The Bus to keep or not to keep?

matt-dublin

That's back to the builders and Wicklow county council, more the council methinks

Annasopra

Swanner wrote: »

What's wrong with the Dublin Bus service that the rest of the greater Dublin area relies on.

It's not integrated to coincide with DART times

hamstervision

We still haven't got the notice in the door, by the way. There may be other people out there who haven't either but who weren't tracking the issue on this thread.

neets

Me neither.

matt-dublin

Who are your management agents?

It only came on a folded piece of paper I believe so it may have been thrown out as junk mail

caji

Kennedy Wright sent out letters to all yesterday saying bus ending March 31st.

hamstervision

matt-dublin wrote: »

Who are your management agents?

Wyse (Charlesland Wood).

matt-dublin wrote: »

It only came on a folded piece of paper I believe so it may have been thrown out as junk mail

We've been keeping an eye out for it, just out of interest. I'm just worried that there are people who are unaware that this is happening.

LEIN

No word here either.

GingerDave

Damo9090 wrote: »

No word here either.

We received a letter from the MA yesterday explain the termination etc etc. The cost per year was going up to €80K...that's seem like a hell of a lot for a 2 mintue bus journey....

May be we could set up a car sharing pool for the estate?

May be local taxi drivers would give discounted rates for regular business to and from the dart? Surely there could be a business opportunity here?

conlof

Very impressed with the new management fees. I've only used the bus thrice in the last 4/5 years. I have to say it was mildly annoying to think that I was being extorted to fund a service I had no use for and I'm glad its gone. There are so far 15 pages of comment on this topic and they are mainly in support for the bus service. I very much doubt the support would be there if other people weren't paying for the service.

hamstervision

conlof wrote: »

I have to say it was mildly annoying to think that I was being extorted to fund a service I had no use for and I'm glad its gone.

Let's not get carried away.

extort
obtain (something) by force, threats, or other unfair means

If I'm not mistaken, you would have been made aware of the service before purchasing in Charlesland.

The bus is gone, some people are happy about it, some upset/angry about it, but we've all had/will have our management fees reduced because of it. It could have been handled better but it's been done. Let's leave it at that.

Plastik

Have we? I have received no notification of a reduced fee.

hamstervision

Plastik wrote: »

Have we? I have received no notification of a reduced fee.

I said had/will have - we should all see a reduction!

Wyse sent around a letter saying ours are now reduced, but because of the decision to remove the bus taking time, they've only sent notification now for this quarter, with the second quarter due the following month. Not so nice.

Langerland

conlof wrote: »

Very impressed with the new management fees. I've only used the bus thrice in the last 4/5 years. I have to say it was mildly annoying to think that I was being extorted to fund a service I had no use for and I'm glad its gone. There are so far 15 pages of comment on this topic and they are mainly in support for the bus service. I very much doubt the support would be there if other people weren't paying for the service.

I've never used the community center either. Why the hell I have to pay for it, I don't know!

skelly22

Got that letter in the post yesterday too. My Mgmt fee has been reduced by €175 with more to come as we're still paying for 1/4 year service in 2011. Never use the bus so it's welcome relief for me. €80k way to much to pay for a service used regularly by such a small percentage of residents.

matt-dublin

skelly22 wrote: »

Got that letter in the post yesterday too. My Mgmt fee has been reduced by €175 with more to come as we're still paying for 1/4 year service in 2011. Never use the bus so it's welcome relief for me. €80k way to much to pay for a service used regularly by such a small percentage of residents.

before people get excited this fee reduction probably takes into account other service contract negotiations and budget cutbacks.

that saving won't be just the bus

The_Wrecker

You guys take care of Sean on his last day. A good guy! I know him from DB.

Langerland

matt-dublin wrote: »

before people get excited this fee reduction probably takes into account other service contract negotiations and budget cutbacks.

that saving won't be just the bus

That is true Matt. I asked for confirmation from our own Management Company that more services won't be withdrawn in the future. The response was, it is likely more will be withdrawn. While rising costs are a factor, a bigger issue seems to be people in arrears (as opposed to non-payment in total) of Management Fee's. This beggars belief and leaves me wondering why should I bother to break my back every Spring to get these paid. The list of properties in arrears in my own area is staggering. So I think this whole issue is much bigger than just the bus service unfortunately.

conlof

I have to admit I had an issue with arrears myself. I now pay a monthly standing order which clears it in bite sized chunks. There was no chance of me coming up with 800-1000 euro after christmas.

mikedragon32

Langerland wrote: »

That is true Matt. I asked for confirmation from our own Management Company that more services won't be withdrawn in the future. The response was, it is likely more will be withdrawn. While rising costs are a factor, a bigger issue seems to be people in arrears (as opposed to non-payment in total) of Management Fee's. This beggars belief and leaves me wondering why should I bother to break my back every Spring to get these paid. The list of properties in arrears in my own area is staggering. So I think this whole issue is much bigger than just the bus service unfortunately.

At this rate it seems that it's only when there isn't enough money to pay the Management Companies that something will actually be done about the arrears.

The arrears list for the Wood made interesting reading when it was circulated, but it seems that naming and shaming hasn't worked.

sysconp1

This is a note received from the management company today:

Charlesland Overall Residents’ Committee
TERMINATION OF CHARLESLAND SHUTTLE BUS – 31st March 2011

The Shuttle Bus to Greystones Railway Station was established by the Developer as a requirement in the original planning permission for the Charlesland development - mandated at the time by the absence of any public transport in the area. This service has been funded by Charlesland homeowners as part of their annual service charge, typically described as the ‘Contribution to Main Estate’.

The ‘Main Estate’ has obligations for certain Charlesland areas/items which are not covered by individual management companies e.g. community centre running costs, some public lighting, some grounds maintenance etc., public liability insurance, certain repair & maintenance costs etc., and of course the Shuttle Bus. Charlesland Residential Management Company Limited (CRMC) administers the Main Estate, with an annual budget now running at approx. €122,000. Contributions by homeowners to this sum are proportionate to the number of homes in each management company, with CRMC itself being advised by the Charlesland Overall Residents’ Committee (CORC).

In recent years we’ve seen the establishment of both Dublin Bus and Aircoach services in Charlesland. That said, we appreciate the advantage of the Shuttle Bus to regular users for its peak time convenience. However, we’ve also seen consistent increases in the cost of the Shuttle Bus. For 2011 it will rise to almost €80,000 - which now firmly calls into question the economic viability of the service. Two surveys by CORC have indicated usage levels of typically some 15%-20%. Furthermore, the recent growth of arrears in service charges amongst some homeowners throughout the wider development has placed additional pressure on the ability to fund the Shuttle Bus.

The challenge for individual management companies to cover their own costs remains the priority, with each of them striving to reduce, and collect, service charges. The result is that all these issues, together with the now pressing impact of the recession as well as increases in variable bank interest rates, have created conditions whereby the CORC can no longer support the continuation of the Shuttle Bus, in the interest of its constituent memberships. The CRMC directors have accepted this position. Accordingly, and regrettably, the Shuttle Bus will cease on Thursday 31st March. Regular users of the Bus Shuttle, unfortunately, will now need to consider other alternatives.

CHARLESLAND RESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT COMPANY LTD. - SERVICE CHARGE 2011
% With Bus Without Bus Full Year Saving % Saving
Charlesland Wood 19.96 €24,362 €10,871 €13,491 55%
The Crescent 3.45 €4,211 €1,879 € 2,332 55%
Seabourne View 17.57 €21,445 €9,569 €11,876 55%
Charlesland Retail 3.56 €4,345 €1,939 € 2,406 55%
Charlesland Grove&Park 37.66 €45,965 €20,511 €25,454 55%
Charlesland Court 17.80 €21,725 €9,694 €12,031 55%
TOTAL: 100.00 €122,053 €54,464 €67,590 55%


Basically, they have made excuses and are not stopping a vital service for the residents of Charlesland. I presume that this will come as a bit of a shock as it is the first I have heard of it and gives the residents very little notice to make other plans.

mikedragon32

Do keep up!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056151548

judy1

I spoke one of our managers on the shuttle issue, and expressed how pi**ed off i was. As I have a nice walk ahead of me to the bus stop.

He told me that some cuts had to be made overall to the whole of the estate in regards to the high cost of bills, ect. :rolleyes:

They looked at the bus service hard and long before any cut was made. But it was the one thinig that a good % of poeple could do with out. Thay done some sort of count on the service over a few days and the 15%/20% use is what they came up with.:(

I told them that it must have been done on a bad day. I ask why we the residents did not get told of this before hand and they just fobed me off. I ask if we got a vote on this and they said that its already been decided.:mad:

Now I dont mind us loosing the service (ok I do mind:mad:)but we should have at least got a say on it. Instead we pay our fees and then the decision is made for us! that was wrong of our committee to do this. And they know it.:mad:

As for the price of the bus, they say that its to much.....cop on to yourselfs. Where else is any one going to get a bus to run for a cost of €1 (give or take a few cent) a week per unit. Even if I did'nt use it all the time, I'd still pay that. Its for nothing.

And lets not forget.. at least 60%/70% of our estate use's the bus on a very bad day. The Driver has even let a extra few on to make sure we all got to work.

Does any one know whats going to happen to the Driver sean when our bus is finished? Is he Finished too?:( even though thats nothing realy to do with us.. but I'd feel like crap if he had no job after this..

mikedragon32

at least 60%/70% of our estate use's the bus on a very bad day

Let's say there are 54 seats on the bus and the bus runs 6 times each morning... That's 324 people maximum, unless the driver accepts a number of standing passengers for which the bus may not be licenced. Even if he does and there are 12 standing passengers, that still only brings the total usage at full capacity to 376. There are 1400 units in the development. Even if every property was occupied by only one person, that's just under 27% usage.

judy1

Ok mikedragon32, your good. I was over doing my sums a bit. After all I'm fighting for our relible bus service.
The bus holds 60 passengers. X 12 runs = 720 people. Now I know not ever one will use it. But not all the same people use it in the morning or evening. Or every day. There is a bit of a mix.

You can't blame a gal for trying:D.

Bring on my long walk down to the Dublin buses :eek:

mikedragon32

The bus does 6 runs each way, so it's still only 360 that can actually use the service each way, but yes, they could be a completely different 360 who use the morning service to those taking the evening ones, however unlikely that is.

MyPerfectCousin

mikedragon32 wrote: »

Let's say there are 54 seats on the bus and the bus runs 6 times each morning... That's 324 people maximum, unless the driver accepts a number of standing passengers for which the bus may not be licenced. Even if he does and there are 12 standing passengers, that still only brings the total usage at full capacity to 376. There are 1400 units in the development. Even if every property was occupied by only one person, that's just under 27% usage.

What's the percentage usage of the "Charlesland Community Centre"?

Where is the Charlesland Community Centre?

Annasopra

Did they remove the bin at the bus stop because only 10% of people were using it? Should we remove the footpaths because most people drive?

hamstervision

Johnnymcg wrote: »

Did they remove the bin at the bus stop because only 10% of people were using it? Should we remove the footpaths because most people drive?

We should probably remove the 50km/h speed limit on the main road as I'd say less than 5% of people use it!

conlof

Guys the maths speaks for itself; as do the fee reductions. ok a minority of charleslanders get put out but we all save a fair few quid. On balance it is a net gain for everyone.
Lets leave it at that.