Motorbiked to work Mon/Tue. Worked from home Wed.
Cycled today.
We were in plenty of time for the bus this morning (yesterday we were a bit slow and I shouted at kids in house :( sorry guys :( and then ran to get bus. Kate in bike seat. Daire running. Saw it pass by! Gave up, but ran more and it was stuck in traffic. chased after it and nice bus driver opened doors and left kids on. Whew! Back to bring Maeve to creche on my bike.)
Anyway, _this_ morning the usual 44 didn't come! arg!
At 8:30 I took Maeve to creche and kids were still waiting when I came back.
Got the later bus.
Traffic had cleared up our place but I beat the bus down :-P :)
(traffic was bad on Sandyford road). I said hello to lollipop lady. She said there was no
44 bus that morning, she was there since 8:00 I think.
Kids got to school just after 9:00.
So:
From - Thu Sep 13 11:15:11 2007No reply yet and it's end of day. So Hmmm. We shall see.
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:11:29 +0100
To: info@dublinbus.ie
Subject: 44 bus didn't come? (8:10ish at Kilgobbin Road 13/9/2007 direction
from Enniskerry->City Centre)
Hello,
Your customer service charter on web says this email address may be used to contact your
Customer Comment Desk.
Is there any way to find out what might have happened a particular bus this morning?
The Enniskerry->City Centre 44 bus didn't come at 8:10ish at Kilgobbin Road 13/9/2007.
Everyone that usually gets that bus had to wait for the next one so we're pretty sure it
didn't come early (unless it was much MUCH earlier than usual?)
Is there any provision for replacing a bus if something happens it?
Kids are using the bus to go to school so we are concerned about the reliability of the service.
It is annoying but okay if the weather is fine and if it doesn't happen often.
But it is not a pleasant wait for the next bus in winter-time.
Also that bus is very full in the mornings with schoolkids from before Kilgobbin to Balally
so it would possibly make sense if there was an additional bus during school term?
Okay, well thank-you for reading.
I hope the comment on the possible extra capacity for school runs on that route can be passed on?
I would really appreciate it if you can find out what happened the missing bus and send me a reply
as well.
Sincerely,
James.
3 comments:
I had a problem with a bus some months ago -- although it was a different problem: the driver regularly pulled out at the start of his route before the designated time. I compalined by letter when one morning I had a specific time (I boarded at the second stop right minutes before the scheduled start) /and/ another passanger complained to the driver when she got on /and/ I saw another passenger with a large suitcase miss the bus running to get to the stop when he saw the driver (who ignored his handwaving).
I got a letter in reply that "made soothing sounds", and the driver wasn't seen on that route for a while. (Then I moved house.)
A few weeks ago, a caller to that Pulse of Ireland, the Jooooe Duffy Show rang in about the inadequate response to a complaint he had made to the sister company, Bus Éireann. (His Black son had been refused permission to board a bus and was stranded for some hours.) He received a similar letter to me, but followed it up. He was told that the comapny is not allowed to tell you if your complaint has been upheld or not, which is why you get a soothing letter that promises appropriate action.
I suspect also that emails being virtual communications and not real might get less than a soothing letter even. Ye olde escargot-style letter wrytte with a true penne ande blacke inke on paper might be handled differently I think[e]?. A real written letter has a different legal status than an email?
What also would help greatly if there was a better system of times at intermediate bus stops. We're in the middle of the 44 route so there is
a very variable 20mins + 20mins to add to every bus time.
If the bus was flying along it would be nice to know that they
would wait at intermediate stops so that the times would be more predictable.
http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/viewer.asp?route=44
TOWNSEND STREET
20 mins.
Dundrum
20 mins.
Ballyogan
20 mins.
ENNISKERRY
Hmmm. Maybe we can get the gubernment to make some money conditional on improving reliability. And then form a company that sells some software & hardware for reliable fleet scheduling and tracking. And we can add a special human-computer interface (shock-tanks anyone? >:) )
Thanks BETTER-OBSCURE-NAME-OF-PERSON,
I appreciate it takes time to investigate, finding out what happened to that specific 44
bus would be best done as soon as possible. It gives me more confidence in
reliability of the service if this can be followed up.
Hopefully this process can be useful to Dublin Bus as well as other customers.
I look forward to hearing from you again,
James.
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