Bus and train fares going up - no more flat fares on BE

Fitz*

And here shows a big problem.....

Bus was meant to be here at 6.20 and no indication that one would not be here. Apparently one will be here at 6.40 (so the 6.20 will arrive exactly when the 6.40 is meant to arrive) and another apparently landing 4 minutes after it - that won't show up either.

Fitz*

Lol 2 buses actually did just show up together!

The bus driver of the first driver gave the usual "I'm on time" speal. So how did the bus that was ahead of him on the timetable end up behind him on the route?

Guess which one sped into town straight away and guess which one stayed still for another 10 mins. You guessed it - the one with the people on it just stayed there.

seanin4711

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Far more competitive than the cost of a taxi, sometimes just as quick if not quicker too. What bus do you use yourself out of interest?

i would be quicker cycling home from ballybrit than waiting for a bus.
and trust me i have done it manys a time.
if you think the Galway city bus service is efficient, i would like of your meds!
none for ages then two come at once.
Joke of a service

ben.schlomo

seanin4711 wrote: »

i would be quicker cycling home from ballybrit than waiting for a bus.
and trust me i have done it manys a time.
if you think the Galway city bus service is efficient, i would like of your meds!
none for ages then two come at once.
Joke of a service

When not cycling it gets me in and out to work relatively pain free, it's efficient outside of peak traffic times. Bike is nearly always quicker anyway so hardly a fair comparison.

what_traffic

ben.schlomo wrote: »

When not cycling it gets me in and out to work relatively pain free, it's efficient outside of peak traffic times. Bike is nearly always quicker anyway so hardly a fair comparison.

Would agree the same. CAR peak times the buses just cannot work to the timetable.

what_traffic

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Where's the infrastructure going to come into it? The 403 and 405 are never going to get bus lanes on their routes so unless traffic is somehow less in volume then I can't see it changing.

True, but it does not always require Bus Lanes. Create Bus Gates out of Salmon Weir Bridge & College Road would work wonders at CAR traffic peak times for many City and National Bus Services.

Bus service in the city is desperate, the 6:15 pm 404 from Eyre Square to Newcastle is now regularly skipped with the driver heading directly back to Oranmore instead of doing the full route. Got it from outside GMIT a few weeks back and in Eyre Square the driver made everyone get off and then told those of us waiting to go to Newcastle that another bus would be along in an hour.

The 403 and 409 buses are shocking, it's not uncommon to be waiting an hour for either in Parkmore and then see 6 arrive in the space of a couple of minutes. Worst of all when you see a 403 or 409 approaching the Parkmore after not seeing one for almost an hour to then see the driver drive down the hill and back into town on the Tuam road.

In the past weeks I have seen bus drivers refuse flat out to put out the ramp for wheelchair users, seen a drive screaming at a 9 or 10 year old child calling him a "fucking cunt" simply because after no 409 arrived between 8:48 and 8:20 am the kid hopped on the first 409 that arrived at 8:23am. Turned out the driver wanted to grab a coffee before letting people on.

There was also a story on twitter and a police report made of a drive attacking a passenger as the driver did not believe that the customer's child had special needs. And then drivers wonder why people dislike them.

Fitz*

Another horrible week for 405 route.

This evening's late bus 'only' came 31 minutes late. Impressive as it's an improvement on 50 minutes late.

Has anyone actually ever received a reply from their complaints service? I have sent one in every other day as I am so sick of this but never get a reply.

ben.schlomo

FitzShane wrote: »

Another horrible week for 405 route.

This evening's late bus 'only' came 31 minutes late. Impressive as it's an improvement on 50 minutes late.

Has anyone actually ever received a reply from their complaints service? I have sent one in every other day as I am so sick of this but never get a reply.

I've gotten the 405 into town two mornings this week, both have been on time. Got to the Eyre Square stop at 615 this evening and hopped on one which took off straight away, must have been the 6, the 620 was due at 625. Not bad for evening traffic really.

As for complaints, never heard of them replying to an email. Twitter would be the place to rant at them if you feel the need.

Fitz*

ben.schlomo wrote: »

I've gotten the 405 into town two mornings this week, both have been on time. Got to the Eyre Square stop at 615 this evening and hopped on one which took off straight away, must have been the 6, the 620 was due at 625. Not bad for evening traffic really.

As for complaints, never heard of them replying to an email. Twitter would be the place to rant at them if you feel the need.

I've gotten the 8.40 from Eyre Square to Ballybane at 8.55 & 9.05 this week in the morning. A 5.40 from HP left at 6.25 this week too.

The twitter accounts just sent a generic message asking you to send in a complaint using a form. The generic message actually just links to their timetable homepage!

Straight Talker

Deleted User wrote: »

Bus service in the city is desperate, the 6:15 pm 404 from Eyre Square to Newcastle is now regularly skipped with the driver heading directly back to Oranmore instead of doing the full route. Got it from outside GMIT a few weeks back and in Eyre Square the driver made everyone get off and then told those of us waiting to go to Newcastle that another bus would be along in an hour.

The 403 and 409 buses are shocking, it's not uncommon to be waiting an hour for either in Parkmore and then see 6 arrive in the space of a couple of minutes. Worst of all when you see a 403 or 409 approaching the Parkmore after not seeing one for almost an hour to then see the driver drive down the hill and back into town on the Tuam road.

In the past weeks I have seen bus drivers refuse flat out to put out the ramp for wheelchair users, seen a drive screaming at a 9 or 10 year old child calling him a "fucking cunt" simply because after no 409 arrived between 8:48 and 8:20 am the kid hopped on the first 409 that arrived at 8:23am. Turned out the driver wanted to grab a coffee before letting people on.

There was also a story on twitter and a police report made of a drive attacking a passenger as the driver did not believe that the customer's child had special needs. And then drivers wonder why people dislike them.

There is a few sound drivers.But there is too many rude drivers, driving the city buses for my liking.Im talking about things like not giving people change.Or just giving you a blank dirty look, after processing a leap card payment.

Now im not expecting the red carpet to be rolled out.It is a stressful job dealing with the public.Not to mention the traffic.But we the people using the service, have our own stresses and issues as well.It would be nice to be treated with some semblance of civility.Im only talking about a few drivers here.The vast majority of drivers are sound.

ben.schlomo

FitzShane wrote: »

I've gotten the 8.40 from Eyre Square to Ballybane at 8.55 & 9.05 this week in the morning. A 5.40 from HP left at 6.25 this week too.

The twitter accounts just sent a generic message asking you to send in a complaint using a form. The generic message actually just links to their timetable homepage!

I go one bus earlier in the morning, experience has taught me that that usually works. The app helps too, a little. I know ive seen them respond to people on Twitter before, maybe its only for Expressway or Dublin services.

Mrs OBumble

ben.schlomo wrote: »

I go one bus earlier in the morning, experience has taught me that that usually works. The app helps too, a little. I know ive seen them respond to people on Twitter before, maybe its only for Expressway or Dublin services.

Their responding on twitter is hit and miss.

Realistically there's not a lot they can say: traffic is shyte and that plus not having spare buses or drivers can cause havoc.

Yes they should plan for it - but its hard when traffic isn't bad the same way each day.

It's the NTA we should really be complaining to.

testtech05

Do any of you guys notice issues with buses "disappearing" from there allotted slots. Not just being late but not turning up at all..... This has happened a couple of times lately on the 407 route. The 1st time I just put it down to maybe a break down or something but it has happened at least once for each the last 3 weeks.

As an example 1 day last week my GF was waiting in town for the 6:15 bus, display at the stop says due but no sign of it, at the same time I was on my way home from work and saw the 6:15 bus from headford road into town just starting its route so decided to take notice of the next one to pass the house/collect my gf and it was the same one which I had seen on my way home i.e. only 1 bus servicing the route at peak time instead of 2 as planned on timetable.

As I said once or even twice might be explained away with breakdown etc but seems to be very regular now for it to be pure coincidence.

ben.schlomo

testtech05 wrote: »

Do any of you guys notice issues with buses "disappearing" from there allotted slots. Not just being late but not turning up at all..... This has happened a couple of times lately on the 407 route. The 1st time I just put it down to maybe a break down or something but it has happened at least once for each the last 3 weeks.

As an example 1 day last week my GF was waiting in town for the 6:15 bus, display at the stop says due but no sign of it, at the same time I was on my way home from work and saw the 6:15 bus from headford road into town just starting its route so decided to take notice of the next one to pass the house/collect my gf and it was the same one which I had seen on my way home i.e. only 1 bus servicing the route at peak time instead of 2 as planned on timetable.

As I said once or even twice might be explained away with breakdown etc but seems to be very regular now for it to be pure coincidence.

A regular enough occurrence.

Fitz*

To be fair, the buses seem to be running on time so far this working week.

Only the second day though :pac:

testtech05

I guess the lack of school traffic should help this week anyway!

ben.schlomo

testtech05 wrote: »

I guess the lack of school traffic should help this week anyway!

Exactly, back to regular traffic next week.

Fitz*

The 17.05 service on 405 today turned up at 18.15.

It's so cold.

No explanation, no apologies, nothing.

Straight Talker

FitzShane wrote: »

The 17.05 service on 405 today turned up at 18.15.

It's so cold.

No explanation, no apologies, nothing.

I was waiting for the 6.20 pm 405 bus in town yesterday.But then i saw a notice on the estimated arrivals display screen.The 405 will only be running at a frequency of every 40 minutes today.Apologies for any inconvenience caused.There was no actual reason given on the display.Just that were sorry tough.The display then said the next 405 bus will arrive in 57 minutes!

So i decided to get the 403 bus instead.The 403 leaves at quarter two and quarter past the hour.But the 6 45 pm 403 bus arrived 10 minutes early, which is good.The problem is that the driver took off, straight away after picking up the passengers, instead of waiting until the correct departure time.

ben.schlomo

Straight Talker wrote: »

I was waiting for the 6.20 pm 405 bus in town yesterday.But then i saw a notice on the estimated arrivals display screen.The 405 will only be running at a frequency of every 40 minutes today.Apologies for any inconvenience caused.There was no actual reason given on the display.Just that were sorry tough.The display then said the next 405 bus will arrive in 57 minutes!

So i decided to get the 403 bus instead.The 403 leaves at quarter two and quarter past the hour.But the 6 45 pm 403 bus arrived 10 minutes early, which is good.The problem is that the driver took off, straight away after picking up the passengers, instead of waiting until the correct departure time.

He was most likely a late 615. I'm in the lucky position of getting any of the 402,403,405 or 409, some give me a walk at the end, others are right to home almost. If it's around six I need a bus I just check all four and go with the closest, not as easy for others but looking on the app prior to going to your stop can help a little.

Mrs OBumble

Straight Talker wrote: »

But then i saw a notice on the estimated arrivals display screen.The 405 will only be running at a frequency of every 40 minutes today.Apologies for any inconvenience caused.There was no actual reason given on the display.Just that were sorry tough.The display then said the next 405 bus will arrive in 57 minutes!

Wow. That's pretty damn outrageous for subsidised route - and one of the heavier traffic ones at that. I don't suppose you took a pic, and would be willing to make an official complaint to the NTA? Details here if you did: https://www.nationaltransport.ie/bus-licensing/make-a-complaint/

testtech05

Straight Talker wrote: »

I was waiting for the 6.20 pm 405 bus in town yesterday.But then i saw a notice on the estimated arrivals display screen.The 405 will only be running at a frequency of every 40 minutes today.Apologies for any inconvenience caused.There was no actual reason given on the display.Just that were sorry tough.The display then said the next 405 bus will arrive in 57 minutes!

So i decided to get the 403 bus instead.The 403 leaves at quarter two and quarter past the hour.But the 6 45 pm 403 bus arrived 10 minutes early, which is good.The problem is that the driver took off, straight away after picking up the passengers, instead of waiting until the correct departure time.

The 405 seems to be very bad this week. My GF was waiting from 6.05 for the 6:15pm bus in from B+Q in Knocknacarra yesterday. There are scheduled buses @ 6:15,6:35 and 7pm.

They waited at the stop until 6:45 until one of them organised a taxi to bring 4 of them into town as they all had other buses to catch home from town. On the way in they met 1 05 bus @ NUIG and then there was another one parked in Eyre square.

Instead of waiting in town for another 30mins for her next bus my gf decided to start walking out the road and hadn't been 5mins walking and met another 405 coming into town.

I appreciate traffic can hold things up and buses will be delayed but it is pretty impressive how 3 of them can almost manage to catch each other.

Surely if the issues are down to traffic then the 3 buses should all be running late..... Are buses being moved to other routes at peak time or something? I would imagine the 405 is one of the busier routes anyway.

xckjoo

402 didn't show up for me today. Or at least it wasn't on the Real-Time app so I wasn't going hanging around the bus stop for >30mins in the hopes it was a mistake.

Side-note: I found this app recently that I've been using more than the official one. You pick your bus stop on the map and it gives you a list of the upcoming buses with their real-time info. No affiliation with the developer. Just found it and like it.

Here's a list of the apps I find necessary to get the bus around Galway:

• TFI Journey Planner - Figure out what bus(es) you need to get places at specific times
• TFI RealTime Ireland - Gives you real-time arrival info
• Leap Top-Up - Needs NFC on your phone but great if you have it.
• Galway Bus - As above. Different layout to the official one that works better for some situations.

Fitz*

I have been told the following by a BE representative.

1. They are in the process of recruiting more drivers to ensure service levels will be maintained and passenger disruption minimised.
   
2. The real time information presently operating will not show correctly if the services have gone off schedule.
   
3. A real time information sign for the terminus at HP for the 405 service has been requested as a priority.
   
4. A double decker has been requested to be used for the 8.25 Eyre Sq service in the mornings.
   
5. A double decker operates this route frequently, and theyare waiting for another one to be back into their fleet in the near future as it has be absent from this route for maintenance and repairs.

Some positives!