Dublin Bus Network Review

stop

AlekSmart wrote: »

Because,having removed the pre-existing flexible destination display capability,thus manufacturing the problem,we then carried blissfully on,with drivers comments being happily brushed aside as "moaning".

Just wondering, how long does it take to add new destinations onto the displays? Is it a messy process or just a matter of uploading a few files?

Dyr

devnull wrote: »

There has been discontent all week on the 4/a, having got one every day the main problems seem to be:

1) The savage cuts by 30% during the week
2) The huge Saturday and Sunday cuts (Over 50%) to once every half hour on Saturday and once every hour on Sundays.
3) The unrealistic reduction in travel time. now a driver is expected to get from Harristown to Monkstown in 60 minutes, previously 90, despite the fact the route is now longer.
4) Drivers are expected to operate a return journey 60 minutes after their journey in the other direction begins
5) The withdrawal of high capacity articulated buses.

Points 1-4 make sense but the withdrawal of the articulated buses is not a bad thing at all, they've been a complete disaster.

Cookie_Monster

stop wrote: »

Just wondering, how long does it take to add new destinations onto the displays? Is it a messy process or just a matter of uploading a few files?

it should be a case of just plugging in a memory stick with the updated files so all buses can be updated quickly and with ease from a single centrally updated file location. I don't know if DB manage this though

KC61

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

of course there was an alternative. 84 with Belfield, if people are to stupid to get that then there's no hope for them. or 145 to Donnybrook, it's not like the bus went through Stillorgan Village anyway. or 84a to show its similar but not 84. having the 3 was (is) just ridiculous and confusing, why not 14 or 25 or 68 or any other number just pulled from their asses?

The problem will still not be solved as this bus I doubt will pull off for Cherrywood or Stillorgan, otherwise its a normal 84 and should be on the timetable as such.

Well from reports posted before people are (to use your words) that "stupid". It was an ongoing problem. People assumed that because the 84 was on the front that the bus continued to the city and were put out that the bus only went as far as Donnybrook and the drivers took their own approach and used "3 UCD".

KC61

AlekSmart wrote: »

Au contraire KC,it most certainly has not been "rectified".

Because,having removed the pre-existing flexible destination display capability,thus manufacturing the problem,we then carried blissfully on,with drivers comments being happily brushed aside as "moaning".

What you are now suggesting is that it took a hugely expensive consultants review of the entire company to "rectify" a problem which the company did not accept existed at all..??...or am I missing something...?

I am not saying that at all - the wider problem still exists, I was referring to that particular bus from Kilcoole to Donnybrook.

devnull

Bambi wrote: »

Points 1-4 make sense but the withdrawal of the articulated buses is not a bad thing at all, they've been a complete disaster.

I guess you don't get the 4 very often then do you?

The reason drivers are unhappy at them being withdrawn is because they can fit 40-50 extra people on one of these than a double decker. This is on an already crowded route. They may not be everybody's cup of tea but they are well suited to such a busy corridor that they have run on. In turn the drivers get less grief about the previous bus going past without stopping.

The reason passengers are unhappy at them being withdrawn is closely related to the first four reasons. They have cut frequency by 30% in the period where the buses are already full with well over 100 people on them at times, and not only is there only 4 buses an hour on the 4 instead of the previous 6, but the ones that are there hold 30-40% less.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

it should be a case of just plugging in a memory stick with the updated files so all buses can be updated quickly and with ease from a single centrally updated file location. I don't know if DB manage this though

I don't understand why Donnybrook are always so slow to update their routes to be honest. Harristown have had every bus I have seen on the 4 today dressed up with the new numbers, if they can do it why cannot other garages?

Dyr

devnull wrote: »

I guess you don't get the 4 very often then do you?

The reason drivers are unhappy at them being withdrawn is because they can fit 40-50 extra people on one of these than a double decker. This is on an already crowded route. They may not be everybody's cup of tea but they are well suited to such a busy corridor that they have run on. In turn the drivers get less grief about the previous bus going past without stopping.

I don't understand why Donnybrook are always so slow to update their routes to be honest. Harristown have had every bus I have seen on the 4 today dressed up with the new numbers, if they can do it why cannot other garages?

Do you travel on articulated 4's other than as a driver? I avoid them wherever possible. Apart from the fact that they break down regularly, I've had some sort of fluid leaked down on me about three times and the rear carriage suspension is usually all over the place. Even if they are popular with drivers for their capacity that capacity is in a carriage that is far too narrow. Try having to fight your way to the exit from the rear of one of these things when its packed..its a nightmare.


Also the seats were designed for masochists. :pac:

devnull

Bambi wrote: »

Do you travel on articulated 4's other than as a driver? I avoid them wherever possible. Apart from the fact that they break down regularly, I've had some sort of fluid leaked down on me about three times and the rear carriage suspension is usually all over the place. Even if they are popular with drivers for their capacity that capacity is in a carriage that is far too narrow. Try having to fight your way to the exit from the rear of one of these things when its packed..its a nightmare.

Yes, I travel on them almost every day when I go to work near Ballsbridge, I have never been on one that has broken down, I have saw one broken down once before, but have never been on one that has.

When it is raining on a cold winters day I don't care how packed they are, I'd rather have a artic come round the corner and for us all to pile on rather than waiting in the rain for 15 minutes longer whilst a couple of double decks go past full.

Telchak

On a side note, the route number on the updated displays on the 46A are a lot smaller now, kinda hard to see until they're pretty close :mad:

angel01

Telchak wrote: »

On a side note, the route number on the updated displays on the 46A are a lot smaller now, kinda hard to see until they're pretty close :mad:

I had noticed that myself, the number and route are a lot smaller now

thomasj

Currently waiting on a bus the last fifteen minutes at suffolk street have spotted 3 145s and a 10 but not 1 46a eek!

devnull

The 10/46A duplicate each other right now from the city center though so wouldn't make any difference which one someone got on from there, although it is a little strange.

Is it related to too tight journey time perhaps, that caused quite a gap on the 4's this evening?

PoisonIvy

Soo wait, can someone explain what's happened withthe 46b.. Does the 47 now follow it's route up the lower kilmacud road, then redesdale and trees road? Very confused as to how Im going to get to school!

thomasj

devnull wrote: »

The 10/46A duplicate each other right now from the city center though so wouldn't make any difference which one someone got on from there, although it is a little strange.

Is it related to too tight journey time perhaps, that caused quite a gap on the 4's this evening?

Hopefully not, but I have experience of this as a regular user of the 128, a victim of this practice

Including buses not showing up and delays. One day last week (Monday I think) a driver got the backlash of people waiting upto an hour at Eden quay seemingly downto one bus breaking down at eden quay another not showing up he left people behind at the Eden quay busstop the bus was so packed

KC61

PoisonIvy wrote: »

Soo wait, can someone explain what's happened withthe 46b.. Does the 47 now follow it's route up the lower kilmacud road, then redesdale and trees road? Very confused as to how Im going to get to school!

47 routing is Upper Kilmacud Road, right onto Lower Kilmacud Road, left through Stillorgan Village, then left onto Trees Road Lower after going onto the dual carriageway, right onto North Avenue, and right onto Fosters Avenue before rejoining the dual carriageway.

Only the 5 now serves Redesdale Road and Trees Road Upper.

KC61

thomasj wrote: »

Currently waiting on a bus the last fifteen minutes at suffolk street have spotted 3 145s and a 10 but not 1 46a eek!

devnull wrote: »

The 10/46A duplicate each other right now from the city center though so wouldn't make any difference which one someone got on from there, although it is a little strange.

Is it related to too tight journey time perhaps, that caused quite a gap on the 4's this evening?

All of the buses were subject to knock-on delays this evening due to the bridge strike at Pearse Station which caused all routes operating via Westland Row to divert via St Stephen's Green and Suffolk Street.

angel01

KC61 wrote: »

All of the buses were subject to knock-on delays this evening due to the bridge strike at Pearse Station which caused all routes operating via Westland Row to divert via St Stephen's Green and Suffolk Street.

What about this morning? it is a really silly decision not to have the 46A stopping at Parnell Square, thus there are too many people getting on at O'Connell Street and as for the 145 starting at D'olier street, words fail me. :mad::mad:

Cookie_Monster

angel01 wrote: »

as for the 145 starting at D'olier street, :

why's it doing that, and not Heuston?

KC61

angel01 wrote: »

What about this morning? it is a really silly decision not to have the 46A stopping at Parnell Square, thus there are too many people getting on at O'Connell Street and as for the 145 starting at D'olier street, words fail me. :mad::mad:

I'm not quite sure what you mean?

The 46a is still shown as serving Parnell Square, and the 145 starts at Heuston not D'Olier Street, and it certainly was operating from Heuston this morning.

bg07

angel01 wrote: »

What about this morning? it is a really silly decision not to have the 46A stopping at Parnell Square, thus there are too many people getting on at O'Connell Street and as for the 145 starting at D'olier street, words fail me. :mad::mad:

They moved the 46A stop up towards the chapter one end. All there is a bit of paper tied on to new bus stop to indicate this. At this stage the timetables and busstop numbers should be changed at busy stops such as Parnell Square and O'Connell Street. Those generic network direct posters/stickers that they put at every stop are of very limited use to passengers. I understand they cant change the info at every affected stop in the first day but they could at least have the city centre done by yesterday evening.

AlekSmart

I understand they cant change the info at every affected stop in the first day but they could at least have the city centre done by yesterday evening.

I beg to differ.

There was ample opportunity over the weekend,particularly during the night to address the issue of on-street information.

Having blank or incorrectly labeled Stops in the City Centre itself is I`m afraid once again ignoring the ABC of Buswork. :rolleyes:

All that has occurred with the 46A is that it continues to use the "Old" stop which was essentially a set-down facility shared with the 3,11,16 groups.

It`s as clear as the nose on one`s face that with the new routing,the 46A should have been allocated the 10 stop,if nothing else simply to encourage passenger familiarity ....or,once again,is my Busdrivers view incorrect ?

EDIT : Thankfully the 46A Northbound O Connell St Stop situation has been regularized,with the allocation of the route to the old 10 stop.

Cookie_Monster

I wonder if there is a bit of an element of "there's no point changing the stop data, we'll only have to change it again when the 10 is gone in a few weeks"

the groutch

imo they should take SOME of the 46a buses and run a variation of the route using the monkstown bypass, save a huge amount of time.
anyone between foxrock church and stillorgan have the 145 anyway, so it'd only be a few people a deansgrange that would have to wait a little bit longer

markpb

the groutch wrote: »

imo they should take SOME of the 46a buses and run a variation of the route using the monkstown bypass, save a huge amount of time.
anyone between foxrock church and stillorgan have the 145 anyway, so it'd only be a few people a deansgrange that would have to wait a little bit longer

Rule number 1 of bus operations is that you keep the routes simple. One start, one end, no variations where-ever possible. Anything else is just confusing for the passenger.

angel01

KC61 wrote: »

I'm not quite sure what you mean?

The 46a is still shown as serving Parnell Square, and the 145 starts at Heuston not D'Olier Street, and it certainly was operating from Heuston this morning.

Oh sorry, I meant bypassing Parnell Sq/O'Connell Street area

I presumed the 46A wasnt serving Parnell Square at all, least I know differently now, this has been handled so poorly, I have given up trying to contact Dublin Bus. I never seem to be able to get someone to answer the main number.

KC61

Well I would disagree. The new 145 opens up new journey possibilities and avoids some duplication in the city centre area with the 46a.

In fairness there are multiple buses that will take you from Parnell Square/O'Connell Street to D'Olier Street if you don't want to walk for 5-10 minutes (16/a, 19/a, 122, 140 and 46a), together with the 4, 5, 7/a, 8, 10, 11/a/b, 13/a to Nassau Street where you can catch a 145.

angel01

KC61 wrote: »

Well I would disagree. The new 145 opens up new journey possibilities and avoids some duplication in the city centre area with the 46a.

In fairness there are multiple buses that will take you from Parnell Square/O'Connell Street to D'Olier Street if you don't want to walk for 5-10 minutes (16/a, 19/a, 122, 140 and 46a), together with the 4, 5, 7/a, 8, 10, 11/a/b, 13/a to Nassau Street where you can catch a 145.

Yes I understand that, I have had people who I have spoken to asking where the 10 has gone to from O'Connell Street (outside McDonalds/Spar) as they have taken the sign down, they are unaware that the 46A will be taken over.

I know I have options to get where I am going (I am not going to D'olier Street and don't have the spare time to walk to get a 145) I just think this could be all handled better, sticking makeshift posters over the bus stops is not the answer to me.

I have given up trying to email/ring Dublin Bus, they either don't answer or never return your call/emails anyway. Shocking customer service in my opinion.

devnull

Whoever designed some of those updated displays ohasn't done a very good job if you ask me as they have decided to go for Irish translations of locations, rather than via points which has confused people even more since the route changes have happened.

For example I notice the 46A has now been changed to show 46A Phoenix Park at least, which should have happened on Sunday, but also has a translation of Phoenix Park in Irish underneath, this seems to leave no space for a number 46A at normal size, so it now has a smaller number to ensure their is space for the Irish.

Personally myself, I would have thought that with changes on the horizon and happening, having via points was more important than ever, or even having two that alternate rather than having none, but that is just myself. Nothing against the Irish language, but it seems on the 46A's Irish Language is being used at the expense of an easily visable route number.

SickCert

Most of the length of the N11 QBC had people waiting today with nothing but full buses inbound. Not enough capacity on the road now.

honru

How is the 4 doing since the reduction of services? I presume the 4A is completely gone, yeah?