Matthews Coach Question.

kormak

Dunny! wrote: »

Hardly the companies fault you are tall!(:D I kid I kid)

I can see what you mean, Im tall enough but I manage to make do. Usually the seats nearer the back have more leg room.

I find Bus Eireann the worst for it, no room at all.

In fairness... the new Matthews buses have reasonably roomy seats.
Even for big lurches like myself!

betsycatt

Myself and another guy got stuck at mcdonalds in drogheda this morning. The 9 bus ended up full so when it arrived at 915 we couldnt get on. Very frustrating, driver said next service is in an hour even though on the timetable its 930. Had to go back out into the rain and ended up getting a written warning at work for being in.

Ironically, Bus Eireann are so bad that at 9.30 I was able to get their 9am bus!! Took forever to get in, some crazy country we live in.

Cmon matthews where's the contingency for services that tend towards max capacity. Cant commute to work unless the service is reliable.

MugMugs

betsycatt wrote: »

Myself and another guy got stuck at mcdonalds in drogheda this morning. The 9 bus ended up full so when it arrived at 915 we couldnt get on. Very frustrating, driver said next service is in an hour even though on the timetable its 930. Had to go back out into the rain and ended up getting a written warning at work for being in.

Ironically, Bus Eireann are so bad that at 9.30 I was able to get their 9am bus!! Took forever to get in, some crazy country we live in.

Cmon matthews where's the contingency for services that tend towards max capacity. Cant commute to work unless the service is reliable.

Leave earlier maybe ? Public transport is always open to issues.

betsycatt

I think those are the very issues we're airing here. Boards.ie is about issues duhhh!

Classic Irish response - sure it's our fault really. We should demand and expect services we pay for to run correctly and be subject to scrutiny and criticism. That blasé resigned attitude typifies the Irish gombeen helpless approach - that we ultimately have to bribe someone for something to be fixed.

Why do you think we get the
Politicians we do!

It's not good enough that we got left in the rain and I'm making it known here so that the problem might be fixed-the power of social media compels you!

MugMugs

So your blaming your written warning on the bus company eh?

Long Term Louth

The same thing happened with the 8.30am service, a number of CUSTOMERS were left at the thatch, and told they would have to wait for the next bus in a half an hour.

locum-motion

I guess that's what happens when you run a good service - it becomes popular!

Even the best run businesses have queues from time to time; what is a queue other than a situation where there are more customers at a given time than the service provider can handle?

If such a situation is persistent, then the business should do something about it by extending services (for example, if it happens in a shop, the shop owner should roster more staff), but that doesn't mean that Mr. Matthews should fork out a couple of hundred grand for a new bus every time a customer has to be left behind!

betsycatt wrote: »

Myself and another guy got stuck at mcdonalds in drogheda this morning. The 9 bus ended up full so when it arrived at 915 we couldnt get on. Very frustrating, driver said next service is in an hour even though on the timetable its 930. Had to go back out into the rain and ended up getting a written warning at work for being in.

Ironically, Bus Eireann are so bad that at 9.30 I was able to get their 9am bus!! Took forever to get in, some crazy country we live in.

Cmon matthews where's the contingency for services that tend towards max capacity. Cant commute to work unless the service is reliable.

Long Term Louth wrote: »

The same thing happened with the 8.30am service, a number of CUSTOMERS were left at the thatch, and told they would have to wait for the next bus in a half an hour.

rogieop

i can assure you your written warning wasnt due to the fact you were late this morning.

You've obviously got a history of it and this was just an unfortunate final straw.

Get the bus an hour earlier and go to the gym before work or something, that way if theres ever a problem with the early bus you can get the next bus and all you'll lose out on is your gym session/coffee etc or whatever and you'll not be late for work again.

Lord TSC

The problem lies in the fact they don't know what buses will be full on what runs, and they can't have a spare bus right behind on the off chance one is full. If it is a regular occurring, they'll obviously start running a second bus but until then, all they can do really is apologies and ask you to take the next one.

280special

rogieop wrote: »

i can assure you your written warning wasnt due to the fact you were late this morning.

You've obviously got a history of it and this was just an unfortunate final straw.

.

Bit of an assumption to make there Rogie, I know of at least one large, well known company who are very quick at giving people written warnings on, for instance, their first instance of sick leave. Cant give details of same as it involved a friend rather than myself, but it happened, and to someone who was used to receiving plaudits for their hard work and dedication...

Same thing happened when a relative of mine was delayed due to a bad accident on the road, rang in and explained they were stuck and couldnt do anything about it, the accident was on the news, so it was obviously not a con...She still got a verbal warning for what was her first lateness in at least two years, rescinded later that day due to membership of an effective union !!

As regards Matthews, it is shame that they dont have a bus on standby at busy times just in case. Wouldnt be that difficult to have one at the back of the shopping centre , ready to roll if the service bus started filling up too quickly. I previously travelled with a much smaller company on a similar route. They had about 6 or 8 coaches but at busy times they would have one tailing the main coach for the first part of the trip, especially if there were large numbers at the first couple of pick up points. Didnt always end up in Dublin but we were damned glad of it on a fair few occasions.

kormak

rogieop wrote: »

i can assure you your written warning wasnt due to the fact you were late this morning.

You've obviously got a history of it and this was just an unfortunate final straw.

Get the bus an hour earlier and go to the gym before work or something, that way if theres ever a problem with the early bus you can get the next bus and all you'll lose out on is your gym session/coffee etc or whatever and you'll not be late for work again.

That's an awful assumption to make of a person you don't even know!!
what if this person has kids to mind, drop off @ creché, etc...
Some working Mammies & Daddies (and I know this from experience) have to have a very rigid mornings & evening schedule during the working week.

kwoods

rogieop wrote: »

i can assure you your written warning wasnt due to the fact you were late this morning.

You've obviously got a history of it and this was just an unfortunate final straw.

Get the bus an hour earlier and go to the gym before work or something, that way if theres ever a problem with the early bus you can get the next bus and all you'll lose out on is your gym session/coffee etc or whatever and you'll not be late for work again.

Rogieop is obviously single and lives with the mam to have that type of flexibility! There's lots of people have live-in elderly parents, wives and kids to deal with before getting their bus/train to work!

Its normal practice for bus companies to have extra backup cover during peak times, that doesnt mean they have to buy new busses of course! I find matthews is an excellent service, I use it most days and god help me dont ever put me back on CIE!!

MugMugs

betsycatt wrote: »

I think those are the very issues we're airing here. Boards.ie is about issues duhhh!

Classic Irish response - sure it's our fault really. We should demand and expect services we pay for to run correctly and be subject to scrutiny and criticism. That blasé resigned attitude typifies the Irish gombeen helpless approach - that we ultimately have to bribe someone for something to be fixed.

Why do you think we get the
Politicians we do!

It's not good enough that we got left in the rain and I'm making it known here so that the problem might be fixed-the power of social media compels you!

Going to reply to this. We discuss issues, it's not really for ranting and raving though. You didn't anticipate your journey correctly and as such recevied a written warning as you were late for placing heavy reliance onto a bus company. Like everything in this world, bus companies are open to problems and sometimes they are late and even sometimes they are full. Get up earlier and get into work earlier instead of cutting it so fine.

Written warnings are generally given after consistent breaches by you.

Accept responsibility for your actions and failures, not others.

Edit: Also, Matthews are quite active on Facebook. Speak to them publically there if you like. They can at least listen to your rant and try and adapt. There's no known Matthews presence on here. Or e-mail them your complaint and see if they can try and resolve your issues that way.

betsycatt

...recevied <sic> a written warning as you were late for placing heavy reliance onto <sic> a bus company...

lol that is hilarious I must say. The reason I 'heavily rely' on a bus company is because I live so far from work and need to take the bus . How would you reduce reliance? Sit at the back? Walk to work? Act nonchalantly as I get on ths bus?

This boards.ie stuff really cheers me up, the replies are comical!!

MugMugs

betsycatt wrote: »

lol that is hilarious I must say. The reason I 'heavily rely' on a bus company is because I live so far from work and need to take the bus . How would you reduce reliance? Sit at the back? Walk to work? Act nonchalantly as I get on ths bus?

Why don't you try getting up earlier and getting an earlier bus to counteract any late arriving or full buses?

I commute Dundalk - Dublin daily and have done since 2008.... I've never been late....

I'm afraid sir, You are the problem.... :rolleyes:

betsycatt

MugMugs wrote: »

betsycatt wrote: »

lol that is hilarious I must say. The reason I 'heavily rely' on a bus company is because I live so far from work and need to take the bus . How would you reduce reliance? Sit at the back? Walk to work? Act nonchalantly as I get on ths bus?

Why don't you try getting up earlier and getting an earlier bus to counteract any late arriving or full buses?

I commute Dundalk - Dublin daily and have done since 2008.... I've never been late....

I'm afraid sir, You are the problem.... :rolleyes:

Ah mugsy, as a newcomer to the Internet I assume you're one of these socially phobic types I've heard about who hides behind their PC screens making smart and personal comments? I wonder would you say all this to a girl in real life? Doubt it. I came on to post about a real life frustrating problem with a service i pay for and instead I get sarcasm and life lessons from you?

PS never late in 4 years and commuting 100 miles a day? You sounds like a fascinatingly interesting person :-p

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

kormak wrote: »

That's an awful assumption to make of a person you don't even know!!
what if this person has kids to mind, drop off @ creché, etc...
Some working Mammies & Daddies (and I know this from experience) have to have a very rigid mornings & evening schedule during the working week.

Aah hold on a minute. Those of us who commute leave enough time to allow for late transport or traffic problems. Cutting it fine on a daily basis is bound to result in late arrivals from time to time. You can't blame the bus because it's full - you have to allow for these problems. Many of us have kids to drop off but we allow for this in our schedule. It's not easy but it is our responsibility not that of the Bus company.

MugMugs

betsycatt wrote: »

Ah mugsy, as a newcomer to the Internet I assume you're one of these socially phobic types I've heard about who hides behind their PC screens making smart and personal comments? I wonder would you say all this to a girl in real life? Doubt it. I came on to post about a real life frustrating problem with a service i pay for and instead I get sarcasm and life lessons from you?

PS never late in 4 years and commuting 100 miles a day? You sounds like a fascinatingly interesting person :-p

Yes. I am socially inept, order my weekly shop from Tesco so I don't have to leave the house and turn into a babbling mess when I meet a member of the opposite sex.

In other news today.

As a newcomer to the "Interweb", you may have to look that up

betsycatt

I dont belong here

delly

betsycatt, as a new member, do try to play nicely with the other children. You may have a point to put across which is fine, but don't expect everyone to agree with it. Everyone is entitled to there own view, as are you, but its how we put things across that may go against the spirit of the forum (and that goes for new and old members).

Lord TSC

280special wrote: »

As regards Matthews, it is shame that they dont have a bus on standby at busy times just in case. Wouldnt be that difficult to have one at the back of the shopping centre , ready to roll if the service bus started filling up too quickly.

Wouldn't be difficult but could be expensive to pay someone to sit around just in case they need a spare bus

280special

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Wouldn't be difficult but could be expensive to pay someone to sit around just in case they need a spare bus

Well, Sillan used to do it , and as far as i know Capital who used to do the Dundalk-Dublin route did it as well, when they knew there was a chance of increased demand. Neither of these two have/had large fleets of coaches or are/were huge operations but they still managed it.

As regards Matthews with a bit of juggling it would be possible , for instance, to send the next departure's bus out as cover and then if needed arrange for an extra driver and bus to cover the later service...Yes it might be expensive, but what price good customer relations and good PR?

A happy customer will tell 3 or 4 people, an unhappy customer will tell... how many ??

Equium

betsycatt wrote: »

I dont belong here

And whose fault is that?

It would be far too expensive to have another bus as back-up I'd imagine. Fuel prices in particular have increased dramatically in recent times, as evidenced by the numerous ticket price hikes.

As a regular user of the service, I would say that Matthew's actually make a loss on quite a few of their runs (Late morning and late evening busses in both directions are frequently less than half full) so they can hardly afford to have drivers on standby without their being sufficient demand. That would require additional increases in fares for those who can get to their stop on time...

kormak

Gracelynn Billions Can wrote: »

Aah hold on a minute. Those of us who commute leave enough time to allow for late transport or traffic problems. Cutting it fine on a daily basis is bound to result in late arrivals from time to time. You can't blame the bus because it's full - you have to allow for these problems. Many of us have kids to drop off but we allow for this in our schedule. It's not easy but it is our responsibility not that of the Bus company.

But sure I wasn't even talking about the bus being full, etc..??!
I was specifically referring to that one person bluntelly telling another to get up early and go to work early.
Life's not as simple as that for some people and you shouldn't pass refernce or as someone else puts it, give life lessons to people online without actually knowing anything about them or their current situation.

ps. I'd just like to say for the record, I regularly use Matthews Coaches and have never had any problems with them. I think they're a fantastic service, especially for rural dwellers such as myself! :-)

kwoods

Well said! But the net is full of desperadoes who love giving life lessons but wouldn't say boo to a fly in 'real life'. You'll find said people tend to be single and living with the parents and commuting crazy distances because they can't bear to leave home.

Speaking of which I'm fascinated by the distances some people commute these days. Why is it? Rent in Dublin? Don't want to live in Dublin (that's my reason)? Bought houses in the regions during the boom? Commuting is no fun-we'd probably go out and protest if we weren't do busy and tired.

PS Matthews ease the pain somewhat! I'd have jumped under a train if I was still using Irish rail.

MugMugs

kormak wrote: »

I was specifically referring to that one person bluntelly telling another to get up early and go to work early.
Life's not as simple as that for some people and you shouldn't pass refernce or as someone else puts it, give life lessons to people online without actually knowing anything about them or their current situation.

kwoods wrote: »

Well said! But the net is full of desperadoes who love giving life lessons but wouldn't say boo to a fly in 'real life'. You'll find said people tend to be single and living with the parents and commuting crazy distances because they can't bear to leave home.

Woah folks....

I am a hard working single male commuting a considerable distance to pay my boom time mortgage. Talk about obscene judements being made here.

I have dependants. My parents live on the other side of the country. I pay my own way. I do all this by holding down a tough job through a very tough time. I am a firm believer that you work to live. If you want to live, you need to keep the job. In order to keep the job you need to play by their rules.

The previous Troll was out to do just that and has done so with sucess. If you're incapable of making it on time to your place of work without perhaps pre negotiating timings with work or indeed anticipating that public transport is not without it's flaws perhaps reconsider your position and it's location. Coming on here bitching about getting a written warning because you were late and blaming it on a bus company is a bit "dog ate my homework" imo.

@kwoods, I'm available to meet up any time and if you have a fly with you I'll gladly say boo to it. I love meeting new people.

kwoods

Whats with the @ symbol? isnt that a twitter thing? Yep sure, why dont we meet at 11.15 at little lunch in the school yard, hopefully the teachers wont see us. You can wear that darth vader hood thing so Ill recognise you and maybe we'll get a gang off here with boardsies tshirts to gather round in a circle chanting "fight fight fight!"

MugMugs

kwoods wrote: »

Whats with the @ symbol? isnt that a twitter thing? Yep sure, why dont we meet at 11.15 at little lunch in the school yard, hopefully the teachers wont see us. You can wear that darth vader hood thing so Ill recognise you and maybe we'll get a gang off here with boardsies tshirts to gather round in a circle chanting "fight fight fight!"

Enough said really.

locum-motion

kwoods wrote: »

Whats with the @ symbol? isnt that a twitter thing? ...

AFAIK, it was used as a way of addressing part of a response to a particular person for a long time before Twitter was invented.

kormak

MugMugs wrote: »

Woah folks....

I am a hard working single male commuting a considerable distance to pay my boom time mortgage. Talk about obscene judements being made here.

I have dependants. My parents live on the other side of the country. I pay my own way. I do all this by holding down a tough job through a very tough time. I am a firm believer that you work to live. If you want to live, you need to keep the job. In order to keep the job you need to play by their rules.

The previous Troll was out to do just that and has done so with sucess. If you're incapable of making it on time to your place of work without perhaps pre negotiating timings with work or indeed anticipating that public transport is not without it's flaws perhaps reconsider your position and it's location. Coming on here bitching about getting a written warning because you were late and blaming it on a bus company is a bit "dog ate my homework" imo.

@kwoods, I'm available to meet up any time and if you have a fly with you I'll gladly say boo to it. I love meeting new people.

@MugsMugs: I wasn't pointing the finger at you, rather rogieop