New bus route numbers and timetables from Sun 4 March

Sponge Bob

The bus stops are like kinds THERE Anto...I never heard of the Guards directing one be moved or closed permanently.

Surely there should be a forum which meets twice a year and sorts these things with say Guards/Corpo/CIE/City Direct Galwaycyclist and company attending etc. Once they are passed they are passed.

antoobrien

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The bus stops are like kinds THERE Anto...I never heard of the Guards directing one be moved or closed permanently.

Surely there should be a forum which meets twice a year and sorts these things with say Guards/Corpo/CIE/City Direct Galwaycyclist and company attending etc. Once they are passed they are passed.

was under the impression they were new.

Mrs OBumble

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The bus stops are like kinds THERE Anto...I never heard of the Guards directing one be moved or closed permanently.

Surely there should be a forum which meets twice a year and sorts these things with say Guards/Corpo/CIE/City Direct Galwaycyclist and company attending etc. Once they are passed they are passed.

Some bus stops actually move around a bit: eg in the time I've been in Galway, the Burkes stop has been on Forster St, Bothar um-whatever between Prospect Hill and Forster St, and now it's on Eyre Square.

There is no legal basis for consultation on bus routes or stops in Ireland.

AGS must sign off stops - I'm told it was changed to this a few years back after a dreadful accident caused by poor bus-stop placement.

The NTA approves routes, which are applied for by bus companies.

Local councils have no official say in the process: if they're consulted, it's out of courtesy, and it's not clear if they're listened to at all.

Lobby groups and residents have no input, as far as I can see.

If you think this is crazy ... talk to your TD.

snubbleste

There's a new BÉ bus stop on the SQR inbound opposite Arch Motors. Tis but a red pole shoved into a massive lump of concrete plonked atop a nice bed of mud.
Also a new BÉ stop inbound on Newcastle Rd opposite G&L stores - I don't think that's a good place for a stop considering its proximity to the N6 junction and the amount of vehicles that are abandoned on the pedestrian throughfare further restricting navigation for all traffic mode.

Iwannahurl

"...new BÉ stop inbound on Newcastle Rd opposite G&L stores."

Where is that exactly?

liam12989

looks like their is a new Bus stop in ballyrbit/ balybane indust Est...looks very small for a bus to turn in

foxy_19-89

Iwannahurl wrote: »

"...new BÉ stop inbound on Newcastle Rd opposite G&L stores."

Where is that exactly?

Opposite Centra in Newcastle, between the Topaz station and AIB bank in Newcastle!

TranslatorPS

#1

Good evening, I'd like to mention a couple of things regarding the network.

First of all... you lot should be happy that there was a change altogether. Galway's bus network (served by BE, of course) was by far non-European - lack of set frequencies, different routes for certain departures, etc. Confusing for someone who had just came for tourism. Even I was overpowered by it at times, even though I have been here for nearly 4 years.

Another quite important aspect was the very low level of passenger information - lack of timetables, non-informative destination displays, etc. etc. Bleurgh.

However, a giant range of changes have been brought to the network. It has been simplified, and clarified (I guess one is a synonym of another). From a road public transport enthusiast's point of view (and I am one), the once interesting and confusing network has been made even better and goes along with common European "standards", not that there are any anyway.

Fair play to Bus Eireann and NTA for the changes. All I'm missing is timetables set in stone for every single bus stop on the routes. And them being followed.

I would also like to redirect you all to this >> http://irishtransport.yuku.com/topic/3419/Renumbering-and-rerouting-of-Galway-city-services#.T5mtC6vy-a8 >> topic on Irish Road Passenger Transport Forum, in which I have been very active. You might guess which one I am.

And at last but not the least, last Thursday, the 19th, two of Galway's seven brand new buses (if anyone's interested technically, they are Volvo B7RLE chassis with Wrights Eclipse II bodywork and the Galway batch is numbered VWL319-325. VWL301-318 are spread between Cork and Limerick and apparently there might be more of these coming to Galway later this year.) have appeared on the 402 service. Today was also the day on which one of Bus Eireann's services, the 401, was operated solely by the new buses (321 and 323, trivia time).

And yes, I do come from a country where mess is not as apparent (but still is). And yes, I still don't like the mess in BE.

Enjoy the evening. Or the day. Depending on where/when you are right now/are reading this.

Mrs OBumble

TranslatorPS wrote: »

All I'm missing is timetables set in stone for every single bus stop on the routes. And them being followed.

And at last but not the least, last Thursday, the 19th, two of Galway's seven brand new buses ... Today was also the day on which one of Bus Eireann's services, the 401, was operated solely by the new buses (321 and 323, trivia time).

Indeed.

It's not quite stone, but the other day I discovered that BÉ's journey planner now has the Galway city routes, including predicted times for every single intermediate stop. - look at the location timetables, and enter Eyre Square as a location to see them.

I caught one of the new buses on the Salthill route on Tuesday evening. Interesting to note that their communications aren't that great - the seat at the front have signs that say "Please give up these seats for passengers of reduced mobility". (Bolding mine.). There's also a big shiney fire-extinguisher in the luggage carrying area at the front ... I can't help but wonder about possible late-night misuse issues.

But as you say, overall things are getting better.

Storm 10

One thing I cant understand is that the bus stop opposite the West Side Tavern which is a terminus stop has no bus shelter or timetable, the 404 bus starts and finishes at that stop, I contacted Bus Eireann and they thought that a shelter had been put up. Who is responsible for shelters in the City, also there is no bus parking area at the stop so the bus has to park on double yellow lines its a farce.

munchkin_utd

JustMary wrote: »

Indeed.

It's not quite stone, but the other day I discovered that BÉ's journey planner now has the Galway city routes, including predicted times for every single intermediate stop. - look at the location timetables, and enter Eyre Square as a location to see them.<snip>
But as you say, overall things are getting better.

mmmm
if the journey planner has the routes thats actually quite useful!

For instance to get from Renmore to town you can use whatever bus that goes via lisbeg lawn (the one where its timetable doesnt even mention lisbeg lawn, but anyhow) or one of the busses on the main road.
With the journey planner you can see the alternatives on one page rather than crosschecking a heap of different pdf timetables.
Now... if they worked out the walking distance from a physical address to the nearest stop(s), now that'd be a start

(and it actually should be coming soon via the NTA journey planner which is being done by the same crowd who do the journey planner for Munich and London)

TranslatorPS

#2

It's not quite stone, but the other day I discovered that BÉ's journey planner now has the Galway city routes, including predicted times for every single intermediate stop. - look at the location timetables, and enter Eyre Square as a location to see them.

Yes, I have noticed them quite a while ago. But it seems to me that a good few buses are missing, noticeably majority of 410's departures were, at least over a month ago.

There's also a big shiney fire-extinguisher in the luggage carrying area at the front

It's probably got to do more with access to it in case of emergency than the looks of it. But they at least could have made it some other colour because the silver doesn't entirely fit along there... But, hell, emergency is important. Now that I think of all those fires down in Poland of the Solaris buses in several cities... I wonder if the Volvos will have the same trouble, the chassis is Polish!

One thing I cant understand is that the bus stop opposite the West Side Tavern which is a terminus stop has no bus shelter or timetable, the 404 bus starts and finishes at that stop, I contacted Bus Eireann and they thought that a shelter had been put up. Who is responsible for shelters in the City, also there is no bus parking area at the stop so the bus has to park on double yellow lines its a farce.

That bus stop is one hell of a joke. Not only is it by a newly constructed footpath, there is so much space that without trouble would you fit at least part of a bus bay that would definitely fit most, if not all, of a 12m bus! I honestly don't see why BE/NTA couldn't route the 404 clockwise as opposed to the current anti-clockwise...

Now... if they worked out the walking distance from a physical address to the nearest stop(s), now that'd be a start

Impossible. Wrong software. Bus Eireann are using HAFAS (German shtuff) as a base for their journey planner and this software, to the best of my knowledge, has no option of using a GPS/address based query and tying it to a bus stop.

All I'm really waiting for is the RTPI...

snubbleste

Anyone used the wifi on city bus services yet?
Verdict on same?

foxy_19-89

snubbleste wrote: »

Anyone used the wifi on city bus services yet?
Verdict on same?

there still is none? To the best of my knowledge?

WesternNight

foxy_19-89 wrote: »

there still is none? To the best of my knowledge?

There's WiFi on the 3 or 4 new buses that coincided with the timetable change.

Haven't tried it though, so can't comment on quality.

Stevolende

Haven't had reason to walk down Sean Mulvoy rd since the bus changeover until yesterday. But saw that the bus shelter was still there as well as one unsheltered stop toward the top of the other side.
As I walked by there was a family seated at the shelter, not sure if they were waiting for a bus or not. Tried to ask if there was a service that went by that bus stop and got the response that the mother did n't speak any english.

Subsequently I'm even more puzzled, does this stop service an existing bus route or was it overlooked in March? I'm not sure what it's serviced in years. Do think there was one variation on the 5 service that went that way though not sure how frequently.

Mrs OBumble

Stevolende wrote: »

Subsequently I'm even more puzzled, does this stop service an existing bus route or was it overlooked in March? I'm not sure what it's serviced in years. Do think there was one variation on the 5 service that went that way though not sure how frequently.

Yeah, I think there was some version of a 5 or 7 that used Sean Mulvoy once a day or suchlike.

But there are a few orphaned bus-stops around the city, some including shelters. Examples from the top of my head include Monivea Rd westbound a little down from Castlepark, Lower Dominic St southbound about 1/2 way down the street.

foxy_19-89

JustMary wrote: »

Yeah, I think there was some version of a 5 or 7 that used Sean Mulvoy once a day or suchlike.

But there are a few orphaned bus-stops around the city, some including shelters. Examples from the top of my head include Monivea Rd westbound a little down from Castlepark, Lower Dominic St southbound about 1/2 way down the street.

Accross from Corrib Park is an unused bus shelter, think they would use the shelter where its needed?

gordongekko

I remember hearing of plans for a service to run for the west to the east side of town over the bridge and up that road so maybe thats why they are still there. God only knows if this service will ever be set up.

Bubblegum18

Can anyone tell me the most convient bus to take out of the ballybrit industrial estate to eyre square to make it back 4 a bus that leaves the bus station at 25 to 6?