Good weather, bad weather, Christmas
December 10th, 2007
Transport is basically all about keeping on schedule. We take timekeeping very seriously, and our customers do too. When we fall off schedule, we get phone calls looking to see what’s going on, and rightly so. So what makes us go off-schedule - simple answer is traffic. There are a few things that cause the traffic to go crazy in Dublin.
Weather. Bad weather makes everyone slow down. There can be the odd skid or crash. Also, more people decide to bring their cars to work. More people decide to take the tunnel too.
Special events like late night shopping. Last Thursday, late night shopping hit the city hard, and we were running seriously late as a result. This included delaying people who wanted to go into the city for late night shopping themselves.
Christmas. The weeks coming up to Christmas definitely generate extra traffic.
So what can we do about it? Very little unfortunately. Some people suggest that we should divert the bus around back roads in the Docklands. This seems like a good idea, but it doesn’t really help that much. The rat-runs get blocked up pretty quickly, and there is major building in those areas which could cause a major delay without warning. And it’s pretty hard to turn a bus around in traffic! Also, changing the way we go causes confusion for customers.
There are some things we can do to mitigate the impact though and we are working on this. One thing is to improve information. We are planning a status message so that a message can be put up when the service is running significantly behind schedule.
Another possibility is a GPS tracking system so you can see where the bus is before you leave the office. This would be something like the system Aircoach has (click on the ‘live position’ link) or Urbus. There’s also the possibility of getting it on your mobile phone, although this turns out to be tricky to do in a really user friendly way.
We have a problem where we aren’t filling our buses, yet they are passing stops. We are addressing this through a pretty simple counter to allow the driver to know exactly how many people have boarded and whether he has space for more. Hopefully this will reduce this problem this week. Please let us know whether this strategy is successful.
The other thing is capacity. Although bigger buses won’t make the traffic go faster, they help deal with the issue where a lot of extra passengers are at the stop when the bus finally arrives.
We would appreciate your feedback on these possible improvements. The information we get from customers leaving comments, emailing and calling in is invaluable and we appreciate it.
December 11th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Ok lateness can be excused but why is the bus leaving early at times.
Yesterday I arrived at the stop outside the IFSC at exactly 1945. I know my time was correct as it is always at least 1 min faster than the clock on the buses. No bus came and I could see the stop for about 2 mins before I got there so it had to have been gone a while.
The next bus came at 20:14 at the IFSC, nearly 5 mins before it was even supposed to leave outside laughter lounge. This was commented by another passenger to the driver.
This morning in Swords I was there at exactly 9:12 and no bus and I couldnt see one having just gone off up the road so it must have gone a good bit early.
Now I know you might say well its only a few mins here and there but if it goes early it means you must be at the stop least a 10 min times early just in case it leaves early which is just adding to times traveling etc.
Dublin Bus are bad but they never leave early (although they are usually late ;))
Apart from that I think your service is still excellent.
I know that leaving a min early
December 11th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I’m curious as to why the timetable has been removed from the Swords Express website. It seems to be replaced with a link outlining the Route.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
RE: “Good weather, bad weather, Christmas”
Everybody knows the traffic in Dublin is notoriously bad so I fail to see that as an excuse.
Starting a new bus service running to Dublin City it is naiive to not allow for traffic delays and build them into your schedule.
Poor excuse.
December 15th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
No, you can’t just factor them in for a couple of reasons.
1. Traffic is volatile. It changes randomly. There is no way to predict how heavy the traffic will be even half-an-hour ahead, never mind at the time you are scheduling.
2. Parking space. We have severely limited scope for parking and waiting in the city centre. We can’t just sit around there waiting for the departure time.
3. Capacity. There is only a certain amount of capacity at present. What traffic does to a public transport system is not just delay it - it also absorbs a big proportion of the capacity. We effectively have one or two less buses to provide the same service because they are held up in traffic.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
It appears that the biggest delay is in the city centre. Would it be an idea to improve the service by crossing the Liffey at Butt Bridge and the first stop being outside the Custom House. This would mean that the long delay caused getting across O’Connell Bridge and down by the Laugher Lounge would be eliminated. And its not so far to walk.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Ok I wrote on December 11th about the bus leaving early and I am writing to say it happened AGAIN!
Today I was walking across the bridge which ends in front of the IFSC and as I got across at 1943 there I see the bus already down past the stop outside the IFSC. That means it had to have left at at least 1941 from the Laughter lounge. I didnt get a reply before and I would appreciate one now.
Why is the driver of this service leaving early? I`ve never had a bad experience with the drivers personally. They are polite and friendly always but I cant understand how this happens.
Is there any reason for having a timetable you should just write 1946 (approx) I`m writing this from a Dublin Bus on the way home that I had to take cos I couldnt wait in the freezing cold again.
I spend €30 + a week on the bus so I do like it but this is not good guys