Christmas & New Year Travel 2012 - Chat

[seamus kilcock]

Don't Bus Eireann and Private Operators cover inter city routes on Dec 26th?

If the above is correct all that is needed by IE is to provide a limited suburban service for Cork and Dublin commuters/shoppers on Dec 26th?

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by seamus kilcock

Don't Bus Eireann and Private Operators cover inter city routes on Dec 26th?

Some, probably not all.

[karlr42]

From what I saw travelling today, even at this stage Dublin suburban trains and DART are still well below their normal levels and presumably won't be back to normal until Monday(although many college terms are not until the following week I believe).

[Mark Gleeson]

I think we are missing the point to some degree

Demand on the 26th is not sufficient to justify service anywhere really, the problem is that we continue to operate bus and rail as competing not complimentary modes

Leap to somewhat changed this but fundamentaly there should be no monthly bus only or rail only, every season ticket by default should be valid on all operators

Go to Berlin, one ticket valid every operator

[karlr42]

Totally agree.

[ThomasJ]

be asked about new years eve.

A major gig in centre of Dublin to Mark the year of the homecoming a major plan to get people to return to Ireland and spend their cash over here. The gig coating people 20 euro each and what are the transport options for people.?

- trains finished up by 9pm

- no buses after 10pm although back running after midnight

- trams running upto 12.30 but only one route operating after 12.30

Given that the same department organised this major gig questions have to be asked as to why transport options for people was so poor.

In general questions have also to be asked about the citys transport situation

- how come one of the citys busiest railway lines finishes earlier than the national intercity line on a sunday night. No maynooth line trains after 8.45 on a sunday night

- how come you can get a bus to or from cork or galway or wexford in the early hours of the morning but not dublin

- how come tram lines can run until 12.30 yet those with services run by cie the latest sservices are at 11.30

The citys transport network is a complete mess

[Jamie2k9]

be asked about new years eve.

A major gig in centre of Dublin to Mark the year of the homecoming a major plan to get people to return to Ireland and spend their cash over here. The gig coating people 20 euro each and what are the transport options for people.?

- trains finished up by 9pm

- no buses after 10pm although back running after midnight

- trams running upto 12.30 but only one route operating after 12.30

Given that the same department organised this major gig questions have to be asked as to why transport options for people was so poor.

In general questions have also to be asked about the citys transport situation

- how come one of the citys busiest railway lines finishes earlier than the national intercity line on a sunday night. No maynooth line trains after 8.45 on a sunday night

- how come you can get a bus to or from cork or galway or wexford in the early hours of the morning but not dublin

- how come tram lines can run until 12.30 yet those with services run by cie the latest sservices are at 11.30

The citys transport network is a complete mess

There is just not enough demand as I was on DB route around 21.00 and it was me and a handful of people. Many would of being in town since 6 or 7 in the evening for the fireworks that started at 20.00.

Didn't IR run late trains before but demand were very low?

[karlr42]

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

Given that the same department organised this major gig questions have to be asked as to why transport options for people was so poor.

Because the government clearly wants to stop providing public transport and would rather wash their hands of it entirely.

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

- how come one of the citys busiest railway lines finishes earlier than the national intercity line on a sunday night. No maynooth line trains after 8.45 on a sunday night

Because IE operate the Maynooth line as a branch, there are no drivers based in Maynooth and trains are not stabled or maintained there so the latest trains have to be able to get back (empty) to Connolly before the end of the driver's shift.

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

- how come tram lines can run until 12.30 yet those with services run by cie the latest sservices are at 11.30

Because Veolia/RPA is given enough free reign and money to operate these services, while CIE is forced to rely on a dwindling subvention in order to make it look bad and help the government ultimately get rid of it. Passengers are just the pawns in this.

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

The citys transport network is a complete mess

It's not a network, because there has never been enough money put in to build infrastructure, and planning has never been used effectively to drive population towards existing infrastructure.

[on the move]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Demand on the 26th is not sufficient to justify service anywhere really

Demand on every day of the year doesn't justify service really, as the road network now can carry most people at half the cost, and in some cases half the time.

That said, we still need a functioning rail network. Not everybody can drive from A to B as and when needed, and certain goods can only be transported by rail. There's more to trains than the Profit and Loss column.

[Mark Gleeson]

Come on be sensible

We get complaints of standing room only daily, the network is actually moving people, to run on the 26th would end up with a situation where you would have more staff than passengers which makes no sense at all.

The problem is not the lack of transport, there is a bus service but a lack of integration and cross acceptance of tickets

[on the move]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Come on be sensible

We get complaints of standing room only daily, the network is actually moving people, to run on the 26th would end up with a situation where you would have more staff than passengers which makes no sense at all.

It's several years now since I had to stand on an Irish train, bar the Dart.

The country reopened for business on the 26th, airports, buses, trams all running. Most shopping centres were open on the 26th and many pubs, so there was money to be made. People who wanted to use the train though, either had to use other transport or stay at home.

The national rail network is very small. Trains run across Europe on the 25th, stations are open and manned, regardless of the local economy or passenger numbers. So it isn't good enough for Irish Rail to take an extra long siesta.