Major improvement to weekday rush-hour service from city; change to Swords-city service
December 12th, 2007
Beginning tomorrow (Thursday 13 December 2007) we are modifying our timetable to ensure that our rush-hour buses from the city have plenty of time to reach Eden Quay. This is in response to serious problems over the past week which resulted in long delays for large numbers of passengers travelling home to Swords.
This change will also impact on passengers travelling from Swords.
Buses will leave Swords for the city about 15 minutes earlier. This will mean that the 17.09, 17.26, 17.40 and 17.56 services from the city centre will be able to operate consistently on-time.
As a result of the change, there will also be an additional service from Swords at 16.17.
However, this change will mean that the 17.20 from Swords will no longer operate. The small number of passengers effected will need to travel on either the 17.04 or the 17.51. The improvements should mean that the 17.51 from Swords will be able to consistently depart on time.
We apologise to the passengers inconvenienced by this change.
We appreciate the comments, emails and phone calls about the service since we began and we continue to do our best to take them on board.
December 12th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Hi,
Could you put a clearer link to your timetable on the site please? This is probably the most important piece of information on the site, and it’s incredibly hard to find. Especially first thing in the morning when you’re late for work!
Andrew
December 12th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
What times do buses go from swords tomorrow afternoon? where is the timetable for god’s sake
December 12th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
I’m finding the new service very good, but the country and western/christian video that’s played on the tv by one of the drivers is really annoying, especially first thing in the morning!
December 13th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Good stuff - nice to have a transport company who listens to its customers.
I’ve been using the Express in and out of town every day since the first week, and I’m very impressed. Not only is it quicker, it’s also a infinitely more pleasant experience than Dublin Bus.
I’m really surprised, however, to see how much people are complaining on here. Quite a few people are whinging about the cost. Well, it’s not subsidised by the Government, and is considerably cheaper than Aircoach which a comparable service. Others are seemingly aghast at the fact that it doesn’t pick you up on your doorstop and drop you off outside your staff canteen - it’s a point-to-point express, I see it as a surrogate DART station and on those terms it’s great. Besides, the 20 minute walk to and from the village is doing wonders for my beer belly.
The only negative (aside from the Roy Orbison and ABBA videos
) is the crush experienced to get on the outward rush hour coach. This is probably outside the control of Swords Express however. Unless they decide to employ queue marshals. Heavily armed queue marshals.
Anyway, great service, and i’ll be first in line for a season ticket. Oh, and if anyone wants to by a Dublin Bus season ticket, valid til April, I’ll do you a good deal.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
please publish quick and easy (current) timetable for both directions ASAP, with a proper link on the homepage. thank you.
December 13th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Where is the timetable ?
December 13th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Fair play. Good to see you have taken on board the feedback from your customers and hopefully we will have a more reliable service from town to Swords during the evening rush hour.
I still reckon you would get quite a demand for a bus or two between 16.17 and and 17.09 but maybe you still have this in the pipeline for the medium term when operational conditions allow you.
Keep the route as direct as possible. Going through the estates will only slow the service down.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:15 am
I think you are right re something around 4.30. I was on the 4.06 myself yesterday, and even though I see the numbers, I was surprised at how busy it was. The problem is getting a bus in position to provide the service. It is just taking too long to spin the buses around the route at that time of day. We really need a bus corridor of some sort through Docklands.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Is the timetable really that hard to find? There’s a link to the pdf on the front page.
Cross out the 17:20 from Swords and put in an extra 16:17 from Swords.
I agree that the link should be on the front page right at the top but I also think that people should engage their brain and spend longer than 2 seconds looking for it.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Hi,
A couple of points that echo what Paul said above. You have a clean and quick service between two points and congratulations on your success so far.
I hope as the service settles down you will review the timetable again and increase the frequency of buses in the early morning from Swords and the evening from the City.
It is great to see that you have istened to customer feedback regarding the recent problems with the evening service and good luck with everything.
Two small points to note:
1. Have you considered a daily return ticket? Just might speed things up in the evening and it would offer more convenience for people. You might even make some extra revenue from the few who pay in the morning and then don’t return.
2. Is there any way you can ask the drivers to turn down the heat on the buses? It really is very warm on both the morning and evening journey and with a full bus there is no requirement for it!
Thanks for listening
December 14th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I cant find the timetable anywhere on the site, can a link be provided for it please?
December 14th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
The timetable IS that hard to find. They should make it a PAGE on this blog.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
love the service - a joy to travel in comfort into town - how quick it is was in incentive to go on it the first time but ill not travel on the 41c again - unless i have to! dont know why people are complaining about the price - its so worth it
December 17th, 2007 at 12:13 am
It may be me, but I have spent a good few minutes here tonight trying to get the timetable for the routes - I suggest you put it in a very prominent place (maybe on the home page) I will keep looking to see if I can find it - failing that I will stick to the competition.
December 17th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Update to previous post - FOUND IT but why “stick it” at the top of the page - will be in the bus tomorrow
December 17th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
It’s hard to believe that we now have a service that actually listens to the customer!! Excellent. Just to echo some previous points, The loud music has to stop!!!!!!!!!!!! Even with my Ipod turned up fully I could still hear Sammy Davis JR crooning away on the drivers video….and as for the Country and Western, don’t get me started.
I have to agree that going into estates would defeat the purpose of the service. The guy who described it like a Dart station was bang on. Let the people come to the bus stops and keep the buses moving quickly.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
OK, OK, we’ll work on the music. Which time service are you on? What do you think the long-term music/audio policy should be?
December 17th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
If the biggest complaints are revolving around looking for the timetable and the music being played, then things are looking good for the Swords Express.
I think that as music is a fairly personal taste, it is probably best to try to keep the volume at a minimum and stick to the radio rather than CDs, DVDs, etc. Actually, the fact that I was able to get the news telling me about the accident at the point this morning helped me to decide to hop off the bus after the tunnel toll centre… this saved me a couple of hours of sitting in traffic going nowhere.
A lot of people have their own personal music systems and for thos who want to read their books in peace, it would be better if there was no music playing at all.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Id prefer if you actually turn up the music, have fm 104 on perfect.Great service by the way, easily worth €3. I can honestly say you have taken a large bit of stress out of my life by making it easy to commute in and out of town
January 13th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I dont mind the music, but maybe it would be best to have a news station on if other people are less happy with it. I have used your service a good number of times since it started. I really want to say that the best driver, the most pleasant, and always looks the smartes and best turned out is Robbie. He make the journey even better. Only gripe, its a pity some of the other drivers dont have Robbies excellent customer care attitude!. Thanks Robbie
January 14th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
The time tanle is easy to find, click on the admin on the right hand side of the page, there you will find on the second post down a link to a pdf of the timetables as of 4th November. I dont know how up to date these are.
Here is the link for thoise not able to find it.
http://www.swordsexpress.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/cl_sx_aw_v7.pdf
January 15th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Robbie is the best!!!