City just crazy

Ashleigh1986

Zell12 .....the same happens on foster street.
Where else would this be tolerated.
Galway is a country village trying to operate as a city .
People on this forum would try to have you beleive that there is proper enforcement in this village .

Mrs OBumble

bobbyss wrote: »

It's a pity that station isn't close to the village itself. Same as stations in Loughrea and Ballinasloe. I went on a day trip to Athlone recently, a place I haven't seen for ages, only because the station is central. Would have liked to have gone to the above towns also but too far to get to.
I suppose the reasons the station in oranmore is outside village is mainly money.
Is there no dedicated, reliable shuttle there?

It's geography, too.

Oranmore station was always outside the village. The old location is now an industrial estate, very close to a railway crossing over a major road. This matters because traffic would stop when a train was in the station. The rest of the existing line isn't near the existing village.

Loughrea and Ballinsloe have good bus-services, with stops right in town.

Mrs OBumble

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

People on this forum would try to have you beleive that there is proper enforcement in this village .

They would also have us believe that we could have a bus-service with self-payment systems not supervised by the bus-driver. In a country where even people who are intelligent enough to get licenses to operate cars don't have enough self-disciple to engage their brains before they park.

Fitz*

Took 50 mins to get from Ballybrit Ind Estate -> Eyre Square today on the 405.

About 10 mins of this was the bus being stopped at stops letting people on / off & paying. It seemed like a couple of buses had not shown up cos there was a large number of people at every 'big' stop. Serious overcrowding. I was in the bus about 25 mins before any passed the other direction so I can only imagine what it was like for people waiting.

McGiver

Ashleigh1986 wrote:

Galway is a country village trying to operate as a city.

I'll sign this hundred times. Sadly, it's true and no number of arguments changes that - it's a fact. As I said before - "rural" mentality. I didn't want to use the term "villager"

McGiver

Mrs OBumble wrote:

They would also have us believe that we could have a bus-service with self-payment systems not supervised by the bus-driver.

Ah come on, please don't start speaking about paper tickets, it's so ridiculously rural, backward and obsolete that no one can mean it seriously at this stage, it's year 2018, wake up.

Yes, self payment no problem. If you can operate f*cking smartphone and computers, you can operate a modern ticketing machine or validator.

You seriously need to get out of this county and country for a while and check what's going on in Europe. Otherwise you may be affected by an insular complex

McGiver

Clamp them - easy money for the guards. Just stand there everyday and collect free cash! Enforcement is the only thing that works for a mass of people with no respect for rules and no discipline.

Was so happy to see the other day a fella driving into the bus lane at Westside just to be stopped and fined by guards at the spot only after 100 metres driving in the bus lane We need more traffic guards deployed to the do this kind of stuff.

McGiver

FitzShane wrote:

Took 50 mins to get from Ballybrit Ind Estate -> Eyre Square today on the 405.

Worst service this one 405. No timetable, buses missing, appearing at random. If this is the BE & Galway Council standard then public transport will never be taken seriously and never adopted in large enough numbers.

FitzShane wrote:

About 10 mins of this was the bus being stopped at stops letting people on / off & paying. It seemed like a couple of buses had not shown up cos there was a large number of people at every 'big' stop. Serious overcrowding. I was in the bus about 25 mins before any passed the other direction so I can only imagine what it was like for people waiting.

Quick/no validation (no cash) and second door for exit would eliminate at least 5 minutes out of those 10 possibly more.

ben.schlomo

McGiver wrote: »

FitzShane wrote:

Took 50 mins to get from Ballybrit Ind Estate -> Eyre Square today on the 405.

Worst service this one 405. No timetable, buses missing, appearing at random. If this is the BE & Galway Council standard then public transport will never be taken seriously and never adopted in large enough numbers.

FitzShane wrote:

About 10 mins of this was the bus being stopped at stops letting people on / off & paying. It seemed like a couple of buses had not shown up cos there was a large number of people at every 'big' stop. Serious overcrowding. I was in the bus about 25 mins before any passed the other direction so I can only imagine what it was like for people waiting.

Quick/no validation (no cash) and second door for exit would eliminate at least 5 minutes out of those 10 possibly more.

No timetable??? Since when. It runs every twenty minutes. The problem is that it has to run across the river adding all of the traffic in Westside to the route. How could it possibly run to time at peak doing this, simply not gonna happen as long as private cars are priority one. Off peak it's a great service. Especially at weekends.

bobbyss

Mrs OBumble wrote:

Loughrea and Ballinsloe have good bus-services, with stops right in town.

Do you mean BE and Citylink? I have no stats but can only assume neither of these companies would be at a scheduled stop on a Friday coming from Dublin in afternoon. Trains I think are more punctual by and large.

McGiver

ben.schlomo wrote:

No timetable??? Since when. It runs every twenty minutes. The problem is that it has to run across the river adding all of the traffic in Westside to the route. How could it possibly run to time at peak doing this, simply not gonna happen as long as private cars are priority one. Off peak it's a great service. Especially at weekends.

OK, I should have been clear. Worst service when you need it i.e. going to and from work at Ballybrit. I don't care about off peak, completely irrelevant to me. I used it for commuting and it continuously failed me and mt colleagues. Almost all of them stopped using it in favour of walking, cycling, car pooling or car. Including myself. Also worth noting all of them also stopped using discounted taxsaver monthly Leaps from the employer as a consequence of this.
Hope it's clear now

ben.schlomo

McGiver wrote: »

ben.schlomo wrote:

Quick/no validation (no cash) and second door for exit would eliminate at least 5 minutes out of those 10 possibly more.

No timetable??? Since when. It runs every twenty minutes. The problem is that it has to run across the river adding all of the traffic in Westside to the route. How could it possibly run to time at peak doing this, simply not gonna happen as long as private cars are priority one. Off peak it's a great service. Especially at weekends.

OK, I should have been clear. Worst service when you need it i.e. going to and from work at Ballybrit. I don't care about off peak, completely irrelevant to me. I used it for commuting and it continuously failed me and mt colleagues. Almost all of them stopped using it in favour of walking, cycling, car pooling or car. Including myself. Also worth noting all of them also stopped using discounted taxsaver monthly Leaps from the employer as a consequence of this.
Hope it's clear now [/quote]
Clearer and more accurate. I just don't really get why people who use buses for any prolonged period can moan so much about buses being late during peak. How do ye think they'll be on time given the car traffic? If i need to use the 405 of a morning to be in town by 930 then I'll get the 845, I'd say 9/10 it's fine. Coming home at 6 I check the real time app and get a 402/403/405/409 depending on times or I walk as at 6pm no bus is running to timetable due to car traffic. Buses not turning up is a different story, that's blood boiling. Luckily I cycle most days anyway so I just pass by all the traffic.

xckjoo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

They would also have us believe that we could have a bus-service with self-payment systems not supervised by the bus-driver. In a country where even people who are intelligent enough to get licenses to operate cars don't have enough self-disciple to engage their brains before they park.

I think the reason a lot of providers move to self-payment, non-supervised ticketing is because they determine it cheaper, i.e. time saved and reduced staffing requirements offset the percentage of people that don't pay.

Fitz*

ben.schlomo wrote: »

No timetable??? Since when. It runs every twenty minutes. The problem is that it has to run across the river adding all of the traffic in Westside to the route. How could it possibly run to time at peak doing this, simply not gonna happen as long as private cars are priority one. Off peak it's a great service. Especially at weekends.

There's been no timetabled service for weeks. No bus has shown up at 5.25 or 5.45 for over 2 weeks now. Lucky to get one before 6.00 in the evening.

This morning the 8.20 leaving Eyre Square arrived late with a very big queue of people waiting to get on. Double decker arrived, which was great, but it was already full leaving Eyre Square (pretty late as everyone had leap cards and each took a bit of time) and then at every 'big' stop, there was a few minutes wait as people had to either come from the back of the bus or upstairs and wade through all the people standing in the aisles with bags etc an eventually get off and then eventually let the new passengers on.

The bus is meant to arrive in Ballybrit at 8.40. At 8.38 it was half way through Tuam Road.

The 405 has gotten progressively worse every day for the last number of weeks, and is passed breaking point.

In 5 years I have been availing of public transport in Galway, it is the only service to not have any increased service.
There is still no real time information available at important stops.
The app doesn't work for Ballybrit Ind Estate - it constantly says no information available.

what_traffic

zell12 wrote: »

This is an example of Eglinton. The 405 driver was beeping its horn for the black car to move, due to the traffic coming the other way, and no space. All the cars on right are illegally parked. Every single day

If only we had a City Council that actually cared. Daft that Egligton St in this day and age is still open to private Car traffic.

what_traffic

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

Zell12 .....the same happens on foster street.
Where else would this be tolerated.
Galway is a country village trying to operate as a city .
People on this forum would try to have you beleive that there is proper enforcement in this village .

The Bus lane there is a joke - operates for only 3 hours. More City Council daftness. The amazing thing is that a huge volume of staff in City Council walk by it practically every day going for lunch in the City Centre - you would imagine one of them would think, this ain't working.

Mrs OBumble

FitzShane wrote: »

There's been no timetabled service for weeks. No bus has shown up at 5.25 or 5.45 for over 2 weeks now. Lucky to get one before 6.00 in the evening.

....

In 5 years I have been availing of public transport in Galway, it is the only service to not have any increased service.

The second bit is not quite true: there was the terminus change in 2016: http://news.galwaytransport.info/2016/05/bus-405-ballybane-now-stopping-outside-hp-galway.html and that was accompanied by a minor tweak.

Part of the reason for no change recently is that the 405 had major improvements in 2012 ... http://news.galwaytransport.info/2012/02/bus-eireann-route-and-timetable-changes.html


I agree that the 405 does not have enough capacity and often seems to be the first cut when there'sa shortage of drivers: with a bit of love i think it could be as successful as the 409.

But what you are seeing happens EVERY September when GMIT starts. In the southern hemisphere it's called March Madness. I'm not sure what the name is here. Its not realistic to design services for peak usage when the college concerned has a high drop out rate and they know things will be fine by January.

xckjoo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The second bit is not quite true: there was the terminus change in 2016: http://news.galwaytransport.info/2016/05/bus-405-ballybane-now-stopping-outside-hp-galway.html and that was accompanied by a minor tweak.

Part of the reason for no change recently is that the 405 had major improvements in 2012


I agree that the 405 does not have enough capacity and often seems to be the first cut when there'sa shortage of drivers: with a bit of love i think it could be as successful as the 409.

But what you are seeing happens EVERY September when GMIT starts. In the southern hemisphere it's called March Madness. I'm not sure what the name is here. Its not realistic to design services for peak usage when the college concerned has a high drop out rate and they know things will be fine by January.

Don't fully agree with you here. If it happens every September they could put on extra drivers/buses every September and reduce again when demand drops off. If it was an irregular occurrence then they'd have an excuse for not being able to accommodate it.

whineflu

The city authorities seem to be wilfully and actively making decisions that will lead to more traffic both in their inaction on transport services and infrastructure and also in urban planning and development.
For instance they just gave the green light to a $200 million development that consists of office space and student accommodation. Why was there no requirement to build apartments with these offices? There is too much traffic in the city centre already and then the two third level colleges in Galway are outside the city. Presumably the student accommodation is going to be 'AirBnB'd during the summer too.
Is it possible that nothing is being done because the real solutions (in the short term at least) to the traffic issues involve inconvenience for those creating the issue, that is single-occupant cars; and that those punters will punish any elected official who makes any effort to get them out of their cars?
It wouldn't be difficult to run subsidised buses from the Western Distributor Road to Parkmore everyday (direct, not through town) and then make one lane each way on the Quincentenial a bus and car pool lane. This 'aint gonna wash though because the average punter will still sit in traffic for an hour rather than use public transport.

Fitz*

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The second bit is not quite true: there was the terminus change in 2016: http://news.galwaytransport.info/2016/05/bus-405-ballybane-now-stopping-outside-hp-galway.html and that was accompanied by a minor tweak.

Part of the reason for no change recently is that the 405 had major improvements in 2012 ... http://news.galwaytransport.info/2012/02/bus-eireann-route-and-timetable-changes.html

I remember that change to the 405 and to be fair it didn't do anything. The timetable change was that they moved the 3.00 pm service to 3.05 and every timetabled stop was delayed by 5 minutes. That was it. They moved the timetable spot, thinking that it would improve the service. Laughable. The same buses not showing up will happen, the same delays will happen, the same waiting for buses with no real time information will all happen, just 5 minutes later :rolleyes:

Also, I always thought that the terminus stop was built by HP, as part of their new building, not BE themselves.

Ashleigh1986

Today at 11am a bus clipped a parked up car on eglinton street opposite blakes brasserie resulting in carnage .
Of course the muppets in city hall don't see this .
As for foster street....its simples .... Take out bus lane ... Put bollards down center of road ....left is down by the docks heading to salthill...right is to turn up by o Connelly bar .
No parking allowed on eglinton street between 11am and 7pm.
Deliveries must be done to shops on that street before 11am.
Zero tolerance, heavy fines and proper clear signage.
It ain't rocket science.

youngrun

whineflu wrote: »

The city authorities seem to be wilfully and actively making decisions that will lead to more traffic both in their inaction on transport services and infrastructure and also in urban planning and development.
For instance they just gave a green light to a $200 million development that consists of office space and student accommodation.
There is too much traffic in the city centre and then the two third level colleges in Galway are outside the city. Presumably the student accommodation is going to be AirBnB during the summer. Why was there no requirement to build apartments with these offices.
Is it possible that nothing is being done because the real solutions (in the short term at least) to the traffic issues involve inconvenience for those creating the issue, that is single-occupant cars; and that those punters will punish any elected official who makes any effort to get them out of their cars?
It wouldn't be difficult to run subsidised buses from the Western Distributor Road to Parkmore everyday (direct, not through town) and then make one lane each way on the Quincentenial a bus and car pool lane. This 'aint gonna wash though because the average punter will still sit in traffic for an hour rather than use public transport.

This is exactly what should be done on that route plus a couple more plus park and ride. Needs a major city /council group together to get it done.

ben.schlomo

FitzShane wrote: »

ben.schlomo wrote: »

No timetable??? Since when. It runs every twenty minutes. The problem is that it has to run across the river adding all of the traffic in Westside to the route. How could it possibly run to time at peak doing this, simply not gonna happen as long as private cars are priority one. Off peak it's a great service. Especially at weekends.

There's been no timetabled service for weeks. No bus has shown up at 5.25 or 5.45 for over 2 weeks now. Lucky to get one before 6.00 in the evening.

This morning the 8.20 leaving Eyre Square arrived late with a very big queue of people waiting to get on. Double decker arrived, which was great, but it was already full leaving Eyre Square (pretty late as everyone had leap cards and each took a bit of time) and then at every 'big' stop, there was a few minutes wait as people had to either come from the back of the bus or upstairs and wade through all the people standing in the aisles with bags etc an eventually get off and then eventually let the new passengers on.

The bus is meant to arrive in Ballybrit at 8.40. At 8.38 it was half way through Tuam Road.

The 405 has gotten progressively worse every day for the last number of weeks, and is passed breaking point.

In 5 years I have been availing of public transport in Galway, it is the only service to not have any increased service.
There is still no real time information available at important stops.
The app doesn't work for Ballybrit Ind Estate - it constantly says no information available.

Looking at the app there and the one on the way into the industrial estate works as does one of the two further down. The service should go to every fifteen minutes but due to the fact it crosses the entire city I don't think it would make a huge difference.

Mrs OBumble

youngrun wrote: »

This is exactly what should be done on that route plus a couple more plus park and ride. Needs a major city /council group together to get it done.

Public transport is NOT the city council's responsibility under the laws that apply in Ireland.

There is already a subsidised bus from Knocknacarra to the city and another from the city to Parkmore. I can't see the NTA being willing to license, far less subsidise, a competing route that would make either of the existing ones less viable.

Has anyone got statistics on how many people from Knocknacarra actually work in Parkmore?

Any time I've worked there most of my colleagues lived east, north or south of the vity, not west ( small sample, for sure).

what_traffic

whineflu wrote: »

Is it possible that nothing is being done because the real solutions (in the short term at least) to the traffic issues involve inconvenience for those creating the issue, that is single-occupant cars; and that those punters will punish any elected official who makes any effort to get them out of their cars?

It could also be conditioning those to believe that the Outer Ring Road will solve the problem.

what_traffic

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Public transport is NOT the city council's responsibility under the laws that apply in Ireland.

This is NOT true. Why do you keep peddling this and what laws are you referring too?
Yes the NTA licence routes and operations but whose road network are the public transport operators using (excluding Irishrail)? Who has responsibility for it? The only section of Road that City Bus use that is not a City Council Road on TII responsible property is the 404 when its on the N59 in Newcastle or the 405, 403/409 when those buses pass through the junctions on the N6

Only 9% of Galway City's Current bus Network has dedicated/priority.

Agree re KnocknaCarra - over 50% of workers in Parkmore do not come from the City at all; County Car Traffic in the main.

45mhrc7evo1d3n

McGiver wrote: »

I was listening to the radio yesterday morning and allegedly the following changes are being made. Don't know when they are effective.

409 - interval down from 12 to 10 minutes
404 - interval down from 60 to 30 minutes
401 & 403 - are merged into single route - interval 20 minutes

This is in line with intel I've got from one of my contacts who is a civil engineer and was involved with the City Council somehow. Route redesign allegedly coming, supposedly % of population reaching a bus stop in 10 minutes will double (to 90%).

Well that's good news for the 404 and 409 customers but I dread to think what affect it's going to have on the 401 :eek:. It's unreliable enough as it is without adding a cross-Galway journey .

xckjoo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Public transport is NOT the city council's responsibility under the laws that apply in Ireland.

???

Public Transport is covered under the Galway Transport Strategy. My job isn't legally mandate either but that doesn't mean it's not my job.

McGiver

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Clearer and more accurate. I just don't really get why people who use buses for any prolonged period can moan so much about buses being late during peak.

Because that's not what happens in most of Europe.

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Coming home at 6 I check the real time app and get a 402/403/405/409 depending on times or I walk as at 6pm no bus is running to timetable due to car traffic.

This. Again, you don't have to do this in most of Europe - bus turns up based on timetable +- 3 minutes worst case.

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Luckily I cycle most days anyway so I just pass by all the traffic.

I resorted to cycling after experience with BE, and would use bus only in deep winter and/or storm weather when cycling wasn't safe.

BE and the Council can feck themselves. I know there are external factors to this but many things are fully in their control and they screw up even that. So for me it's cycle, walk or drive, sorry, I've given up. As did others. I'm saying with this reputation, issues and incompetence they won't attract more people. Even if they build park & ride, it won't work like in England (e.g Oxford which I know very well).

McGiver

what_traffic wrote: »

If only we had a City Council that actually cared. Daft that Egligton St in this day and age is still open to private Car traffic.

Parts of town should definitely be pedestrianised. This is what other similarly sized cities did and it helped a lot, alogn with other measures (bus lanes, park & rides, cycle paths). The EU did a study on that, I think it was Oxford, Gent and others.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/pubs/pdf/streets_people.pdf