Bus rant

PaulM · 14-02-2006, 19:24

I just felt like ranting about buses for a while. I thought I would put it in the Public section in the hope that a competant person with authority (if there is a competant one) may read it and do something.

1) Irish. Why do the "timetables" have all the main stops in Irish and not in English? Then it has the "Expected journey times" which normally have two or three stop in English so you can work out the bus goes to those three places and nothing more. (Note: I needed Irish to get into University so I am relatively competant in it.)

2) Out of service busses. Currently I am staying in Ballsbridge and work in Blackrock. Everyday at the same time I see 4 "out of service" EMPTY buses. Meanwhile the crowd at the stop grows and grows. The 'every 15 minute' 7 comes 45 minutes after the last one and is instantly full. Meanwhile "Out of Service" buses have probably gone to Donnybrook or town. Excellent use of resources DB.

3) Smoking. How come busses have been non-smoking for over 10 years and it is illegal to smoke where people work in this country yet bus drivers are aloud smoke on buses? Atleast they seem to be because too frequently I see this.

James Shields · 15-02-2006, 09:18

The dropping of strict timetables for "every 15 mins" on some routes seems to have been used as an excuse to throw the timetable out the window and run the bus whenever they feel like it. I remember some years ago a route which was supposed to run every ten minutes ended up with three busses leaving in procession every half hour, allegedly because the drivers were afraid to go into an area on their own.

In other countries when busses are every X minutes, it will be printed on the timetable as "every hour a 7, 19, 31, 43 and 55 minutes past the hour from 7:00 to 19:00" (for example). And the timetable at a bus stop will tell you the time the bus should reach that stop, not when it left the terminus.

It's not all BAC's fault, however. The route timings were designed at the congestion levels the city faced ten years ago. A couple of hundred extra busses are needed just to maintain those timings, and so far the government have not been willing to increase the fleet just to maintain service levels of a decade ago.

I'm not sure that this is the thread to go into it, but what's really needed is to tear up the old route map and start again.

MrX · 15-02-2006, 10:14

I would completely agree with you on the timetable issue. They're equally useless if read in either Irish or English.

The problem is that the placenames in Irish are often completely unrecognisable if you only know the name in English. They sometimes have absolutely no resemblence to their English version at all.

Personally, as an Irish person, I regard this kind of tokenism and lipservice to the Irish language highly insulting. If CIE were going to spend money on it why not look at improving bus and rail services in the Gaeltacht areas?

We have areas of northwest donegal who are facing complete loss of their own local service, Swilly Bus, due to a lack of state funding. Poor services into West Kerry, poor services in parts of rural Galway, Mayo etc

Please put the damn bus timetables in Dublin, Cork etc up in English... and start spending some money on the Gaeltacht areas in a meaningful way!

The other incrediably stupid thing is the usage of Irish-only signage in Dublin and Cork city centres. "Lana Bus" for example...

Why not
LANA
BUS
LANE

works either way.

I know it's nice to keep Irish going for cultural heritiage reasons but this kind of nonsense just irritates, annoys and confuses people. It's the same sort of linguistic fashism that has driven the language into the ground over the years.

Lets see some positive approaches ... e.g TG4, RnaG.. a more fun approach to teaching Irish at school.. etc etc Not more pointless lipservice!

----

Back to the timetables themselves.

Is there any way that Dublin Bus could produce versions for specific stops..

e.g. the stops in ballsbridge should display the approx. time for Ballsbridge arrivals, not give you the time that the bus leaves Bray Station, then suggest that you add 20min and another 20min then multiply by the square root of the distance between the earth and the moon and round up to the nearest 30 mins.

They're simply useless!

Even:
07:00 - 09:30 --- Every 15 mins
09:30 - 12:30 ---- Every 30 mins
12:30 - 14:40 ---- Every 20 mins

would be more useful!

PaulM · 15-02-2006, 10:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrX

I know it's nice to keep Irish going for cultural heritiage reasons but this kind of nonsense just irritates, annoys and confuses people. It's the same sort of linguistic fashism that has driven the language into the ground over the years.

That is exactly it. It is just lipservice and at the expense of the commuter. If I want to get a bus to a new destination, I shouldn't have to find the Irish place name to know if a bus goes there. Culturally, it is nice to use Irish. Practically (in Dublin) it is useless.

CSL · 15-02-2006, 12:42

No it isn't

I don't mind it at all, and I was born in the UK and had to learn it.

One other thing to consider is the application of the recent legislation on Irish.

It is in fact cheaper to call everything in Irish, you only have to do it once. with the English Language you must do it in Irish and english.

PaulM · 15-02-2006, 14:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSL

No it isn't

I don't mind it at all, and I was born in the UK and had to learn it.

One other thing to consider is the application of the recent legislation on Irish.

It is in fact cheaper to call everything in Irish, you only have to do it once. with the English Language you must do it in Irish and english.

The majority of people in Dublin would not know what the Irish placenames are The majority of immigrants would know what the Irish place names are. Tourists don't know what the Irish placenames are.

This is not a language matter, it is a practicallity matter. There is no practical reason for not having English on the Bus stops. All it shows is how DB are incapable of grasping the simplest of customer service issues, making sure the customer is informed.

14-02-2006, 19:24	#1
PaulM Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 826	Bus rant I just felt like ranting about buses for a while. I thought I would put it in the Public section in the hope that a competant person with authority (if there is a competant one) may read it and do something. 1) Irish. Why do the "timetables" have all the main stops in Irish and not in English? Then it has the "Expected journey times" which normally have two or three stop in English so you can work out the bus goes to those three places and nothing more. (Note: I needed Irish to get into University so I am relatively competant in it.) 2) Out of service busses. Currently I am staying in Ballsbridge and work in Blackrock. Everyday at the same time I see 4 "out of service" EMPTY buses. Meanwhile the crowd at the stop grows and grows. The 'every 15 minute' 7 comes 45 minutes after the last one and is instantly full. Meanwhile "Out of Service" buses have probably gone to Donnybrook or town. Excellent use of resources DB. 3) Smoking. How come busses have been non-smoking for over 10 years and it is illegal to smoke where people work in this country yet bus drivers are aloud smoke on buses? Atleast they seem to be because too frequently I see this.

15-02-2006, 10:14	#3
MrX Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 585	I would completely agree with you on the timetable issue. They're equally useless if read in either Irish or English. The problem is that the placenames in Irish are often completely unrecognisable if you only know the name in English. They sometimes have absolutely no resemblence to their English version at all. Personally, as an Irish person, I regard this kind of tokenism and lipservice to the Irish language highly insulting. If CIE were going to spend money on it why not look at improving bus and rail services in the Gaeltacht areas? We have areas of northwest donegal who are facing complete loss of their own local service, Swilly Bus, due to a lack of state funding. Poor services into West Kerry, poor services in parts of rural Galway, Mayo etc Please put the damn bus timetables in Dublin, Cork etc up in English... and start spending some money on the Gaeltacht areas in a meaningful way! The other incrediably stupid thing is the usage of Irish-only signage in Dublin and Cork city centres. "Lana Bus" for example... Why not LANA BUS LANE works either way. I know it's nice to keep Irish going for cultural heritiage reasons but this kind of nonsense just irritates, annoys and confuses people. It's the same sort of linguistic fashism that has driven the language into the ground over the years. Lets see some positive approaches ... e.g TG4, RnaG.. a more fun approach to teaching Irish at school.. etc etc Not more pointless lipservice! ---- Back to the timetables themselves. Is there any way that Dublin Bus could produce versions for specific stops.. e.g. the stops in ballsbridge should display the approx. time for Ballsbridge arrivals, not give you the time that the bus leaves Bray Station, then suggest that you add 20min and another 20min then multiply by the square root of the distance between the earth and the moon and round up to the nearest 30 mins. They're simply useless! Even: 07:00 - 09:30 --- Every 15 mins 09:30 - 12:30 ---- Every 30 mins 12:30 - 14:40 ---- Every 20 mins would be more useful! Last edited by MrX : 15-02-2006 at 10:17.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

15-02-2006, 09:18	#2
James Shields Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Drogheda, Ireland Posts: 1,275	The dropping of strict timetables for "every 15 mins" on some routes seems to have been used as an excuse to throw the timetable out the window and run the bus whenever they feel like it. I remember some years ago a route which was supposed to run every ten minutes ended up with three busses leaving in procession every half hour, allegedly because the drivers were afraid to go into an area on their own. In other countries when busses are every X minutes, it will be printed on the timetable as "every hour a 7, 19, 31, 43 and 55 minutes past the hour from 7:00 to 19:00" (for example). And the timetable at a bus stop will tell you the time the bus should reach that stop, not when it left the terminus. It's not all BAC's fault, however. The route timings were designed at the congestion levels the city faced ten years ago. A couple of hundred extra busses are needed just to maintain those timings, and so far the government have not been willing to increase the fleet just to maintain service levels of a decade ago. I'm not sure that this is the thread to go into it, but what's really needed is to tear up the old route map and start again.

15-02-2006, 12:42	#5
CSL Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 378	No it isn't I don't mind it at all, and I was born in the UK and had to learn it. One other thing to consider is the application of the recent legislation on Irish. It is in fact cheaper to call everything in Irish, you only have to do it once. with the English Language you must do it in Irish and english.