Nitelink Changes Announced

rich1874

My uncle is an inspector with dublin bus and he recently told me that after february there'll be no more nitlelink buses on any routes. He said the cost of fuel and wages plus the added hassle with drunken people has led them to this decision. I personally get the 67N after nights out in town and it's always packed so i can't imagine how they aren't making money on that particular route. As for worrying about dealing with drunken people that just strikes me as sheer unwillingness to provide a service to genuine people on the basis of a few bad experiences. I haven't found any confirmation of this on the web but he was pretty vehement that there will be no more nitelinks from march onwards!

Cookie_Monster

Fantastic :rolleyes:

It's a heavily used service (well anytime I've been on it).

DB really seem to be trying their best to piss off as many customers as possible, destroying routes with ND, prices up and now chopping Nitelinks :mad:

Sulmac

And to think that a few years ago that the Nitelink used to run every night of the week except Sunday nights/Monday mornings.

Random

i really hope this isnt true.

kippy

Random wrote: »

i really hope this isnt true.

Yeah, its an initiative from the greens to help commuters/people out late at night to avoid using heavily polluting cars........
Idiots - and yer fecking carbon taxes - *waves fist

mrsdewinter

Surely there has to be a way of keeping this service going. Have they looked at raising the cost of the fare? Reducing frequency to once an hour?
If it were to go, it would be a great loss.

-Chris-

If this is true it's an absolute disgrace. Can anyone find a verified link?

Atlantic Dawn

Good decision, it will decimate the pubs in the city centre and cut back on our drinking culture, it will also help the ailing taxi industry :rolleyes:

I'd imagine running it once an hour on the hour would make much more sense, plenty of demand for it at that rate of supply, every half hour isn't a good idea. Ideal rate would be once an hour to 2.30am and then one every 15minutes until 4am, plenty of customers.

CIE

I'm not fond of rumours myself, although given what's been going on of late, it wouldn't surprise me if this were planned.

Has there been no initiative to institute 24-hour service on some bus routes? It's not like Dublin rolls up the footpaths at night.

patrickmooney

Can a tender not be out out for some other company to provide an alternative public bus service from 12 midnight to 7 am, 7 days a week. I am sure there are people willing to work. This is ridiculous.

Sulmac

CIE wrote: »

Has there been no initiative to institute 24-hour service on some bus routes?.

I'm not sure, but I think that Dublin Bus wanted to run the (now obsolete) 746 route from the airport to Dún Laoghaire (via the city centre and N11) on a 24-hour basis for a trial period but weren't allowed to for some reason. Pity too, I'd imagine it would have been quite busy (especially as the Aircoach manages to run a 24-hour service along a similar route).

mgmt

I don't believe this rumour. Dublin Bus would be in breach of their PSO contract with the government if they stopped this service.

PUBLIC SERVICE CONTRACT
Between
An tÚdarás Náisiúnta Iompair - National Transport Authority
and
Bus Átha Cliath-Dublin Bus




The Operator will provide:
• A network of integrated services as set out in Schedule A and shown in Schedule E operating from early morning (generally before 7AM) to midnight Monday to Friday and as demand requires on Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, a Nitelink network of services will operate at weekends serving the main corridors from the city from midnight to early morning.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShDYdjyAVfyQTdRy83tDv8FswO1fz8quJOtW4Sc9w7nGkvNOjFbIy-3bwtAWUjfz3ziAkwoZcSerUNV7XlwFA_o-VGrh_k9rhOT_TM2Dt7Bb7mb7P3EfsdtI1Z55KbGtGa0E6As&q=cache%3Arw3GQUwXBbkJ%3Awww.nationaltransport.ie%2Fdownloads%2Fcontract_dublinbus.pdf%20nitelink%20pso&docid=0a1e8a556a450b74ed67b944f83fbf58&a=bi&pagenumber=23&w=658


http://www.nationaltransport.ie/downloads/contract_dublinbus.pdf

Vic_08

patrickmooney wrote: »

Can a tender not be out out for some other company to provide an alternative public bus service from 12 midnight to 7 am, 7 days a week. I am sure there are people willing to work. This is ridiculous.

Of course there are people willing to work, put an add in the indo tomorrow for pretty much any job and you will get a mountain of applicants. No drivers to run the service has NEVER been the issue with nitelinks.

Nitelink is not subsidised. If it is considered not worthwhile to include in the Dublin Bus PSO I imagine it would be a tall order finding the cash with which to tender someone else to run the service.

Anyone is free to apply for a licence to run such a service on a commercial basis, the fact that only one other operator has run a nighttime service and stuck with it long term is a good indicator that it is not a good bet for turning a shilling.

mal1

I agree, I don't believe this. The OP should also have used a different thread title. It's simple a rumour and not fact.

joegriffinjnr

I heard this a couple of weeks ago, however can't confirm though.

liger

mrsdewinter wrote: »

Surely there has to be a way of keeping this service going. Have they looked at raising the cost of the fare? Reducing frequency to once an hour?
If it were to go, it would be a great loss.

The poor performing routes are already once an hour, long distance routes are once every 2 hours.

I cant see them getting rid of this service, it brings in a few million a year for them. Althought with Network direct going on anything is possible.

The_Wrecker

Its hear-say around the depots too. Its also a service thats jammed in the summer time around summer events?

More when i hear for sure.

patrickmooney

The whole nitelink system needs to be looked at, it should be an extension of the daytime service. Picking up out and in-bound. Make it flexible. Offer weekly/monthly multi-ride tickets. The whole service is ran with very little thought for the public who want and need to use it. I am a regular/weekly nitelink user, usually the 12:30 Fri/Sat. nights.

Corruptedmorals

They could merge a few routes together...41N/33N and 25N/66N/67N spring to mind- that last one used to run as a 67N midweek. Shorter routes could be scrapped. Getting rid of them altogether means a lot of people won't go out in town, and pubs and clubs will suffer badly. As well as people who use them to get home! Personally my taxi fare is €30, so it's stay in a friend's house or don't go out, I can't afford that. The 3,half 3 and 4 are fairly essential ones, they could cut it down to half 12, 2, 3, half 3 and 4 fairly easily.

Would not be surprised if they got rid of it altogether, they already cut 4 days off it, the half 4 nitelink for all, and reduced a few to 3 nitelinks a night.

mgmt

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

They could merge a few routes together...41N/33N and 25N/66N/67N spring to mind- that last one used to run as a 67N midweek. Shorter routes could be scrapped. Getting rid of them altogether means a lot of people won't go out in town, and pubs and clubs will suffer badly. As well as people who use them to get home! Personally my taxi fare is €30, so it's stay in a friend's house or don't go out, I can't afford that. The 3,half 3 and 4 are fairly essential ones, they could cut it down to half 12, 2, 3, half 3 and 4 fairly easily.

Would not be surprised if they got rid of it altogether, they already cut 4 days off it, the half 4 nitelink for all, and reduced a few to 3 nitelinks a night.

No I dont think they could make those cuts. Thats a 1.5hr wait from 12.30 to 2am.

Dublin Bus signed a 5 year contract to provide a nitelink service at the weekends in December 2009. This rumour is a typical trade union scare story.

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/downloads/contract_dublinbus.pdf

AlekSmart

mgmt wrote: »

No I dont think they could make those cuts. Thats a 1.5hr wait from 12.30 to 2am.

Dublin Bus signed a 5 year contract to provide a nitelink service at the weekends in December 2009. This rumour is a typical trade union scare story.

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/downloads/contract_dublinbus.pdf

Perhaps Mgmt,but the NTA contract does have the usual stipulations concerning unforeseen circumstances,acts of God (or Network Direct) and the likes.

The impending collapse of the company would be one such act.

It would be wrong to ascribe this rumour to the Trades Union`s as they are even less well informed than the members of Boards.ie.

I would suggest that the suspension of NiteLink operation was included in a number of "Options" thrown out for discussion at an informal Mngmt meeting,perhaps to cost the savings.

The real issue here is whether or not Dublin Bus`s Network Direct programme is even coming close to achieving it`s targets in savings & efficiency terms......:eek:

It has certainly and comprehensively reduced the customer satisfaction ratings to a level which the Trades Unions never quite managed over decades of Industrial Unrest !!

Corruptedmorals

mgmt wrote: »

No I dont think they could make those cuts. Thats a 1.5hr wait from 12.30 to 2am.

Dublin Bus signed a 5 year contract to provide a nitelink service at the weekends in December 2009. This rumour is a typical trade union scare story.

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/downloads/contract_dublinbus.pdf

I know but if they absolutely had to it would cover the two peak times, 1 o clock ones do be fairly empty as it is.

ICE HOUSE

Good riddance !!

dowlingm

Contracts can be amended, if DB put a sufficiently large gun to the NTA's head. The question is whether NTA would have the stones to say "if you won't do it we're putting it to tender"

Run_to_da_hills

Maybe Dublin Bikes can cash in on this one and offer their services at a nominal rate during the early hours.

antoinolachtnai

Vic_08 wrote: »

Nitelink is not subsidised. If it is considered not worthwhile to include in the Dublin Bus PSO I imagine it would be a tall order finding the cash with which to tender someone else to run the service.

Nitelink was originally not subsidised but it has been operated as a subsidised service for some years.

dowlingm

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Maybe Dublin Bikes can cash in on this one and offer their services at a nominal rate during the early hours.

I'm pretty sure drunk-and-in-charge-of-a-bicycle can be called offside by the Guards.

rich1874

Originally Posted by mgmt
No I dont think they could make those cuts. Thats a 1.5hr wait from 12.30 to 2am.

Dublin Bus signed a 5 year contract to provide a nitelink service at the weekends in December 2009. This rumour is a typical trade union scare story.

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/down..._dublinbus.pdf

Interesting read, thanks for this. Although if they aren't meeting the passenger targets could the contract be subject to change?

Carawaystick

dowlingm wrote: »

I'm pretty sure drunk-and-in-charge-of-a-bicycle can be called offside by the Guards.

Soccer offside or rugby offside? or squareball?

dowlingm

Carawaystick wrote: »

Soccer offside or rugby offside? or squareball?

ice hockey offside.

CIE

ICE HOUSE wrote: »

Good riddance !!

So you want the violent drunk people in taxicabs then...?

Run_to_da_hills

dowlingm wrote: »

I'm pretty sure drunk-and-in-charge-of-a-bicycle can be called offside by the Guards.

Im just back from Barcelona, the can manage their bicycle scheme 24/7 without nannyism.

foggy_lad

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Nitelink was originally not subsidised but it has been operated as a subsidised service for some years.

have you got evidence of this as if it is the case surely Dublin bus must now allow free travel pass holders use Nitelink services free?

icdg

Won't (or shouldn't) happen. Would heavily decimate city centre business at the weekend (as it already has done on weeknights). People would think twice about town if they knew they had to allow another €50 on top of whatever they spent on drink to get home afterwards (and a wait of a few hours to get a taxi). That's a lot of pints in a local late bar. The likes of Coppers would survive, but a lot of smaller places wouldn't.

markpb

icdg wrote: »

Won't (or shouldn't) happen. Would heavily decimate city centre business at the weekend (as it already has done on weeknights).

People who make decisions about Dublin City Centre = Dublin City Council

People who make decisions about (and pay for) Dublin Bus = DB Management, the National Transport Authority and the Dept. of Transport.

Just because it's bad for Dublin has no impact on how Dublin Bus is run.

patrickbrophy18

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Fantastic :rolleyes:

It's a heavily used service (well anytime I've been on it).

DB really seem to be trying their best to piss off as many customers as possible, destroying routes with ND, prices up and now chopping Nitelinks :mad:

Cookie_Monster, would the 46N be considered a heavily used service?

Cookie_Monster

patrickbrophy18 wrote: »

Cookie_Monster, would the 46N be considered a heavily used service?

Dunno, only got it once. Normally get the 7N which is generally quite busy apart from maybe the first one of the nite

Run_to_da_hills

Patton should open up a new service between collage green and Dalkey on the hour after midnight. LOL.

DWCommuter

Has the ending of Nitelink being confirmed?

liger

patrickbrophy18 wrote: »

Cookie_Monster, would the 46N be considered a heavily used service?

46N and 7N leave nearly full for every journey. 77N too. the 44 and 48N can leave with about 4-20 people on it at quiet times.

AlekSmart

foggy_lad wrote: »

Have you got evidence of this as if it is the case surely Dublin bus must now allow free travel pass holders use Nitelink services free?

A very good question,Foggy_Lad...very astute of you, as usual

I am also quite interested in how the formerly "Special Service" designation of the NiteLink`s has simply and suddenly been altered.

It does indeed raise the issue of the DSP`s Free Travel Scheme availability,which I would imagine would focus on exactly what percentage of the €5 fare the DSP were prepared to pay ?

Pray,do post whatever information you can glean from your sources ?

antoinolachtnai

The 'proof' of this is that the Nitelink is part of the public service contract. It is part of the overall subsidised network. By contrast the airlink services are not part of the contract.

The DSP and the PSC are not really linked. They are two completely separate schemes. It does seem a bit weird though. If it's essential enough to deserve a subsidy, why is it not essential for DSP customers?

There is no overall plan or logic with any of this. It's basically all about maximising cash-flow for Dublin Bus.

foggy_lad

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

The 'proof' of this is that the Nitelink is part of the public service contract. It is part of the overall subsidised network. By contrast the airlink services are not part of the contract.

The DSP and the PSC are not really linked. They are two completely separate schemes. It does seem a bit weird though. If it's essential enough to deserve a subsidy, why is it not essential for DSP customers?

There is no overall plan or logic with any of this. It's basically all about maximising cash-flow for Dublin Bus.

There is also the issue of discrimination for free pass holders not being allow travel on subsidized services free, and I did think the dsp and psc were actually linked so thanks for clearing that up.

I know people who get private busses to Carlow late at night using their free passes so why should Dublin and suburban passengers with disabilities etc be barred from using their free passes on local services?

Dub13

Could be a ploy by management to get commitment's out of the political party's in the run up to the election.But I think that could be to advanced thinking by DB management.

AlekSmart

I know people who get private busses to Carlow late at night using their free passes so why should Dublin and suburban passengers with disabilities etc be barred from using their free passes on local services?

Thats an easy one Foggy,all it means is the DSP and the relevant operator sat down and agreed an amount of money to be paid over to cover these journeys.

I have little doubt but Dublin Bus would offer the Nitelink service "Free" to DSP Pass holders as soon as the DSP agrees to pay the relevant premium fare rate.

There`s no "Barring" going on here at all,just the business of commerce doing what it`s supposed to.

Ireland as a whole is only slowly (and painfully) becoming aware of the reality that there is no such thing as a Free-Lunch.

Every passenger who makes a journey covered by a (Legitimate) DSP Free Travel Scheme pass is having that journey paid for (at a discounted rate) by somebody in the contributing classes....thats neither good nor bad,its simply reality.

If twer up to me I`d immediately delete all references to "Free-Travel" from DSP literature and adopt instead the more truthfully accurate "Concessionary Travel" as utilized by our Nothern bretheren.....:)

foggy_lad

AlekSmart wrote: »

Thats an easy one Foggy,all it means is the DSP and the relevant operator sat down and agreed an amount of money to be paid over to cover these journeys.

I have little doubt but Dublin Bus would offer the Nitelink service "Free" to DSP Pass holders as soon as the DSP agrees to pay the relevant premium fare rate.

There`s no "Barring" going on here at all,just the business of commerce doing what it`s supposed to.

Ireland as a whole is only slowly (and painfully) becoming aware of the reality that there is no such thing as a Free-Lunch.

Every passenger who makes a journey covered by a (Legitimate) DSP Free Travel Scheme pass is having that journey paid for (at a discounted rate) by somebody in the contributing classes....thats neither good nor bad,its simply reality.

If twer up to me I`d immediately delete all references to "Free-Travel" from DSP literature and adopt instead the more truthfully accurate "Concessionary Travel" as utilized by our Nothern bretheren.....:)

To be fair Alex a large percentage of free travel passes are held by people who have paid more taxes during the 50s 60s 70s and 80s than most people who are working today will and these same paople were not claiming anything at those times because there was nothing to claim, now there is carers allowances home help grants are handed out to all an dsundry while years ago you would be told no you dont qualify and never will!

i would say disabled and elderly people aged 40+ have paid for the free travel through paying more taxes than todays workers during their lives.

Losty Dublin

foggy_lad wrote: »

i would say disabled and elderly people aged 40+ have paid for the free travel through paying more taxes than todays workers during their lives.

Elderly 40 year olds?????

BenShermin

To be even more fair Foggy Lad, I don't think the majority of OAP DFSA pass holders would be running with a kebab in one hand and €5 in the other for the last nitelink:D!

Tickityboo

foggy_lad wrote: »

To be fair Alex a large percentage of free travel passes are held by people who have paid more taxes during the 50s 60s 70s and 80s than most people who are working today will and these same paople were not claiming anything at those times because there was nothing to claim, now there is carers allowances home help grants are handed out to all an dsundry while years ago you would be told no you dont qualify and never will!

i would say disabled and elderly people aged 40+ have paid for the free travel through paying more taxes than todays workers during their lives.

How would you feel about the ones getting on off their tits on heroin and methadone saying (he's with me bud). Nice uncomfortable journey home I think.

SandyfordGuy

A good day to bury bad news perhaps by posting it late afternoon on the day before Paddy's day?

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/Travel-News/Nitelink-Changes/

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers of changes to Nitelink services. The revised services will come into effect from Friday 25th March 2011. Please note in addition to the changes highlighted below Nitelinks will have revised times which are available by clicking on the route of your choice on the Nitelink page.
College Street will no longer be used as a terminus point for Nitelink. Revised City Centre Termini for Nitelink are as follows;
Westmoreland Street
Route Bus Stop ID 25n CD 33n CC 39n CE 41n CC 42n CC 66n CD 67n CF 69n CF 70n CE 88n CF

D'Olier Street
Route Bus Stop ID 7n CH 15n CJ 29n CK 31n CK 46n CG 49n CJ 77n CH 84n CG

Ticket Buses will not longer be on site. Customers can now purchase their tickets at the following ticket agents
Agent Address
Spar D’Olier Street
Londis Westmoreland Street
Colemans 9 Westmoreland Street
O’Briens Sandwich Bar Westmoreland Street
The following services will have a change to their routing;
25n From Westmoreland Street Towards Adamstowm
Revised Routing
Thomas Street, James’s Street, Inchicore, Sarsfield Road, Ballyfermot Road, Neilstown Road, Lucan Newlands Road, Castle Road, Griffeen Road, Esker Road, Newcastle Road (Adamstown)
Pick Up Point
Thomas Street (Francis Street), The Penny Hill Pub Lucan
42n From Westmoreland Street Towards Portmarnock
Revised Routing
Summerhill, Ballybough, Philipsburgh Avenue, Griffith Avenue, Malahide Road (Donnycarney), Artane, Coolock, Kinsealy, Feltrim Road, Seabury Estate, Malahide Village, Portmarnock (Sands Hotel), Wendell Avenue, Carrickhill Road, Strand Road, Portmarnock (The Bridge)
Pick Up Point
Malahide Tennis Club
46n From D’Olier Street Towards Sandyford
Revised Routing
Kildare Street, Leeson Street, Donnybrook, UCD Belfield, Stillorgan, Galloping Green, Foxrock Church, Cornelscourt Hill, Ballyogan, Kilgobbin Road, Sandyford Village
Pick Up Points
Donnybrook Church, Stillorgan Park Hotel
66n From Westmoreland Street Towards Leixlip (Louisa Bridge) via Glen Easton
Revised Routing
Parkgate Street, Chapelizod, Palmerstown Footbridge, Lucan Statoil Station, Lucan Village, Leixlip (Captain’s Hill), Leixlip Village, Glen Easton, Leixlip (Louisa Bridge)
Pick Up Points
Palmerstown Footbridge, Lucan (Statoil)
69n From Westmoreland Street Towards Saggart
Revised Routing
Thomas Street, James Street, Bluebell, Naas Road, Monastery Road, Woodford Walk, Watery Lane, Clondalkin Village, Fonthill Road South, Nangor Road, Peamount, Newcastle, Rathcoole, Saggart
Pick Up Points
Point Thomas Street, Clondalkin Village
88n From Westmoreland Street Towards Saggart
Revised Routing
Phibsboro Road, Botanic Road, Ballygall Road East, Glasnevin Avenue, Ballymun Road Civic Office, Poppintree, Finglas Village, Seamus Ennis Road, Finglas West, Finglas South, Finglas Village (Finglas Road, opposite Finglas Place), Ashbourne
Pick Up Points
Phibsboro Road (Shopping Centre), Seamus Ennis Road (opposite Finglas Credit Union), Finglas Village (Finglas Road, opposite Finglas Place)
The following route numbers will no longer operate;
27n – please see 42n for alternative route
40n – please see route 88n for alternative route
51n – please see route 25n and 69n for alternative route
54n - please see 15n, 49n or 77n for alternative route
44n - please see 46n for alternative route
48n - please see 15n or 46n for alternative route

ardmacha

Another small step in the decline of Irish living standards.