Tag Archives: Dublin Bus

The seat in the SG, the most common model across the Dublin Bus fleet of 1,014 buses

Ten recent drivers’ signing-off sheets, nine from between February to June 2019 and one with an unclear date, mention complaints with seats, and the cushion in particular.

These sheets are filled in when a bus driver reports a problem with a bus and are given to the depot inspector or relief driver.

“Foam failed in drivers’ seat,” says one.

“Bottom of seat unwinding,” says another.

“No support on left hand side of seat,” says a third.

The majority say the left side of their seat cushion has worn down. “Drivers’ seat very hard to sit on,” says one. “Leg getting painful in back.”

The seat problem doesn’t seem consigned to one model of bus. The signing-off dockets, show drivers were steering a few different models: SG, GT, and EV.

Some Dublin Bus Drivers Say Their Seats Are Making It Painful to Work (Aura McMenamin, The Dublin Inquirer)

Pic: The Dublin Inquirer

‘Message in a bottle’?

Oh.

Yikes.

Anyone?

Related: Routes 17a, 33a, 33b and 102 switching to Go-Ahead Ireland (Dublin Bus)


This afternoon.

National Transport Authority (NTA) HQ, Dublin 2

National Transport Authority CEO Anne Graham and Deputy CEO Hugh Creegan at a press conference outlining details of phase one of the Bus Connects Core Bus Corridors project.

The proposed network aims to deliver ‘230kms of dedicated bus lanes and 200kms of cycle tracks along 16 of the busiest corridors’ in Dublin.

Also:

…most of the existing bus routes that flow into the centre of Dublin would be reorganised into seven simple spines.

Spines are very frequent lines. With a bus coming every 4 to 8 minutes all day, and even more frequently at peak hours, there is always a bus coming soon.

This high frequency makes it very fast to connect from one spine to another, as well as to other frequent lines like DART, Luas and the frequent orbitals.

Fight!

Previously: Redesigning Dublin Bus

Sam Boal/RollingNews

At the Dublin Bus Ringsend Depot

If we are to prevent the outbreak of panic in our busking community, then it is imperative that we as a society address the urgent concerns raised by Patrick Judge about reconciling the lyrics of Bagatelle’s Summer in Dublin with the new letter-based naming system for Dublin buses.

First, this is a time for calm, and the situation is not quite as grave as he suggests. The line he quotes as “I jumped on the A to Dun Laoghaire” is actually “so I jumped on a bus to Dun Laoghaire” and, thus, need not be changing. It may be worth capitalising the “A” however, to maintain currency, at least in written versions.

Second, of course, this is no time for complacency. The iconic bus is referenced earlier in the song – “My humming was smothered by a 46A” – which is indeed problematic.

It might be best to draw inspiration from how well our neighbours are managing the comparably byzantine Brexit process, and so to use both bus naming systems for a two-year transitional period.

This would allow our ministers for transport, culture and the arts to work together, and perhaps secure Unesco world heritage status for the route. This would obviate the need to retrain a whole generation of street musicians. Finally, Mr Judge is to be commended for highlighting this worrying development.

Brian O’Brien,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.

Whither the 46A? (Irish Times letters page)

Yesterday: Taking The A Bus

Rollingnews

I see that the new bus system will include changing from numbering to letters A to F, inclusive.

While Billy Strayhorn wrote Take the A Train for jazz pianist Duke Ellington in 1939 (lyrics by Joya Sherrill, 1944), it may be a while before “Take the A Bus” comes into popular use in Dublin. Somehow a revised Bagatelle song Summer in Dublin won’t sound quite the same with “I jumped on the A to Dún Laoghaire”, rather than the iconic 46a.

Patrick Judge,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.

Any excuse

Dublin Bus route redesign (Irish Times letters page) 

Image: Clickworks

Previously: Redesigning Dublin Bus

When My Humming Was Smothered