Dublin Bus Cuts

[NeilMcD]

I must say that I use Dublin Bus quite a bit and I find it in general a very good service. The odd cranky driver but just the same there are more decent drivers who have helped me of late when I needed as I was on crutches etc. I think buying a yearly ticket or a weekly ticket is a necessity though as using cash is a disaster in my view as you cant hop and hop off buses for the same fare.

[NeilMcD]

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Monpolies don't work as usually it is the trade unions who dictate what goes on, not the management.

On your last poing there. Am I right in saying that Uk's broke up their monopolies in the 80's and look at the state of their transport system. As far as I know France has a state run transport system and it is one of the best in the world. Also as far as I know Germanys rail system is run by the state and is a monopoly and that is much better than the Uk's.

Look how de-regulation as served the banking sector. So these old cliches that we have had for the last god knows how many years that is ideology driven politics rather than solution driven politics gets us no where.

[shantykelly]

public transport should be state operated, IMO. a private company has to answer to no one really but its owner/shareholders over its operations, whilst at least a public service operated by the state (at whatever level, national government, county council, UDC, etc) will be at least partially accountable to the likes of voters and regulators. it wouldnt be solely about the bottom line.

[mypost]

Can't agree on that.

Ryanair and the Luas never have industrial disputes as private companies, like CIE and Aer Lingus do.

Munich and Prague have user friendly ticketing systems. Prague's is €6 for 3 days which allows the ticket holder access to everything. Here, you pay for everything as you use it.

[brianw82]

I used the bus a fair bit in Prague, and the major difference is that there is no cash fare. You just hop on/off, and you validate your ticket that you bought somewhere else. It's valid for the day, and it's your responsibility to have a valid ticket. If an inspector comes along and you don't have one, you get a hefty fine. There's a lot of fare-dodging as the inspectors are few and far between, but the service is efficient as there's no messing with coins. It stops for 10-15 seconds, and if you're not on, that's it.

This is something I feel that Dublin Bus should consider. This obsessive 'validation', ensuring that not one single person gets away with not paying creates a real bottleneck at busy stops. It's like a corner shop installing a state-of-the-art security system in case one person steals a bottle of coke. I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

[mypost]

The Prague Metro is a tough one though. Late at night, plain-clothed ticket inspectors gather on the platforms at certain stations demanding to see tickets. At least here, they are clearly visible when inspecting them.

[BohsPartisan]

Strike is inevitable now.

[Macy]

Ryanair and the Luas never have industrial disputes as private companies, like CIE and Aer Lingus do.

Luas has a very high trade union density. Give me the service levels of even CIE and Aer Lingus over Ryanair anyday.

[pete]

public transport should be state operated, IMO. a private company has to answer to no one really but its owner/shareholders over its operations, whilst at least a public service operated by the state (at whatever level, national government, county council, UDC, etc) will be at least partially accountable to the likes of voters and regulators. it wouldnt be solely about the bottom line.

How are Dublin Bus accountable to anyone?

I have never understood why Dublin Bus try to drive a bus past everyones door & why almost all buses go via the city centre. As suggested above the main arteries should go to the city centre with local feeder buses cutting across them in web like formation. The lack of GPS tracker is a joke in 2009. I suppose the unions would want to be paid for that too.

I think Dublin Bus drivers overall do a good as it is not an easy job.

I hear there is another dublin transport quango to be created soon.

[pineapple stu]

Has anyone of late been to a city with modern public transport infrastructure? Where you're given information like at Luas or Dart stations but for buses? I appreciate there are more stops for buses but I can't imagine the installation of a (sturdy) little digital box thing being overly expensive, and especially so relative to its benefits.

I'm pretty sure they have them on one or two stops on the Emmet Road going out towards Pat's. It's the single greatest problem with Dublin Bus, I think. In fact, the only other major ones from a customer perspective are bus drivers who don't bother giving you change tickets (less frequent now, in fairness), the change tickets themselves and knackers at the back.

[dfx-]

Nothing beats Zurich's transport system for efficiency, reliability and usefulness. One ticket for one zone, a number of zones or all zones. Expensive, but is really top top class..

Dublin Bus should be state owned as should all transport and there needs to be major route amalgamations, but to remove buses in times of strife and take away routes is ridiculous..

[osarusan]

Has anyone of late been to a city with modern public transport infrastructure? Where you're given information like at Luas or Dart stations but for buses? I appreciate there are more stops for buses but I can't imagine the installation of a (sturdy) little digital box thing being overly expensive, and especially so relative to its benefits.

Tokyo. Wherever you live, you'll be near a train that is punctual, cheap, safe, and reliable. Buses slightly less punctual, but only slightly. No technology like you've mentioned at bus stops there though, only train stations.

[SolitudeRed]

I was reading that the bus routes in Belfast were all redone a few years ago. They replaced all the old routes with a dozen or so fast routes into the city and various feeder routes surrounding that.

It's the type of thing that Dublin needs to do as well but changing a bus route down here seems to be the most arcane, drawn out process that I don't think it'll ever be done. The city could come out of this well if Dublin Bus use the cover of the recession to bring in some needed changes but it's anyone's guess whether they'll do that or simply cut whatever's easiest to cut.

Well yes in Belfast back in 2005 they rebranded citybus to Metro and painted the buses pink and white but yes theres 12 key routes throughout the city on the main corridors which have increased frequency of Buses on them the other quieter routes have remained the same. Basically its just meant that the bus system in Belfast has been simplified so its easier to follow. don't know if it would work in Dublin which is a fair bit bigger though.

[Bald Student]

Well yes in Belfast back in 2005 they rebranded citybus to Metro and painted the buses pink and white but yes theres 12 key routes throughout the city on the main corridors which have increased frequency of Buses on them the other quieter routes have remained the same. Basically its just meant that the bus system in Belfast has been simplified so its easier to follow. don't know if it would work in Dublin which is a fair bit bigger though.

Dublin Bus seem to be taking baby steps in that direction. They have maps of wheelchair accessible bus routes (which seems to be code for reliable bus routes) on the main stops. But it seems to be a company too afraid of itself to make any major changes. They might surprise us and bring in some proper reform under the cover of the recession but I won't be holding my breath on the issue.

[SolitudeRed]

Well it must have been a successful change for Belfast because they implemented the same thing in Derry as well only without the pink buses!

I presume Dublin Bus is privately owned or at least in some sort of public private partnership thing?

[Bald Student]

No, the government owns all of Dublin Bus.

[pete]

Nothing beats Zurich's transport system for efficiency, reliability and usefulness. One ticket for one zone, a number of zones or all zones. Expensive, but is really top top class..

To use that regularly you would unfortunately have to live in Switzerland.

[pineapple stu]

Nothing beats Zurich's transport system for efficiency, reliability and usefulness. One ticket for one zone, a number of zones or all zones. Expensive, but is really top top class..

Not just Zurich, thewhole of Switzerland. Or at least, you can add Basel too. I could give the trams countdowns, and they'd arrive to the second. Amazing system. Easier to do that for trams than buses obviously.

[EAFC_rdfl]

bus eireann weren't long following suite. They are letting 320 jobs go and cutting a number of buses from the fleet.

[dfx-]

To use that regularly you would unfortunately have to live in Switzerland.

Well we can club together and sell our Bulgarian holiday villas now to get a one bedroom flat in Zurich (or Basel) if that's the case..