Bus Éireann city services

Mrs OBumble

The 409 I was on a bit after 4pm today needed its double-deck: 75% full for some parts of the journey.

Stevolende

Odd I thought they specifically ran single deckers in the rush hour.

Fitz*

405 has been consistently worse ever since they implemented the new timetable. (And by new timetable I mean nothing actually changed as there are no increased service, no changes times etc).

Nothing will ever be done to fix this route. It's a joke.

Either no bus shows up for 40+ mins at a stop or else 2 show up at the same time. BE have a special ability to not be able to have services provided during peak hours.

zell12

Again the buses get stuck in the traffic created by the private cars, particularly during rush hour - hence why they are late repeatedly.
It is not the bus driver's fault.

Fitz*

The majority of the time, yes that it correct.

But some drivers are just not utilizing the buses to their full capacity. What is the point in having buses with middle opening doors if the middle doors do not open at stops and still force everyone to leave the bus through the front door before allowing new passengers to enter the bus. Causes delays.

BE / NTA doing nothing to help them either. Service is getting worse, they are aware of it but no changes or additional services will be made or provided.

Mrs OBumble

405 really does get the raw end on the deal in terms of unscheduled cancellations.

Its almost like someone in BÉ management hates Rahoon.

bobbyss

Has anyone ever called an inspector while waiting for a delayed bus to get an explanation or update?

45mhrc7evo1d3n

Waiting for the 401 at Caesar’s Palace in Salthill this evening and the real time info online was way off. The bus was late but looking at the “real time” info on my phone, apparently the bus was at Fr Griffin Road at the same time it actually arrived at Caesars Palace. The system is a joke.

flazio

I seriously doubt the Real Time is working off GPS. I reckon it's counting down the timetable

ben.schlomo

flazio wrote: »

I seriously doubt the Real Time is working off GPS. I reckon it's counting down the timetable

Definitely doesn't work solely to timetable, there are differences from bus to bus.

Mrs OBumble

flazio wrote: »

I seriously doubt the Real Time is working off GPS. I reckon it's counting down the timetable

It's a mixture of both.

Sometimes it's spot on for late buses. Sometimes its not.

bobbyss

Rosalyn Greasy Pants wrote:

Waiting for the 401 at Caesar’s Palace in Salthill this evening and the real time info online was way off. The bus was late but looking at the “real time†info on my phone, apparently the bus was at Fr Griffin Road at the same time it actually arrived at Caesars Palace. The system is a joke.

It's worse than a joke. Last week there were two 404s and one 405 dancing a jig on the real time at Eyre Square stop. Some of them disappeared for a short time then returned for an encore. Changing times forward and backwards. Meanwhile the phone was telling a different story. It had just gone six o'clock and I had thought of ringing the inspector or whoever but thought as it was past five they would have all ....ed off home and what was the point any way.
Dublin Bus realtime thingy is correct I would say 95% of the time. Is it not the same system? Why is it not working in Galway? The issue is constant and long standing.

ben.schlomo

bobbyss wrote: »

Rosalyn Greasy Pants wrote:

Waiting for the 401 at Caesar’s Palace in Salthill this evening and the real time info online was way off. The bus was late but looking at the “real time†info on my phone, apparently the bus was at Fr Griffin Road at the same time it actually arrived at Caesars Palace. The system is a joke.

It's worse than a joke. Last week there were two 404s and one 405 dancing a jig on the real time at Eyre Square stop. Some of them disappeared for a short time then returned for an encore. Changing times forward and backwards. Meanwhile the phone was telling a different story. It had just gone six o'clock and I had thought of ringing the inspector or whoever but thought as it was past five they would have all ....ed off home and what was the point any way.
Dublin Bus realtime thingy is correct I would say 95% of the time. Is it not the same system? Why is it not working in Galway? The issue is constant and long standing.

It's called traffic.

Mrs OBumble

ben.schlomo wrote: »

It's called traffic.

Its is not traffic that causes the real time signs to display inconsistently. I'm about 80% sure it's something the drivers do.

ben.schlomo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

ben.schlomo wrote: »

It's called traffic.

Its is not traffic that causes the real time signs to display inconsistently. I'm about 80% sure it's something the drivers do.

Not on every occasion but a lot of it is traffic related, I see it any time I use a bus, it's not that hard to figure it out. As an example the RT board shows 5 minutes, 6 later it's 3, traffic is heavy, end result is a delayed bus.

bobbyss

Mrs OBumble wrote:

Its is not traffic that causes the real time signs to display inconsistently. I'm about 80% sure it's something the drivers do.

You mentioned this previously. I would reckon that Dublin Bus Realtime is over 90% spot on anytime I use it. Very impressive it is. I have never heard anything about them doing anything to interfere with it. Are you suggesting something nefarious in the west? What would they be doing and why?

dilallio

bobbyss wrote: »

It's worse than a joke. Last week there were two 404s and one 405 dancing a jig on the real time at Eyre Square stop. Some of them disappeared for a short time then returned for an encore. Changing times forward and backwards. Meanwhile the phone was telling a different story. It had just gone six o'clock and I had thought of ringing the inspector or whoever but thought as it was past five they would have all ....ed off home and what was the point any way.
Dublin Bus realtime thingy is correct I would say 95% of the time. Is it not the same system? Why is it not working in Galway? The issue is constant and long standing.

+1
I'm a regular user of the 402 service to Knocknacarra. Most workday evenings, if there is no service after 5pm until 6:15pm or later.

The realtime signs and app are a complete joke.
The times on the official app are completely different to the signs at the bus stops, and neither of these correspond to when the bus actually arrives.

There is obviously a setup issue in the way the realtime info for the 402 bus has been commissioned. For example, the 402 realtimes for buses travelling from Merlin Park towards Eyre Square show the times for Prospect Hill, the last stop immediately before Eyre Square, to be a few mins after the times for Eyre Square.

I've tried complaining to the NTA - their realtime report an issue page hasn't worked in months - it gives an error when you try to save a complaint. I've called them 4 or 5 times since, and each time they have said that a 'developer' would call back.

It's frustrating because as bobbyss correctly points out, the signs and app are very accurate in Dublin.

pure.conya

ben.schlomo wrote: »

It's called traffic.

In this day and age they should have their realtime app synced with Google maps that would provide a more accurate eta

zell12

BusEireann stated that their average bus speed in Galway rush hour is 7.5kph
The worst in the country.

That is only marginally faster than walking!

dilallio

Got a 402 from NUIG at 6.20pm last week heading to Seacrest. The driver told me he left Merlin at 4.30pm.

McGiver

As I repeatedly said in the past, there are two simple measures which can be put into effect immediately for a positive effect. Traffic cannot be simply fixed and rerouting is also quite problematic (Galway Council are working on it by the way). But these two measures are rather simple and fully in BE control.

1. Use multiple bus doors. To speed up loading and unloading. I was so happy when I saw the new buses with the second door, but then I looked at them at few stops and they are not used! I am speechless.

2. Streamline fare payment. Phase out cash, move to something faster than Leap. Driver's shouldn't be cashiers, but focus on driving & loading/unloading - this will speed up both. If you go to any larger city in Europe, you'll see that public transport drivers are drivers not fare collectors. Now, some (Mrs Bumble) have argued with me in other Galway transport thread that the delays caused by fare collection/validation isn't significant. I still don't agree and BusConnect also don't agree.

The second biggest source of bus delays, after traffic congestion, is the payment process at bus stops.Payment of fares by cash is still commonplace, slowing down the boarding time. Even when using the Leap Card, the complexity of payment stages means a high percentage of passengers have to interact with the driver, with resultant delays at bus stops. At busy bus stops these delays can be for several minutes. Multiply by the number of busy stops on a route, and those delays accumulate to add significantly to the overall journey time.
...
As part of this process, cashless operation will be introduced on all buses, to remove the delays caused by cash payments. Currently over 70% of fare payments are made by Leap card. As this increases over the next couple of years, the transition to a cashless regime will become easier. BusConnects will incorporate the latest developments in account-based ticketing technology, potentially allowing use of credit / debit cards or mobile devices as a convenient means of payment.

https://busconnects.ie/initiatives/just-the-ticket/

LoonyLovegood

If Galway had something like Dublin bus, where passengers paying leap fares are on the right, and passengers paying cash are on the left, it'd speed up immensely. Bus Eireann must be the only place where paying with a leap card is slower than paying in cash, because it checks for the prepaid ticket first.

Fitz*

Whole heartily agree on the above points.

I don't use the bus anymore, choosing to walk instead as my 2 feet are somewhat more reliable than a fleet of buses, but one thing I noticed right up until the end of my bus-taking-tenure is how bad the unloading process is.

And to be fair, it is not just the drivers who are at fault when it comes to the middle door. OK, they are responsible for not opening it at certain stops where it should be, but also so are the passengers. Many still chose to disembark at the front door only. They would either walk down the stairs and automatically turn right to disembark through the front door or else just walk past the open middle door and out the front door. There should be rules set that you can disembark only through the middle doors or something, but then that will need the driver to open the door at every stop.

When they got the new fleet of buses in, then was the time to introduce the tap-on/tap-off system that DB has. Why use the old, slow system? Sometimes I wonder if BE are self-sabotaging their own service on purpose.

zell12

FitzShane wrote: »

I don't use the bus anymore, choosing to walk instead as my 2 feet are somewhat more reliable than a fleet of buses

Well done.
Walking is excellent, keeps you fit, mentally and physically. Marvel at the wondrous rows of single occupancy sardine cans on the throughfares

McGiver

FitzShane wrote: »

Whole heartily agree on the above points.
And to be fair, it is not just the drivers who are at fault when it comes to the middle door. OK, they are responsible for not opening it at certain stops where it should be, but also so are the passengers. Many still chose to disembark at the front door only. They would either walk down the stairs and automatically turn right to disembark through the front door or else just walk past the open middle door and out the front door. There should be rules set that you can disembark only through the middle doors or something, but then that will need the driver to open the door at every stop.

Drivers will need to tell the people and educate them. At every single stop, again and again. Within few months issue fixed. There is no other way. Plus put up some signs explaining the same. But I don't see that happening here, the drivers are too lazy and people too disinterested in following any rules

When they got the new fleet of buses in, then was the time to introduce the tap-on/tap-off system that DB has. Why use the old, slow system? Sometimes I wonder if BE are self-sabotaging their own service on purpose.

The irony is, that BusConnect are saying that the DB system is too slow and must be sped up! So Galway system is even worse than that, and some people even think that the current system is acceptable in a European country in year 2018. That's where we are.

Mrs OBumble

McGiver wrote: »

2. Streamline fare payment. Phase out cash, move to something faster than Leap. Driver's shouldn't be cashiers, but focus on driving & loading/unloading - this will speed up both. If you go to any larger city in Europe, you'll see that public transport drivers are drivers not fare collectors. Now, some (Mrs Bumble) have argued with me in other Galway transport thread that the delays caused by fare collection/validation isn't significant.

Whoa there.

I never said that the delays aren't significant. All I've said is that Ireland's current cash replacement (Leap) is a lot slower than cash. Right now, moving prople to Leap is slowing things even further.

Historically buses had conductors who did fare collection. They were removed as unnecessary duplication of labour.

Mrs OBumble

FitzShane wrote: »

When they got the new fleet of buses in, then was the time to introduce the tap-on/tap-off system that DB has. Why use the old, slow system? Sometimes I wonder if BE are self-sabotaging their own service on purpose.

Nope ...

DB does not have tag on/off - that only works on trains and trams.

On DB you either use the right side validator and pay the maximum fare for the route (up to the daily cap), or you tell the driver where you are are going and s/he takes the cash off you or your leap card using the driver side validator.


And if BE follow the NTA's fare directive, we'll be telling the driver our destination on most Galway routes fron December onwards, so they know which fare to charge. ..... more here: https://news.galwaytransport.info/2018/11/2019-galway-bus-train-fare-increases.html

Storm 10

Passes Parkmore around 10am today and there were six double decker buses parked at the stop 409 and 401 buses, can you imagine just how far out of their schedule they must be, would not like to be waiting in this weather for a 409 or 401 bus.

McGiver

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Whoa there.

I never said that the delays aren't significant. All I've said is that Ireland's current cash replacement (Leap) is a lot slower than cash. Right now, moving prople to Leap is slowing things even further.

Historically buses had conductors who did fare collection. They were removed as unnecessary duplication of labour.

From which I imply that you are fine with cash i.e. status quo. Very backward solution. Cash is not an option, it's as simple as that. And "printing out" tickets is insane! It's 2018.

McGiver

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Nope ...

DB does not have tag on/off - that only works on trains and trams.

On DB you either use the right side validator and pay the maximum fare for the route (up to the daily cap), or you tell the driver where you are are going and s/he takes the cash off you or your leap card using the driver side validator.


And if BE follow the NTA's fare directive, we'll be telling the driver our destination on most Galway routes fron December onwards, so they know which fare to charge. ..... more here: https://news.galwaytransport.info/2018/11/2019-galway-bus-train-fare-increases.html

Why is this needed? Driver should drive and ensure safety of passengers. End of.