Yesterday before a Dail committee, public transport bosses appeared to give a performance account in the face of blistering criticism around the inefficiencies in their operation.
For over a year, public transport users have been faced with long delays, cancelled services, and ‘ghost buses’ and, sadly, the situation is not showing any signs of improving.
The problem is particularly acute on low-frequency routes where just one cancelled service may result in wait times of over an hour. We believe that this level of poor service is eroding trust in the public transport system and jeopardising the Government’s goals to increase public transport usage.
Dublin Bus in particular seems to be on a year round Halloween schedule with the ghost bus service that never arrives, but merely appears on real time apps and electronic signs at the stops. ‘Bus passengers regularly describe waiting for buses that don’t show up’ and they complain about the inability of Dublin Bus to provide notice of cancellations, opting instead to leave people stranded because there is no last bus home.
The problem is more widespread than Galway, Cork and Dublin. So frequent has the no show been right across the board on public transport that wags would take to quipping that all you need to do to go to a fancy dress party as Bus Eireann is not turn up.
In Drogheda the local town service is underperforming as well. Having left the cinema yesterday afternoon, upon watching Wings Of Desire along with my wife, I felt we were going to need wings to get home. We stood with others at the bus stop in West Street. Eager to compete with the other ghost buses, it proceeded to show that it would not show.
The traffic was light so there was no apparent reason for the delay. I have noticed it increasingly over the past few weeks despite no appreciably larger footfall in town nor chaotic roads. Yesterday afternoon, the bus to Moneymore was a mere five minutes late but the Ballsgrove one had still failed to materialise twenty minutes after its scheduled arrival. Normally both arrive together, often, within touching distance of each other. My wife, not as used to the phenomenon as I am, said in exasperation, it is not coming.
The traffic was light so there was no apparent reason for the delay. I have noticed it increasingly over the past few weeks despite no appreciably larger footfall in town nor chaotic roads. Yesterday afternoon, the bus to Moneymore was a mere five minutes late but the Ballsgrove one had still failed to materialise twenty minutes after its scheduled arrival. Normally both arrive together, often, within touching distance of each other. My wife, not as used to the phenomenon as I am, said in exasperation, it is not coming.
Eventually, gloomily, we headed off to get a taxi as did others, departing the rank thirty minutes after our bus was due to arrive. Glancing from our cab down West Street as we passed, there was still no sign of town service 173. It makes no sense to lower bus fares to help assist with the cost of living crisis only for buses not to turn up or be so chronically late that using them is not worth the effort. Had I been travelling alone the taxi fare would have been 600% greater than the bus fare on Leap. It ended up half that level when my wife's additional bus far is taken into account.
Having to use taxis in lieu is not an isolated phenomenon:
This happens constantly for me and I’ve been late to work multiple times cause of it . . . I’ve found myself paying for taxis to work almost everyday now because the TFI transport system is just genuinely awful.
Individual drivers are not to blame as they struggle to fulfill their schedule and are normally quite pleasant and helpful although often strained. To boot, many, particularly in Dublin, fear assault, The system that is in place is simply not fit for purpose. Dublin Bus currently employs 2,800 drivers but has 150 vacancies it needs filled. Despite active recruitment the Acting Chief Executive said that “even with this number of new drivers, we are not keeping pace with the rate of network expansion...”
The Transport Minister, given his concerns about climate change, needs to get off his bike and explain just how people can be persuaded into public transport and away from the use of cars as a climate protection measure. Wrap the Green flag around me boys is not fixing this one.
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