New CitySightseeing Tour Stops.

AlekSmart

The RedBus Dublin Citysightseeing Tour,operated by Dualway Coaches have embarked upon a programme of upgrading their Bus Stops

The new stainless-steel poles and colourful headplates are distinctive and clear with such easily understood items as the Stop Number clearly printed on the headplate.

Stop 1. O Connell St (Savoy)
Stop 2. Trinity/Grafton St.

There`s also a Stop 1a,an old-style pole which stands on Abbey Street opposite the VHI.

Now whilst welcoming anything that improves the look of the place I must now wonder if the Dualway Company will actually follow it`s own signage and cease operating from the highly dangerous location at the Junction of O Connell St and Sackville Place.

The company has an operative stationed here,outside Clerys,to sweep up business which he/she then directs on to a Tour Bus which has left Stop Number 1 and is due to Stop next at Stop Number 2 (Do you follow this logic...?)

The operative then usually detains the Bus for several minutes at a location which is as Illegal,Dangerous and just plain crazy as one could wish for..ie:

Within 5 metres of a Pedestrian Crossing (In fact the Bus is often to be found Stopped on the crossing.)

Within 15 Metres of a Junction (Usually at the junction with Sackville Place,where it totally obscures the available vision into and out of the junction for approaching traffic and emerging traffic particularly Taxis).

The parked Bus also totally obscures the view of the Dublin Bus regular stop for the 3,11,122,123 routes which is a very busy location and which also is the only O Connell St Stop for the Dublin Bus City Tour.

I have ,on occassion witnessed Garda Traffic Corps members descending upon the location and moving the offending vehicle on,but generally the ordinary Gardai pay little heed to the dangerous situation enacted for them every day.

The reality appears to be that the Management of the company are unsatisfied with their single stop on the street,as i`m sure are Dublin Bus with their lone stop.

However,Dublin Bus do manage to observe the nicities and requirements of their route-licence and the Road Traffic Act whilst Dualway management appear content to require their staff to break the same rules and regulations.

It`s even more incongruous as the company`s management had already written to the Minister For Transport making strong allegations against Dublin Bus and it`s Tour Drivers for "unprofessional behaviour".

In that letter,the companys MD made much of the high-standards which Dualway operated to,with references to ISO accreditation and the rest.

Yet,when it comes to a somewhat blatent and ongoing example of safety standards being totally ignored,are we expected to simply build a bridge and get over it ?

Surely this company as it`s Dublin Bus competitor does,must be prepared to accept the allocation of one City Tour Stop each on the Street ?

Or is this yet another extension of the Patton Flyer principle whereby once the responsible authorities fail to act the perpretator feels emboldened to ignore those elements of the regulations which they don`t like ?

Well that`s my rant over,just be careful when heading South along O Connell St at this location outside Clerys,because it`s an absolutely mad location to park a bus and then expect everybody else to see through and around it !!

KD345

AlekSmart wrote: »

Dublin Bus do manage to observe the nicities and requirements of their route-licence and the Road Traffic Act whilst Dualway management appear content to require their staff to break the same rules and regulations.

I'm not sure Dublin Bus are complete angels here. They regularly have a bus parked empty at College Green at the 49/65/65B bus stop. This blocks the view of what bus is coming around Trinity and makes it difficult for the bus to pull in to the kerb, especially if there is a 37 or 39 tri-axel using the stop ahead. They also sometimes have a bus parked on Lower Grafton Street where the 4/7 stops. The road here is at a curve and usually results in a bus with it's rear blocking traffic. While Dublin Bus don't actually park buses at the stop on O'Connell Street they do sit here for quite some time while the bus fills up. This can mean the 11/121/122/123 have to queue to pull in, while taxis from Sackvlle Place struggle to get onto O'Connell Street as the parked Dualway bus blocks the view of traffic.

Ideally, all tour buses would use one bus stop on O'Connell Street, perhaps outside Clerys before the pedestrian lights. The situation, as Alek describes well, is simply waiting for an accident to happen on a busy Saturday afternoon. No other company would be allowed to park their vehicle on O'Connell Street for hours.

devnull

As the above poster said, Dublin Bus are far from angels too, I see their tour buses parked up at the 4/7 stop, the city sightseeing stop and even occasionally the Aircoach stop at times. But the Citysightseeing ones also ahve been known to park at the Aircoach stop for a long period, and the Dublin Bus stops, so they are all just as bad as each other to a degree.

Then we have the situation where a tri-axle Aircoach comes in, or a Artic on a 4, or tri-axle on the 46A, which can find nowhere to park or has to park at other peoples stops or simply can't stop safely at all because of the parked tour buses from either company.

AlekSmart

One of the reasons I was reluctant to post this topic is the immediate "But Dublin Bus do it too" reaction.

In this instance I`m specifically referring to a non-ambigious location which is NOT a bus-stop and for a very clear and obvious reason.

In most of the other cases there is a pre-existing Bus Stop which inter-alia infers that the location has been approved by the Gardai.

I would immediately point out that the Bottom of Grafton Street is a hazardous location of the first degree which has been allowed to develop by a complete and total disinterest in Public Safety displayed by the Civic Authorities.

There can be no excuse for a regulatory authority being unable to differentiate between the Safety Related requirements of a Short-Dwell Scheduled Bus Service vs Long Dwell Tour and Coach services,both of which are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of space utilization.

Add in the more recent arrival of a constant and illegal Taxi presence and one has a significantly increased risk of a MAJOR RTA.

There has for many years now been an uneasy relationship between Scheduled Service Buses and City Tour Buses of all hue`s and that is ongoing.

However in this specific incidence I am attempting to point out the quite obvious conflict between the CitySightseeing Tour company`s own clearly identified NEW Bus Stops and this specific location which,for very sound reasons,is not an approved stop on the companys own Tour Route.

If the CitySightseeing Tour is investing in new infrastructure then one presumes they intend to utilize it in a manner befitting an ISO (?) approved company.

If not,then this is merely throwing its money away on shiny new Stainless Steel poles which have no meaning at all !

Perhaps I`d be better off awaiting the deliberations of the National Transport Authority who were reputed to be taking charge of all this sort of stuff....were`nt they.....?????

Victor

It, and the tolerance of it, is unacceptable. Personally, I'd ban the tour buses and coaches at rush hour (and maybe use them to provide commuter services, open tops on port tunnel service only in winter).

AlekSmart wrote: »

Perhaps I`d be better off awaiting the deliberations of the National Transport Authority who were reputed to be taking charge of all this sort of stuff....were`nt they.....?????

Reputedly, bus licencing staff have not transferred to the NTA, because they want their own individual offices and copies of their favourite newspaper.