No transport at night in Dublin except expensive taxis

professore

howiya wrote: »

Hard to say what would be correct to charge without knowing passenger numbers

Suck it and see. First do advertising campaign and then make sure the buses run as advertised for the first month. Put in GPS trackers and pay bonuses to drivers, mechanics etc if buses get a 95% perfect on time record. See how it goes.

professore

Mr.S wrote: »

5euro for a SINGLE ticket after midnight is a joke. Compare it to any city bigger/smaller then Dublin and we are one if the highest.

The nightlink fails because of the price, simple. Why pay 20euro between 5 people, when you can get a taxi and split the cost for the same price/cheaper?

Same with the Luas, 5euro for a SINGLE ticket? pff, ripp off.

Well that explains it. That's a ridiculous price unless you are travelling 15 + miles on it.

howiya

professore wrote: »

Suck it and see. First do advertising campaign and then make sure the buses run as advertised for the first month. Put in GPS trackers and pay bonuses to drivers, mechanics etc if buses get a 95% perfect on time record. See how it goes.

Perfect example of how it would be more expensive to run public transport late at night. You've just answered your own question.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Ham'nd'egger

professore wrote: »

Why ? Facts please.

I could start with...

• Additional staff to drive these services along the associated overtime and/or wages;
• The senior staff to marshall, manage and oversee these late buses;
• The fuel to run the extra full shift and any positional trips to and from termini, The additional buses required to cover those buses who were on late routes are being serviced;
• the wear and tear on vehicles;
• Security staff who are to keep an eye on late services and make the traveling public feel a bit safer.

Let us add to this debate the fact that Nitelink runs with no State Subsidy, Grant or Subvention. This means that Dublin Bus can only offer this service if it covers it's overall costs and it makes an operational profit. Given the fact that they no longer run with the service, it's a sure sign that it wasn't covering it's costs. As it is, buses on most routes run close to or even empty so given that some of these services have already suffered withdrawals and cutbacks, it is unlikely that getting home mid week revelers is the priority to either Dublin Bus or LUAS.

AFAIK, there is just one private Night Service in Dublin (Finnegans); if there is money to be made then the privates don't want in; God knows why:rolleyes:

JHMEG

Chucky the tree wrote: »

The reason buses don't stop at every stop and let people on is because it would be a mess. People wouldn't have the money, would then shout and abuse the driver and refuse to get off until the police arrived.

It doesn't generally happen at the few stops they do pick up at, so I've no reason to believe it would be a problem of any significance.

Chucky the tree wrote: »

As for not knowing where the different pick up points are, DB can't be blamed because people are to thick/lazy to log to their website and look it up there or give DB a ring.

Yes, DB can be blamed for peppering the city and environs with bus stops and not using the majority of them after a particular time. Looking up websites or phoning DB isn't alway practical.

Chucky the tree wrote: »

There's a reason the private company who run the Luas don't do night services during the year is because it's pissing money down the drain. I certainly don't want DB to be doing the exact same thing.

Public transport is exactly that: public. I'd bet that DB could shuffle services and provide a late night service without the need for any or many extra runs. E.g. remove a few services that run between 11am and 3pm and put them on night duty.

Where there's a will there's a way.

Bluetonic

Hamndegger wrote: »

AFAIK, there is just one private Night Service in Dublin (Finnegans); if there is money to be made then the privates don't want in; God knows why:rolleyes:

Well said, I wish people would realise this.

AlekSmart

Where there's a will there's a way.

Ain`t that the truth.

NiteLink as a concept was a very valuable and neccessary part of the City`s infrastructure for a long time.

The major mistake was in the virtually total lack of development that accompanied it for well over a decade.

Once the initial service was up and running it should have been obvious that the demand WAS there and that should have been the springboard for the development of a sustainable range of trunk-route services as an integrated part of the "Normal" system.

It should be remembered that the Nitelink concept (EXPRESS Bus service intended to empty the City Centre) was concieved far more to address a serious Public Order problem which had developed in the City Centre than any realization of a demand per se.

This "Special Service" ethos meant that Dublin Bus were unable to classify them as Public Service Obligation routes,hence the unavailability of the DFSA Free Pass and the Premium Fare.

This was always a Department of Transport issue and more than anything ensured that the necessary development never occurred.

It`s also worth recalling that the ORIGINAL Nitelink concept was a joint-operation between CIE`s Dublin City Services (as it then was) AND the Private Sector.

This is why the current Dublin Bus services all depart from the College Green tri-angle as the Private Sector had a similar central departure point in O Connell Street (Clerys/Easons).

Today,however only the Finnegan company from Bray continue to operate as per the original concept.
Some of the current Dublin Bus Nitelinks actually came about after some Private Sector operators found themselves unable to commit the necessary resources to operate departures on a regular basis.

The issue of cost is always going to be important in any service expected to operate as Nitelink does.
Nitelink operated for most of its existance on a mixture of voluntary/overtime coverage,which did entail a cost issue.

However,that is now long gone as the current agreements allow for staffing at normal rates by dedicated late-duty only drivers on a days-work basis.
This,of course,can be supplemented by overtime duties at times of high demand,although recent restricive EU Working Time Directives now ensure that covering such duties legally is fraught with difficulty.

Dublin Bus is only one piece of this jig-saw,as it has operated Nitelink at all times in compliance with the Department of Transports requirements,which have scarcely altered in two decades.

The last attempt by Dublin Bus to actually bring forward a workable improvement was a plan to operate the 7 and 746 routes on a 24 Hr "Normal Service" basis.

This was intended to commence with the opening of the Rock Road QBC and would have resulted in a minimum of an hourly all night service to and from Cherrywood between 23.30 and 05.30 serving all stops.
Additionally the 746 would have operated hourly from Dun Laoire to Dublin Airport on the same basis .

These plans were quite advanced at a local level,with middle management and unions confident of it being a successful concept.

However,at some advanced point it appears the Department of Transport took fright at what it considered was an "abuse of the dominant operators commercial position" and thus what could have been a template for further services was consigned to the very large bin which "Official Ireland" keeps to hand for such wild overly useful concepts.

Whenever one discusses the inability of Irish Public Services to cope with new or popular demands one is constantly drawn back to an Official Ireland who`s Senior Civil Servants are deeply imbued with the Spirit of a long gone Irish People who lived their lives to the frugal dictat of Eamon De Valera,a nation that worked hard,prayed harder and went to bed early.

We know now that this was an ideal that existed only inside Mr De Valeras erudite head,but even today this notion provides the basis for much of the actual Governance which dictates how 21st Century Ireland is expected to live.

Therefore the reality of anybody requiring a Bus at 01.00 of a morning just has to be somewhat distasteful to a cultured Departmental Secretary General as he/she calculates their anticipated pension lump-sum over coffee in Buswells.

And thats just the way it is Boss ! :P

JHMEG

Excellent post.

lee3792

i cudnt aggree more pal its ridiculous,who goes home at 12 on the normal nights out and thats when they usually stop
absolute joke

Chucky the tree

Terrontress wrote: »

The contract for Luas should have been awarded on the basis that it is run 24 hours at the same price. Of course a private company is not going to run the unprofitable elements of a service if it is not forced to..

lol, then no contract would have ever been awarded as no private company is to touch it with a barge poll if they were forced to run it 24hrs.

JHMEG wrote: »

Yes, DB can be blamed for peppering the city and environs with bus stops and not using the majority of them after a particular time. Looking up websites or phoning DB isn't alway practical.

Of course it's practical. Can you not do it before you leave the house? Or sometime during the week? Unless you never have access to a phone or the internet I fail to see how it isn't practical.

JHMEG wrote: »

Public transport is exactly that: public. I'd bet that DB could shuffle services and provide a late night service without the need for any or many extra runs. E.g. remove a few services that run between 11am and 3pm and put them on night duty.

Where there's a will there's a way.

I'm sure if you asked the public if they are happy paying extra taxes to cover a non-profitable late night bus service they will tell you where to go.

JHMEG

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Of course it's practical. Can you not do it before you leave the house? Or sometime during the week? Unless you never have access to a phone or the internet I fail to see how it isn't practical.

That's where it all starts to go wrong. People have to plan their journey home before they even leave home. Unlike during the day you can't just go to the nearest bus stop and catch a bus... (Now, if they provided free internet access at the bus stops...)

Chucky the tree wrote: »

I'm sure if you asked the public if they are happy paying extra taxes to cover a non-profitable late night bus service they will tell you where to go.

The taxpayer subsidises Irish Rail, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus already. None of them are profitable.

dearg lady

Hamndegger wrote: »

AFAIK, there is just one private Night Service in Dublin (Finnegans); if there is money to be made then the privates don't want in; God knows why:rolleyes:

Exactly! But I'm sure Boards posters have a much better understanding of where to make money than any transport company :rolleyes:

Mr.S wrote: »

If you've ever been in town midweek (especially Monday/Wednesday/Thursday) you'll know the place is packed with students. So the demand is there. Reduce prices = more customers.

I have to disagree with you here, a few years ago, nitelinks were regularly packed and prices have increased only slightly over the years.

JHMEG wrote: »

That's where it all starts to go wrong. People have to plan their journey home before they even leave home. Unlike during the day you can't just go to the nearest bus stop and catch a bus... (Now, if they provided free internet access at the bus stops...)


The taxpayer subsidises Irish Rail, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus already. None of them are profitable.

Jeez, planning your journey before you leave, what a tough life, text bus text when your out, you'll get the times. It's not that difficult to check before you leave. AFAIK, 2008 was the first year in quite a while Dublin Bus reported losses, hence the cutting of services.

Terrontress

Chucky the tree wrote: »

lol, then no contract would have ever been awarded as no private company is to touch it with a barge poll if they were forced to run it 24hrs.

Of course they would have. This is not such an alien concept. It happens round the world.

I'm sure if you asked the public if they are happy paying extra taxes to cover a non-profitable late night bus service they will tell you where to go.

What if you ask the same people whether they are happy that they are paying to bring electricity to parts of the country which are unprofitable?

Profitability should not come in to it. A service should be provided and no operator should be allowed to cherrypick those parts they want to and those they do not.

JHMEG

dearg lady wrote: »

Jeez, planning your journey before you leave, what a tough life, text bus text when your out, you'll get the times. It's not that difficult to check before you leave.

Plans change, circumstances change etc. As an incentive to use it, public transport should be convenient, which brings me neatly back to the point I've been making all along.

dearg lady wrote: »

AFAIK, 2008 was the first year in quite a while Dublin Bus reported losses, hence the cutting of services.

Moot point. Public transport is about providing a service, not making profit.

But now that you mention it, take out the subsidy from the taxpayer and DB has never made a profit. But even with the subsidy DB has also made losses. E.g. 2006. Officially a €6 million loss, but that was after a subsidy of €69 million.

dearg lady

JHMEG wrote: »

Plans change, circumstances change etc. As an incentive to use it, public transport should be convenient, which brings me neatly back to the point I've been making all along.

I find it pretty convenient, if I want something door to door at any time, I'll call a taxi

JHMEG wrote: »

Moot point. Public transport is about providing a service, not making profit.

I totally agree, but they can't run up massive losses, they have to provide a service to the most amount of people within certain monetary parameters.

JHMEG wrote: »

But now that you mention it, take out the subsidy from the taxpayer and DB has never made a profit. But even with the subsidy DB has also made losses. E.g. 2006. Officially a €6 million loss, but that was after a subsidy of €69 million.

True, but the point is, when DB were doing better they provided more services, when less people were using said services, and revenues dropped, they were forced to curtail some services.

Honestly, I'd prefer if there was a fuller service, it would suit down to the ground, but I can see why there is not. I took the extra midweek nitelinks put on for Christmas quite a few times, and not once was there more than 5 people on it.

Terrontress

dearg lady wrote: »

I find it pretty convenient, if I want something door to door at any time, I'll call a taxi





I totally agree, but they can't run up massive losses, they have to provide a service to the most amount of people within certain monetary parameters.



True, but the point is, when DB were doing better they provided more services, when less people were using said services, and revenues dropped, they were forced to curtail some services.

Honestly, I'd prefer if there was a fuller service, it would suit down to the ground, but I can see why there is not. I took the extra midweek nitelinks put on for Christmas quite a few times, and not once was there more than 5 people on it.

Do you know whether the senior management in DB is homegrown?

I wonder if they got in people who were experienced in other cities if they could provide something similar to what inhabitants of other EU capitals expect.

dearg lady

Terrontress wrote: »

Do you know whether the senior management in DB is homegrown?

I wonder if they got in people who were experienced in other cities if they could provide something similar to what inhabitants of other EU capitals expect.

I don't know but I'd hazard a guess that they are indeed homegrown. Seems like things could do with a shake up in Dublin Bus alright.

Yellowblackbird

dearg lady wrote: »

Exactly! But I'm sure Boards posters have a much better understanding of where to make money than any transport company :rolleyes:

Do you need a licence to operate a bus route in Dublin ?

KC61

Yellowblackbird wrote: »

dearg lady wrote: »

Exactly! But I'm sure Boards posters have a much better understanding of where to make money than any transport company :rolleyes:

Do you need a licence to operate a bus route in Dublin ?

Yes - this has been done to death here. The whole bus service in Dublin is regulated by the Department of Transport. All services (including routes and timetables) have to be approved by them in advance of the service starting.

JHMEG

dearg lady wrote: »

I find it pretty convenient, if I want something door to door at any time, I'll call a taxi

You and all your friends, socialising spots, work etc must me in close proximity, which is good for you. Someone who is in Maynooth would prefer to get the 66... a taxi is going to cost them €35.

KC61

There is a full network review involving routes, timetables and information ongoing within Dublin Bus on foot of the Deloitte Report (commissioned by the Minister for Transport) published earlier in 2009. The results of this should start to be implemented in early 2010. This should (if the report is followed) result in a more streamlined bus network with integrated schedules between core routes along each corridor.

To be brutally honest about this - getting the core service right is what the company is focussing on. The night service has had fewer and fewer customers over recent years. To operate a full all night service would require an increased subsidy and neither the Government nor the Department have any interest in that. The current night service is run without a subsidy - hence the higher fares.

Yellowblackbird

KC61 wrote: »

is regulated by the Department of Transport. .

Yeah you may have spoken about it before, it's just that the fact that public transport in Dublin is a defacto monopoly was relevant to dearg ladys point that boards.ie users were stupid for thinking that there could be an inadequacy in public transport and yet people wouldn't step into the market.

Chucky the tree

JHMEG wrote: »

That's where it all starts to go wrong. People have to plan their journey home before they even leave home. Unlike during the day you can't just go to the nearest bus stop and catch a bus... (Now, if they provided free internet access at the bus stops...)


The taxpayer subsidises Irish Rail, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus already. None of them are profitable.

Oh no's! asking Irish people do actually do a bit of planning for the future. Lol like that would ever work. :pac: Exactly, can't even make a profit already so why should they piss even more money down the drain for a service 5 people use?

Terrontress wrote: »

Of course they would have. This is not such an alien concept. It happens round the world.

What if you ask the same people whether they are happy that they are paying to bring electricity to parts of the country which are unprofitable?

Profitability should not come in to it. A service should be provided and no operator should be allowed to cherrypick those parts they want to and those they do not.

:pac: @ comparing electricity to getting a load of drunks home at night. What other island countries have a 24hr public transport system?

Terrontress

Chucky the tree wrote: »

:pac: @ comparing electricity to getting a load of drunks home at night. What other island countries have a 24hr public transport system?

Comparing one public service to another. You take the rough with the smooth. It is not profitable to do emergency engineering works on Christmas day but it is part of maintaining a service. If night time transport were to be viewed as an essential part of the overall bus or tram service and it was incorporated in to all planning and pricing then it would be done, people would get used to it, people would start using it.

As for your second point, forgive me if you are not talking about Dublin but I am and not thinking about the smaller Irish cities and towns. And given that Dublin has approximately a million and a half people living in the urban area, I would think it better to change your question to "What other European cities of 1.5million people have a 24hr public transport system? "I don't think the fact that Ireland is an island is relevant. Australia is also an island country. Is there any merit in comparing Sydney's public transport to ours?

belge boy

Because of low population density transport in ireland is very poor. in brussels its very easy for great transport and for business to make profit.

belge boy

sugarman wrote: »

Anyway, it's a national disgrace we dont have a bus or luas service's operating past 11.30PM Weekday's. We're one of the major city's in Europe FFS.

lol

Who told you this? What makes Dublin, a small city in one of the smallest economies in europe one of the major European city's?

Is that what your goverment have been telling you?

JHMEG

Chucky the tree wrote: »

why should they piss even more money down the drain for a service 5 people use?

They would have more customers if it was a more convenient service that ran familiar routes and actually picked people up at more than 2 or 3 (usually unkown) stops. Convenience is key to making public transport work.

Carawaystick

Chucky the tree wrote: »

:pac: @ comparing electricity to getting a load of drunks home at night. What other island countries have a 24hr public transport system?

Well Ireland for one, has a twenty four hour bus service run by another cié company.

Aldito

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

10 cans of Becks in Tesco for €7.20

Savage!

Victor

JHMEG wrote: »

They would have more customers if it was a more convenient service that ran familiar routes and actually picked people up at more than 2 or 3 (usually unkown) stops. Convenience is key to making public transport work.

I'm not sure where this unknown point is coming from. They are advertised in DB's leaflets, website and at the bus stops.

The stops seem to all be near garda stations or bus depots.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Your-Journey1/Timetables/All-Timetables/15n/

Pick-up Points

Richmond Street and Rathmines Garda Station

Now, to be fair, its South Richmond Street, but thats another thread.

dearg lady

JHMEG wrote: »

You and all your friends, socialising spots, work etc must me in close proximity, which is good for you. Someone who is in Maynooth would prefer to get the 66... a taxi is going to cost them €35.

Incorrect, please don't make any assumptions about me or my life

Yellowblackbird wrote: »

Yeah you may have spoken about it before, it's just that the fact that public transport in Dublin is a defacto monopoly was relevant to dearg ladys point that boards.ie users were stupid for thinking that there could be an inadequacy in public transport and yet people wouldn't step into the market.

I did not call anyone stupid, and nor did I say there was no inadequacies in the current system. Please actually read the posts to which you are replying.

JHMEG

Victor wrote: »

I'm not sure where this unknown point is coming from.

Choose any bus stop where the 15 picks up. Does the 15n pick up there? If it doesn't will it tell you where you can get on the 15n - or will it even mention the 15n?

Another example: I walked down to the quays from Stoneybatter to try to pick up a 66n. Went to several stops served by the 66 along the quay, none of which mentioned the 66n. I walked all the way up to Westmoreland St where I knew I was sure I could get one only to find that there was no 66n as it was a Thursday!

Now I could have found all this out before I went out. I could have written to Dublin Bus in advance and asked them what my options were. But this was unplanned, and I had hoped that as all I have to do to get the 66 is turn up at a bus stop along the route (what would be termed convient) that the same would apply to the 66n.

dearg lady

JHMEG wrote: »

Choose any bus stop where the 15 picks up. Does the 15n pick up there? If it doesn't will it tell you where you can get on the 15n - or will it even mention the 15n?

Another example: I walked down to the quays from Stoneybatter to try to pick up a 66n. Went to several stops served by the 66 along the quay, none of which mentioned the 66n. I walked all the way up to Westmoreland St where I knew I was sure I could get one only to find that there was no 66n as it was a Thursday!

Now I could have found all this out before I went out. I could have written to Dublin Bus in advance and asked them what my options were. But this was unplanned, and I had hoped that as all I have to do to get the 66 is turn up at a bus stop along the route (what would be termed convient) that the same would apply to the 66n.

I don't think it's inconvenient to expect a person to know what bus stops their bus stops at, but I agree it would be a LOT more convenient if people could get on at all bus stops on the way out of town, and also on the way back in, but fully accept there is as Victor (I think) pointed out probably a safety issue there.

JHMEG

dearg lady wrote: »

but fully accept there is as Victor (I think) pointed out probably a safety issue there.

I certainly don't accept there's a safety issue, and Dublin Bus don't seem to think there is if their plans for the 7 and 746 in this post were correct. But I do accept that some people will argue just for the sake of it.

dearg lady

JHMEG wrote: »

I certainly don't accept there's a safety issue, and Dublin Bus don't seem to think there is if their plans for the 7 and 746 in this post were correct. But I do accept that some people will argue just for the sake of it.

true true, but I guess we'll see going forward. That was the one thing I could never understand about the Nitelinks, and it's the only plausible reason I can think of for them not stopping to let people on.

Chucky the tree

Terrontress wrote: »

Comparing one public service to another. You take the rough with the smooth. It is not profitable to do emergency engineering works on Christmas day but it is part of maintaining a service. If night time transport were to be viewed as an essential part of the overall bus or tram service and it was incorporated in to all planning and pricing then it would be done, people would get used to it, people would start using it.

As for your second point, forgive me if you are not talking about Dublin but I am and not thinking about the smaller Irish cities and towns. And given that Dublin has approximately a million and a half people living in the urban area, I would think it better to change your question to "What other European cities of 1.5million people have a 24hr public transport system? "I don't think the fact that Ireland is an island is relevant. Australia is also an island country. Is there any merit in comparing Sydney's public transport to ours?

Late night transport isn't an essential service. Get a taxi if you need to travel at night. Enginerring works done on christmas day will most likely take longer then on an normal working day. This is a inconvience people have to accept, as you say just take the rough with the smooth.

The population of sydney is great then all of Ireland so not exactly a far comparison.

JHMEG wrote: »

Another example: I walked down to the quays from Stoneybatter to try to pick up a 66n. Went to several stops served by the 66 along the quay, none of which mentioned the 66n. I walked all the way up to Westmoreland St where I knew I was sure I could get one only to find that there was no 66n as it was a Thursday!

Now I could have found all this out before I went out. I could have written to Dublin Bus in advance and asked them what my options were. But this was unplanned, and I had hoped that as all I have to do to get the 66 is turn up at a bus stop along the route (what would be termed convient) that the same would apply to the 66n.

So you've never gotten the 66 before or don't live on the route? I mean I'm guessing this is the first time ever you've decided to travel on the 66 route?

JHMEG

Chucky the tree wrote: »

So you've never gotten the 66 before or don't live on the route? I mean I'm guessing this is the first time ever you've decided to travel on the 66 route?

Wrong on all three counts. (Hint: It was the 66n that was the problem)

L1011

JHMEG wrote: »

You and all your friends, socialising spots, work etc must me in close proximity, which is good for you. Someone who is in Maynooth would prefer to get the 66... a taxi is going to cost them €35.

€40+ these days. And its the 67N that goes to Maynooth, seeing as you had a post about trying to find a 66N - that'd have dumped you in Leixlip!

JHMEG

MYOB wrote: »

€40+ these days.

Which isn't funny.

MYOB wrote: »

And its the 67N that goes to Maynooth,

I'm well aware that the 67N goes to Maynooth yet the 67 goes to Celbridge! (Why?!??)

When I can catch the elusive 66N it drops me across the road from my home in Leixlip.

L1011

JHMEG wrote: »

I'm well aware that the 67N goes to Maynooth yet the 67 goes to Celbridge! (Why?!??)

When I can catch the elusive 66N it drops me across the road from my home in Leixlip.

67A goes to Maynooth also, think thats where the distinction comes in.

Of course, on the old weektime service, you took a 67N to Leixlip also. And Lucan. Because they merged the 25N, 66N and 67N services... and I'm not sure that was ever properly made clear in the timetable!

Chucky the tree

JHMEG wrote: »

Wrong on all three counts. (Hint: It was the 66n that was the problem)

Sorry, 66n. So hang on, you live on the route 66n takes to get you home and you have never once bothered your ass looking up the DB website or trying anything to figure how to get home? lol, well played.

JHMEG

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Sorry, 66n. So hang on, you live on the route 66n takes to get you home and you have never once bothered your ass looking up the DB website or trying anything to figure how to get home? lol, well played.

Wrong again!

I usually socialise locally as if I'm in Dublin I have to finish socialising at 11:20pm as the last 66 is at 11:30pm. Otherwise I'm looking at €€€ to get home as there's "No transport at night in Dublin except expensive taxis" (thread title), as the 66N only runs at weekends, and from very few stops.

I am actually surprised that the Vintners haven't managed to influence things. The city centre pubs are well served by Nitelinks (weekends), but the likes of say Ryan's of Parkgate St are not, despite having loads of bus stops within 2 mins walk.

JHMEG

MYOB wrote: »

Of course, on the old weektime service, you took a 67N to Leixlip also. And Lucan. Because they merged the 25N, 66N and 67N services... and I'm not sure that was ever properly made clear in the timetable!

66N used to run 5 nights a week, maybe more. I did see the notice on the DB website saying to take the 67N on week nights a few years ago, after the weeknight 66Ns were cancelled.

Ironically the 67N has been essentially reduced to a skeleton service and runs a lot less frequently than the 66N now, not serving Leixlip at all.

Corruptedmorals

The weeknight 67N should have been kept, it was always at least half full all the times I used to get it. Good fun when you were with other people, since it was really a North Kildare/West Dublin scenic route.

I see no problem with the fact that the only pick-up point is Westmoreland street. At normal times, Westmoreland street is the main city centre stop on the route anyway. It serves the clubs on D'olier street q bar etc, templebar, college green grafton street area etc- very central as regards nightlife. Conveniently near Subway and Charlies too. It's great the way the 66N flies home since no-one really gets off before lucan and it doesn't stop.

belge boy

if you want good transport increase population. with your recession transport is going to get worse

Absurdum

belge boy wrote: »

if you want good transport increase population.

that is likely to happen since staying in is the new going out

Spook_ie

Absurdum wrote: »

that is likely to happen since staying in is the new going out

But if you were to adhere to a strict timetable and pull out on time there wouldn't be such a big problem :cool:

dRNk SAnTA

The city centre business associations should help to foot the cost of the nitelink. But it should definitely be brought back. 11:30 last bus is simply a joke.

KC61

The reason for the limited stop service was that initially drivers took no fares on board at all - tickets had to be bought in advance from the ticket bus. There was a safety issue with the high rate of assaults on Dublin Bus staff at the time.

That changed as the autofare system was implemented across the fleet, and people could then pay cash on board, and then a certain number of limited pickup stops were introduced on each route, at points where there were perceived to be a reasonable demand.

The Nitelink was requested by Government and designed as an express method of removing the drunken crowds from the city centre late at night who could not get a taxi home. With the vast increase in the numbers of taxis that need has diminished. The numbers of passengers using the Nitelink service dropped phenomenally to 3 or 4 per bus on some routes.

The night time service does need an overhaul, and some form of redesign as a normal bus service that picks up and sets down en route. However I remain to be convinced that there is huge demand out there for such a service. The fact that no private operators have even tried starting one speaks volumes. Dublin is not a 24-hour city to the same degree as continental Europe or indeed many UK cities.

However, people need to remember that at the moment Dublin Bus is under serious pressure from government to cut costs wherever possible. The financial support is being cut back annually. The focus at the moment is on the normal core daytime bus service. A full network redesign is on the cards in the next few months with recast routes, schedules, and much improved customer information in line with the recommendations of the Deloitte report as I mentioned above.

This is a vast undertaking, and understandably I would think that the focus of Dublin Bus management is on this rather than recasting the night time network and services. Unfortunately that will remain the reality for the next few months.

The reality is that there is no appetite in Government for funding Night services - as I say the the financial support is being cut back all the time. The likelihood of the night time network being expanded in the foreseeable future is very low - they would need financial support from Government to cover costs and that ain't going to happen.