Bus Eireann - seriously poor

blindsider

I know all about the Working time Act, so let's not re-hash that one.

Ho do Expressway/longer distance drivers cope for breaks and lunch?

As Pwurple asks, does a break have to be in a canteen? Can lunch and breaks not be staggered so that service is not disrupted?

Why are there no printed maps and why is the bus service in Cork so unbelievably awful?

E.g. Bus timetabled to go to Bishopstown terminates in town - no reason given.

Waiting for bus X one evening and bus Y pulled up - explained to the driver that I was waiting for Bux X. He said the last one was gone for the evening. Got on his bus to go to town...5 mins later my bus pulled up behind us. When I said it to the driver he shrugged his shoulders.

(Both of these are in the last month!)

Timetables are at best a general statement of what should happen - the reality is far different.

Awful, awful service!

Cork Trucker

You can work upto a maximum of 6 consecutive hours without a break or 4.5 of consecutive driving time. Although Bus Eireann drivers on set routes are tachograph exempt it is recommended they use them to ensure they can monitor their driving hours. I used to drive the Aircoach from Cork to Dublin one time. From picking up the coach at the depot to landing in Dublin and what went on that n between took about 4.5 hours of work, Not all physical driving. The Dublin coach service is one that would be dangerous from a legality point of view. Cork to Dublin via Waterford & Kilkenny is a long trip.

end of the road

[/QUOTE]Ho do Expressway/longer distance drivers cope for breaks and lunch?

As Pwurple asks, does a break have to be in a canteen? Can lunch and breaks not be staggered so that service is not disrupted?[/QUOTE]

i already answered that in the post before yours.

blindsider wrote: »

Why are there no printed maps and why is the bus service in Cork so unbelievably awful?

ask that to the NTA, they are the people in charge of dealing with bus services in ireland.
as for why there seems to be a specific issue in cork, crappy area management by the looks of it.

blindsider wrote: »

E.g. Bus timetabled to go to Bishopstown terminates in town - no reason given.

that could be a control issue, delays may have been expected on the second leg of the route so it was decided to turn the bus short, or perhapse a bus behind failed and there were no other vehicles available at short notice, bus could have been delayed on the first part of the route, many other possibilities i'm sure.

blindsider wrote: »

Waiting for bus X one evening and bus Y pulled up - explained to the driver that I was waiting for Bux X. He said the last one was gone for the evening. Got on his bus to go to town...5 mins later my bus pulled up behind us. When I said it to the driver he shrugged his shoulders.

perhapse the driver for whatever reason may have assumed that particular bus service was finished up for the evening. that's just a guess though.
as for the bus itself, it could have been severely delayed.

blindsider

I'm glad that you seem happy with a bus service that is unreliable, infrequent and poorly run. Try any other second city in Europe to see what I mean....in fact try *any* city in Europe.

You can make all the excuses you like- the bus service in Cork is shockingly poor and we deserve better!

end of the road

blindsider wrote: »

I'm glad that you seem happy with a bus service that is unreliable, infrequent and poorly run. Try any other second city in Europe to see what I mean....in fact try *any* city in Europe.

You can make all the excuses you like- the bus service in Cork is shockingly poor and we deserve better!

i haven't made any excuses.
i have simply given you some reasons as to why some practices exist, and why they are necessary from time to time.
ultimately it's not my problem if you aren't willing to listen.
yes there does seem to be specific problems unique to cork and i would suggest that is down to bad area management.
but that asside, certain practices exist across nearly all bus operators, such as turning buses short from time to time, or a bus having to return to it's depot without taking passengers.

namloc1980

blindsider wrote: »

I'm glad that you seem happy with a bus service that is unreliable, infrequent and poorly run. Try any other second city in Europe to see what I mean....in fact try *any* city in Europe.

You can make all the excuses you like- the bus service in Cork is shockingly poor and we deserve better!

A lot of the issues are actually down to the NTA. Not saying BE are great, they are not, but an awful lot of stuff like lack of maps, disjointed timetables and inaccurate real time displays are 100% the NTA. If people directed their anger at the right place it would be more productive.

EnzoScifo

There is a map available on the bus eireann website btw

The_Kew_Tour

Had get Buses for few months (as missus needs the car)there mainly the 215 and 215A. What a disaster. The amount of times it did not show up and even few times it broke down and no one gave a ****.

It’s hard for me to get annoyed at services but this took the biscuit. Never again.

pwurple

EnzoScifo wrote: »

There is a map available on the bus eireann website btw

Can you link it, because all I have seen is a schematic. A coloured line drawing with no roads marked. No printable map of routes exists that I have know of.

pwurple

end of the road wrote: »

it's actually them being very flexible.
when a driver is nearer the main base, that is where they go, if they are not near the main base, but are nearer an outpost, then that is where they go.
either way, the break must be taken, the law is the law.

The problem is, the routes are designed around breaks. Not around where the customers need to go.

I have hired plenty of private bus drivers in my working life, and am well aware of the working directives and tachographs. Private drivers invariably take their breaks either in a cafe, hotel or public spot on the route, or on the bus itself. They do not turn the bus around, dump the passengers on the road, to go take a tea break.

It is unions writing the routes instead of business need.

end of the road

pwurple wrote: »

The problem is, the routes are designed around breaks. Not around where the customers need to go.

I have hired plenty of private bus drivers in my working life, and am well aware of the working directives and tachographs. Private drivers invariably take their breaks either in a cafe, hotel or public spot on the route, or on the bus itself. They do not turn the bus around, dump the passengers on the road, to go take a tea break.

It is unions writing the routes instead of business need.

if the bus is being turned half way and the passengers put off then that is likely a control issue or the driver is almost about to go over his hours.
it certainly won't be for tea breaks.
it is most certainly not the unions writing anything, especially routes. that is not in their remit and it is day to day running which they cannot interfere with any more then insuring rostering doesn't cause drivers to go over their legal driving hours.
the service issues are down to management, they manage the company, it's on them to insure everything is working. the NTA is the same.

corks finest

blindsider wrote: »

I'm glad that you seem happy with a bus service that is unreliable, infrequent and poorly run. Try any other second city in Europe to see what I mean....in fact try *any* city in Europe.

You can make all the excuses you like- the bus service in Cork is shockingly poor and we deserve better!

Having lived /worked all-over Europe + other parts , management and unions have messed up the service in Cork,no other city I've been to has these constant/ decades old problems,glad I no longer have to depend on this service

timmyjimmy

end of the road wrote: »

if the bus is being turned half way and the passengers put off then that is likely a control issue or the driver is almost about to go over his hours.
it certainly won't be for tea breaks.
it is most certainly not the unions writing anything, especially routes. that is not in their remit and it is day to day running which they cannot interfere with any more then insuring rostering doesn't cause drivers to go over their legal driving hours.
the service issues are down to management, they manage the company, it's on them to insure everything is working. the NTA is the same.

BS. I was on a bus that was turned around and we were all told to get off. I asked the bus driver what's going on and he said he needs to for his tea break. I then asked what are we supposed to do now to which he replied "not my problem". I filed a complaint but as per usual it was ignored.

end of the road

timmyjimmy wrote: »

BS. I was on a bus that was turned around and we were all told to get off. I asked the bus driver what's going on and he said he needs to for his tea break. I then asked what are we supposed to do now to which he replied "not my problem". I filed a complaint but as per usual it was ignored.

if he was turning the bus to take a "tea break" as you claim, then that is a management issue and for them to deal with as they would be within their rights as it's not a required break.

kub

timmyjimmy wrote: »

BS. I was on a bus that was turned around and we were all told to get off. I asked the bus driver what's going on and he said he needs to for his tea break. I then asked what are we supposed to do now to which he replied "not my problem". I filed a complaint but as per usual it was ignored.

I have to wonder what would become of a driver in a private company if he had done that.

It must be great to be a member of a dinosaur union.

Cork Trucker

kub wrote: »

I have to wonder what would become of a driver in a private company if he had done that.

It must be great to be a member of a dinosaur union.

They wouldn’t be sacked anyway

timmyjimmy

end of the road wrote: »

if he was turning the bus to take a "tea break" as you claim, then that is a management issue and for them to deal with as they would be within their rights as it's not a required break.

Why would I lie, he said he was going for his tea break. I filed a complaint but management said they'd look into it (didn't seem to care). It's the cushiest bus driving job in the country if you can get away with that sh!te.

end of the road

kub wrote: »

I have to wonder what would become of a driver in a private company if he had done that.

the same thing as would happen him or her in the rest of bus eireann or any other company, they would be disciplined. all be it how much would depend on the company.

kub wrote: »

It must be great to be a member of a dinosaur union.

there is no such thing as a dinosaur union.
unions exist across both the public and private sector, and they cannot protect staff from being disciplined.
all they can do is insure that the procedure is followed correctly.

timmyjimmy wrote: »

Why would I lie, he said he was going for his tea break. I filed a complaint but management said they'd look into it (didn't seem to care). It's the cushiest bus driving job in the country if you can get away with that sh!te.

i never said you lied, but given i wasn't there and given i'm not going to know what was in the driver's head then i am hardly going to be able to say anything more then "if it happened" because i can't verify your story.
there is no such thing as a cushy bus driving job.
i certainly wouldn't do it no matter the money anyway.
it's not standard to the best of my knowledge for a transport company to give specific information as to any specific action taken against a specific member of staff, which is probably fair enough.
the most they give out is generally basic statements such as, we will look into it, or, action has been taken, or, the staff member involved has been spoken to.

punisher5112

There honestly has to be something else going on.... Well I do hope so as a driver in db we wouldn't have a hope of getting away with anything like this.

Yes sometimes drivers put their passengers onto another bus but this is agreed with control and it is usually to get the other bus back on time and on the odd occasion to not have 2 running the last bit of the route and let one get back a little quicker.

I honestly couldn't just dump people like that... Never have and never would.

Chuck Noland

Ffs there was drivers bringing empty bus’s to fountanstown Christmas morning to go swimming

They aren’t worried about managment

hans aus dtschl

pwurple wrote: »

Can you link it, because all I have seen is a schematic. A coloured line drawing with no roads marked. No printable map of routes exists that I have know of.

https://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1460983446-Cork_City_Centre_Map_A3-21.pdf

Diabhalta

Forever useless.

namloc1980

This is the current one on the Transport for Ireland site (NTA).

bus map Cork

The TFI app has route maps. A very good app also is Moovit. It has full maps of all bus routes and is linked into RTPI. Highly recommended.

Android Moovit app

Dbu

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/cork-bus-driver-arrested-on-suspicion-of-drink-driving-973197.html

Holy cow.

SkySter

Dbu wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/cork-bus-driver-arrested-on-suspicion-of-drink-driving-973197.html

Holy cow.

Article doesn't say public or private. Although the "generic photo of a bus driver" has a guy wearing a bus eireann logo.

kub

SkySter wrote: »

Article doesn't say public or private. Although the "generic photo of a bus driver" has a guy wearing a bus eireann logo.

Hopefully this clears it up :


https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/Latest-Bus-Eireann-apologise-after-driver-arrest-on-suspicion-of-drink-driving-8652074f-9c1f-4f6b-b7f2-c39188726902-ds

corks finest

kub wrote: »

Hopefully this clears it up :


https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/Latest-Bus-Eireann-apologise-after-driver-arrest-on-suspicion-of-drink-driving-8652074f-9c1f-4f6b-b7f2-c39188726902-ds

220

the beer revolu

Ah sure, that would be the alcohol from the night before - you know the kind that doesn't count, according to many!

The_Kew_Tour

Dbu wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/cork-bus-driver-arrested-on-suspicion-of-drink-driving-973197.html

Holy cow.

Not at all surprised by that.

Been on a bus where we nearly crashed as Driver was on his phone, or a driver that was too busy drinking his coffee that he could go no more then 20kph(at 6.45am)

Not mention no show bus on a Sunday evening waiting around 2hours and then getting a lecture from driver for each passenger getting in about how ****ing great he is and the service they provide.

Or time bus breaks down and driver just does not care, no refund no advice, the no shows and the manners of some drivers is hard to believe.

Thanks be to **** I only had deal with them for about 8 to 10 weeks cause I can’t honestly think of a service that comes close to how poor these guys are.

Biggest shower of clowns ever

They make the customer care of the Mobile companies in this country look efficient.

AugustusMinimus

I assume the solution to drink driving bus drivers is another bus lane? That appears to be the only solution ever put forward to improving the service in Cork.

corks finest

Ref 220 bus wtf is going on ? 3 times today and tonight 3,yes three 220 buses in Carrigaline at the same time? Think it's a safety issue? Thought at first there was a broken down bus etc but no.