fare in order before hand. We had a few coppers and we wanted to get rid of them, 20 cent worth. A 5 cent, five 2 cent, and five 1 cent coins. We counted it out a couple times just to be sure.

When the bus came around the driver made a point of counting it - no problem although most drivers just take the money (we usually use up our small change in this way since there's nobody waiting in line behind us to pay while we wait for a bus!) He accused us of being 4 cent short. We assured him we were sure we weren't, that we had counted twice. He told us, "Count it again, so"

We did, and sure enough, it was all there. He accused us of adding the four cent on while he wasn't looking! And then he then complained we were holding up the bus, but finally drove on.

(At this point I'd like to apologize to our fellow passengers who were held up while we were forced to count our money again - it only took less than a minute but it must have felt much longer)


He was just such a thick arse. I've never encountered anyone quite as deserving of the title flaming piece of cnut - and I've decided that a) I will be cycling even more now rather than give Bus Eireann any of my money and b) once I learn how to drive they can bloody well fcuk themselves for all I care.

We're told to take public transportation and to save the environment and all this jazz - but with people like this secondary school drop out who can't even count change properly and treat people like criminals over a mere four cent that was there in the first place... well. That's not much encouragement is it?



Ireland - the country that made me more misanthropic than high school ever could.

he was being correct. the tone makes the music when dealing with busdrivers. a lot of peopel do not like to see small change coming their way

Diabhal Beag

I've never had any problems with any bus eirinn drivers. It's the red bus drivers that annoy me :mad:

Xiney

Fuinseog wrote: »

he was being correct. the tone makes the music when dealing with busdrivers. a lot of peopel do not like to see small change coming their way

Well, it wasn't that much small change, and if people aren't going to accept the coins then we should do away with them altogether.

That was over a year ago, btw, I got a letter of apology from BE and the bus driver was reprimanded.


I've since gotten a car. Suffice it to say, I drive 99% of the time, because taking the bus is slower, more expensive, more frustrating, and otherwise inconvenient.

Clemon

Xiney wrote: »

Crazy. Mr Xiney and I just had a most unpleasant experience with a driver on the no 9 this evening - I was debating whether to post about it and now I guess I will.

First, as the number 9 was coming up to the stop just before Dunnes towards Parkmore, we crossed the street to get on it. The bus driver asked us where we were going to and we told him Eyre Square, he (rather grumpily) told us to go across the road and wait there. That's fair enough we supposed, though it'd never been a problem on the number 3, which is the bus we usually take (and actually has pretty sound drivers for the most part). It wasn't very cold out and it wasn't raining though so we didn't mind at all.

Since we were waiting for him, we decided to get our fare in order before hand. We had a few coppers and we wanted to get rid of them, 20 cent worth. A 5 cent, five 2 cent, and five 1 cent coins. We counted it out a couple times just to be sure.

When the bus came around the driver made a point of counting it - no problem although most drivers just take the money (we usually use up our small change in this way since there's nobody waiting in line behind us to pay while we wait for a bus!) He accused us of being 4 cent short. We assured him we were sure we weren't, that we had counted twice. He told us, "Count it again, so"

We did, and sure enough, it was all there. He accused us of adding the four cent on while he wasn't looking! And then he then complained we were holding up the bus, but finally drove on.

(At this point I'd like to apologize to our fellow passengers who were held up while we were forced to count our money again - it only took less than a minute but it must have felt much longer)


He was just such a thick arse. I've never encountered anyone quite as deserving of the title flaming piece of cnut - and I've decided that a) I will be cycling even more now rather than give Bus Eireann any of my money and b) once I learn how to drive they can bloody well fcuk themselves for all I care.

We're told to take public transportation and to save the environment and all this jazz - but with people like this secondary school drop out who can't even count change properly and treat people like criminals over a mere four cent that was there in the first place... well. That's not much encouragement is it?



Ireland - the country that made me more misanthropic than high school ever could.

I was driving that bus. Ill remember you the next time:cool:

Bosco boy

Is'nt it a small world!!!!!!

Diabhal Beag

Clemon wrote: »

I was driving that bus. Ill remember you the next time:cool:

If this is true there'll be trouble

jd007

Have to say I've never had any problems with any of the drivers in Galway.

Blink182rock

i got kicked off a hired bus working for bus eireann with the owner of the bus working not the actuall bus eireann driver for.............wait for it................ closing the curtain in craughwell on the way to dublin !!

there was a tie thing around the curtain and i wasnt meant to open it i think ...

right **** so he was !!

i made big scene he took me off closed door..off he went !!

clived2

Malice_ wrote: »

He replied because txt speek is frowned upon by most people on these Boards. As a new member you may have been unaware of that and so he asked you nicely to type properly.

pleasant Co.

That'll teach him! sure, some people might say that replying to a post that's 1yr & 8mths old with an image is a bit pointless..but not I :P

clived2

Mactard wrote: »

That'll teach him! sure, some people might say that replying to a post that's 1yr & 8mths old with an image is a bit pointless..but not I :P

I only read the thread because somone brought it back, And I am not trying to teach anybody anything, there is obviously enough people around here to achieve that,

scania man

regarding your message about bus eireann drivers, i use their buses everyday for past 6 yrs all around the country and very seldom ive come across ignorant drivers. they have a very tough job, if its not dealing with horriffic drivers on the roads its unthankful passengers. they always complain when bus is late but very rarely thank the drivers for gettin them home safely. the same cant be said for citylink drivers, they are very rude and drive like lunatics. i rather be few mins late on bus e than be vomiting all over bus

scania man

yes u are right about city direct they dont speak and as far as i can see they dont care about passengers or the bus they driving. as for the company itself its a joke