So, when I tweeted “Any questions you'd like me to ask?”, I wasn’t
quite prepared for the deluge that filled my Twitter feed! I put a few of your
questions to Ciarán Rogan the Head of Commercial and
Business Development in Dublin Bus on Friday morning, and at the end of this post I’ve tried to
summarise the issues you put to me under various headings. Before I do that,
let me give you a quick ‘Dublin Transport 101’ paragraph.
Dublin Bus is a
semi-state organisation. This means that it operates a bit like a private
company, and in some respects, operates at arm’s length from Government. This
means that when things go wrong Minister Ross can say “nothing to do with me”,
but when they go right he can claim the credit. A huge amount of what Dublin
Bus does is controlled by the National Transport Authority (NTA), which is in
turn controlled by Minister Ross. New buses? Ask the NTA for the money. New
routes? That’s a matter for the NTA. BusConnects? NTA. You get the picture. So,
with that out of the way I'll address a few of the specifics that you raised.
Bus fleet
Why no electric
buses, or even hybrids? Good question, especially since hybrids were piloted,
oh, ten years ago. Your tweets mentioned LA, Madrid, and of course transport
nerds like myself talk a lot about Shenzhen in China which has a fleet of
16,000 e-buses. Mr. Rogan told me that nine hybrid buses are on order, and
three will be in service by the end of the month. That’s no great shakes
compared to London, which has 3,240 hybrid buses in service, but I guess
neither the Government nor Shane Ross have been losing sleep over this. This
means that diesel is here to stay sadly, for at least the next decade, though
at least the Euro 6 (emission rating) buses are much cleaner than their
predecessors. Around half the fleet is Euro 6 at this stage. I felt it was bad form though for the NTA/Dublin Bus order a load
of them though, just before the diesel ban kicked in from Government.
Bus Connects talks about this here
Roads tend to get
the lion’s share of transport funding in Ireland, and even though buses bring
in 40% of the shoppers to Dublin’s city centre, public transport (and walking
and cycling) have always been the poor relation in transport funding. In
your replies to me you said you want to see more buses (the fleet is no bigger
than twenty years ago), better heating, and more space for wheelchairs. No harm
to email Shane Ross (shane.ross@oireachtas.ie) and ask him for these. I agree, and would love to
see it happen. Shaun (@Retzback_Shaun) said bring back the green buses. I agree! Sadly,
this doesn’t seem to be on the cards.
Leap cards and ticketing
Lots of issues were raised around
issues with Leap cards. Some of you want the central doors as exit only, others
want a card reader at the centre doors. Sylvia Bowe (@sylviabowe) wants a “swipe on, swipe off” system. A pet hate was the card reader
on the right-hand side as you enter, which is intended for annual or monthly
tickets etc, but which happily takes the maximum fare off your Leap card if you
make the mistake of swiping at it. A sensible suggestion from Andrew
McCarthy (@A_Mc_Carthy) was that it should only extract the maximum fare to the terminus.
There’s lots of technical issues here which I’ll ask Mr. Rogan to respond to in
detail. Looking ahead we’ll probably move to the London system which can swipe
your bank card, so you don’t even need an Oyster card (the equivalent of a Leap
card) there. I know the NTA are also moving towards a 90 minute far that allows
you to transfer for around €2.30. It is still damn expensive, and in the Green
Party we are saying that we should move towards free student travel, or even
free child travel. I got my Dáil colleague Catherine Martin TD to ask how much
this would cost, and she was told it would cost €35m per year for free child
travel nationwide (though this doesn’t account for any increased usage). A
reasonable step to take would be make public transport free for accompanied
under 12s on Dublin Bus services on Saturdays for a trial period and see how it
works out. Certainly, for young families the return bus fare for two adults and
a few children going in and out of town costs a lot more than city centre car
parking, so it is worth considering for lots of reasons.
Bus Lane enforcement
This came up in so many of your tweets.
People want to see bus lane
enforcement cameras mounted on the Dublin Bus fleet, and they do too. Trouble
is the legislation doesn’t exist to do this apparently. Again, this is a matter
for Shane Ross, so do drop him a note people. The city Council and the Gardaí
should be stepping up enforcement, and I’ve been calling for this. The Council
is in the middle of a complicated tendering process for parking enforcement
that’s almost completed and I’ve asked for illegal parking on footpaths, bike
lanes and bus lanes to be prioritised. Mind you, there’s nothing to stop the
Guards doing more of this now ‘cough’ (@GardaTraffic)
The App
We had a good chat
about the Dublin Bus App. Apparently there is a rebuild of this underway and it
should be back on Android by the end of March, (perhaps on the Apple Store
already?) The problem has been GDPR, though it does seem like GDPR is the new
Health and Safety. There was a nice suggestion from @oceanclub that
the App show buses in real time on a map. Now that would be an elegant upgrade,
but it doesn’t seem to be on the cards. Stephen Murphy (@stejmurphy) felt the real time data at bus stops and the data
in @TFIupdates and @dublinbusnews app are pooling from different sources. Ciaran
Rogan didn’t feel this was the case, but if you’ve evidence of this maybe you’d
send it on to me. Diarmuid Nanney (@HanneyDP ) asked that
the Dublin Bus data files be uploaded as
open source files. I assume that they are done like that and accessible on the
NTA data store, but perhaps the techies out there can tell me more. Certainly,
there’s room for snazzier third-party Apps. CityMapper, come to Dublin, please!
Driver issues
I feel bus drivers have become more
respectful of cyclists, but of course there are loads of incidents that you
know of where this is not the case. If you haven’t seen the Dublin Bus driver
training video from a year or two back, have a look at it here. Lots of you want to get bus drivers out on bikes as part of their
training. I think that’s a great idea, and is used in other cities, and maybe
should be integrated in to driver training here. Of course, a lot of
drivers are cyclists, and do have experience of the view over the handlebars.
The issue of drivers leaving the engine running came up from Melissa
O’Callaghan (@melissaocallag1). If this an issue they can put signs at the bus stop advising drivers
to switch off. We have them on Infirmary Road at the 46A terminus, so I’m sure
it can be arranged for other places. Some of you were concerned at drivers
being aggressive or using their horn inappropriately.
Smaller Route changes
Lots of local issues came up here. The
new #155 will serve Ballymun, but brings yet another bus service through
O’Connell Street rather than the Quays. It strikes me that there’s a ‘homing
instinct’ at play here. Aoife McEoin (@AoifeMacE) wants the
#7 and #7A to serve Mountjoy Square in the evenings; Graham Finlay (@graham_finlay) wants a better UCD service in the evening; Paula Nolan (@IrishPTnolan)
want some buses (from Fairview I assume,) to go straight to the Docklands /
Merrion Square rather than go through town. @Leo31084416 wondered whether we could make tweaks
to routes in advance of Bus Connects. Yep, this is happening. John Cuffe (@cuffejohn)no relation I think, says the #270 from Blanchardstown to Dunboyne
is a rather, eh, poor service. Robbie Moran (@robbimoran) wants better express services from beyond the M50 and I strongly
agree. Interestingly I asked about the overlap of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann services.
Dublin Bus is mandated to serve the “County of Dublin and contiguous areas.” I
suspect that more could be done to serve those communities that lie in the no-man’s
land beyond the four Dublin counties that isn’t adequately served privately or
by Bus Éireann.
Bus Connects
The big route changes will come out of
the BusConnects project which is being managed by the
General Issues
Roger Hobkinson (@RoghobC) said “Sell of their high value bus garages for residential and relocate to fewer large bus stations in a ring around M50 and one city garage in glass bottle area. Invest proceeds in better international standard services.” Well I couldn’t agree more, and have been banging this drum for years, but that requires action from Minister Shane Ross and his Fine Gael colleagues. Another issue @DublinCommuters @AGingerxyz) was drivers asking people with disabilities to state their disability. That is all wrong, and I’ll take that issue up with the company in writing. Lots of people hate the webform, and want a more specific reply to their query or complaints, over to you @DublinBusNews on that one. @OhDunnoWho wanted to see the use of Irish dropped from announcements. Can’t agree with you on this! Better maps were sought by several people. I agree. TfL in London do an amazing job with clear maps at bus stops, and we should follow their lead. 24 hour services? Funnily enough, the NTA announced this last year but it never happened. Ciaran said it will happen, and perhaps this year. Nightlink is great, but that's only a Friday/Saturday service, We badly need hourly services through the night on key routes. Hopefully this will happen with the 747 from Heuston to Dublin Airport this year, and on a few other key routes to the south and west.
Roger Hobkinson (@RoghobC) said “Sell of their high value bus garages for residential and relocate to fewer large bus stations in a ring around M50 and one city garage in glass bottle area. Invest proceeds in better international standard services.” Well I couldn’t agree more, and have been banging this drum for years, but that requires action from Minister Shane Ross and his Fine Gael colleagues. Another issue @DublinCommuters @AGingerxyz) was drivers asking people with disabilities to state their disability. That is all wrong, and I’ll take that issue up with the company in writing. Lots of people hate the webform, and want a more specific reply to their query or complaints, over to you @DublinBusNews on that one. @OhDunnoWho wanted to see the use of Irish dropped from announcements. Can’t agree with you on this! Better maps were sought by several people. I agree. TfL in London do an amazing job with clear maps at bus stops, and we should follow their lead. 24 hour services? Funnily enough, the NTA announced this last year but it never happened. Ciaran said it will happen, and perhaps this year. Nightlink is great, but that's only a Friday/Saturday service, We badly need hourly services through the night on key routes. Hopefully this will happen with the 747 from Heuston to Dublin Airport this year, and on a few other key routes to the south and west.
We only had 45 minutes to chat, but I
got the feeling that Ciaran Rogan wants to do more, but is constrained by
finance and the day-to-day demands of his job in going further. There’s so many
issues to address. He rides a bike to work several days a week, as do many of
his colleagues. I think Dublin Bus are improving, but with a bit more support
from government, and Minister Ross they could do so much more. I’ll update this
post if I get more information from Dublin Bus, and I’ve summarised most of the
issues that you mentioned to me below. Thanks again for all your replies.
***
Here's a summary of the queries received from Twitter
General
-where’s the accountability @sorleymccaughey
-too many empty buses parked in town @dubshn1028
-is there an alternative to Webform if
blocked @garretbaldwin
-better maps at bus stops ect. @chewborg
Routes
-#DB7 #DB7A to serve Mountjoy Square
after 6pm @AoifeMacE
-can some routes avoid city centre to
serve Merrion Square /Leeson Street @IrishPTnolan
-any chance of a 24h service to
airport, maybe #DB747 from Heuston @An_Puifin
-Could Dublin Bus start tweaking routes now in advance of bus connects
@Leo31084416
-24h routes @ROnanJDonnelly
-please serve UCD
in the evenings @graham_finlay
Buses
-some buses date from 2006, replace
them 2006 Lorraine_F_22
-electrify the fleet @BrianLeddin
-overcrowding, any plans to expand
fleet @OdranReid
-who so slow to electrify fleet @ruairimckiernan
-Madrid has electric buses @niscratz
-progress to zero carbon and
Electric/non-fossil-fueled vehicles @AJffGemini13
-bring back green buses @Retzback_Shaun
-poor/non-existant heating on buses @Gion_Gion
-bigger buses please @MulfreeS
-go carbon neutral @connollc
Leapcards / ticketing
-tag on at central doors @MarcKC_Green
-how much extra money taken by tagging
on RHS reader for full fare @johnlync
-can RHS reader only charge to reminus,
not maximum fare @A_Mc_Carthy
-why is Leap card reader sloped, card
slides off @IrishPTNolan
-can ticketing be integrated with Luas @eoinyk
-why not “swipe on, swipe off” @sylviabowe
Bus Lane enforcement
-can they get Gardaí to keep cars out
of bus lanes @tomasbradley
-can they calculate delays caused by
illegal parking in bus lanes @ShaneHoganD16
-bus lane enforcement cameras, yellow box cameras etc ASAP
@transportdublin
-onboard cameras
as a means to record and fine illegal parkers? @dnoting
App
-is App now on Transport for Ireland
Real Time app @LoKapila
-why is the real time data at bus stops data
in @TFIupdates and @dublinbusnews app pooling from different sources @stejmurphy
Driver issues
-running amber and red lights; exceeding the speed limit; carrying out
dangerous manouevres; aggressive driving behaviour towards vulnerable road
users @clicky_here
-drivers using horns at cyclists @IsMiseNessy
-keep buses out of narrow stretch of
North Brunsick Street at Walsh’s pub @jnrbaker
-respect bikes @jtwoods_bikes
-driver agression @IpaziaCheyenne
-ensure drivers
are more accountable and protect cyclists @stevedocherty
-Why are buses parked up (thinking near clontarf Castle) with their
engines idling? @melissaocallag1
Bus Connects
-make the proposals more legible @LKerrins
-wrong way round, should be macro to
micro @SNicoullaud
-diversion of cars on to
Clareville Road in Kimmage @Sinabhfuil
-destructiojn of Grattan Crescent,
Inchicore @GrainneHassett
-why not Park and Ride now, rather than
after key corridors are in operation @Sinabhfuil
-Can Dublin Bus ask passengers to contact local representatives to
support the infrastructure part of @BusConnects.@transportdublin
