Alek Smart
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Would the vents have anything to do with Findlaters Wine Cellars reputedly somewhere beneath the street ??
However leaving the vents aside and returning to the Pole issue as raised by GrahamH.
What exactly is it with DCC and other local authorities in the Dublin region that has them in thrall to the Pole manufacturing industry ?
O Connell St is presently a sorry looking shambles with little ACTUAL improvement over what went before save the Granite !
Presently we have a hotch-potch of signage some of it useless and outdated all over Dublin each sign meriting a new pole and the work necessary to erect it.
Just this week another set of poles has sprouted along Lwr Kilmacud Road to facilitate a new private bus service serving the Beacon Centre in Sandyford.
It would appear that None of the Proffessional Planners could bring themselves to contemplate how a Bus Stop plate could indeed be supported by an existing Lamp Standard or ESB/Telecom Pole.Instead we see our roads and streets disappearing beneath a forest of stainless steel and aluminum for no good reason. (Other than perhaps a financial interest in the well being of the Pole industry ??)
These are the same Local Authority planners who have intense difficulties with the concept of pedestrian barriers at contentious locations as an aid to safety……!!
A shower of Wasters methinks ???? 🙂
Yes Yes Yes…..Sierra do indeed ERECT the poles……But lets get down to what entity actually manufactures the things and also the signage which is fitted to them….
This investigative journalism is SO thrilling…. 🙂
Also of interest is the impending 5-Axle HGV ban in the Central zone.
As one can imagine this piece of nouvelle leglislation also requires some appropriate signage and that`s exactly what it has received.New aluminium poles,some with H-Frames on top and now the signs as well all add,yet again, to our Urban Pole Forest fixation.
Nobody in DCC apparently bothered to ask if at least some of the Old “Seamus Brennan” Primary Route signposts could be put to use here.
This of course would have been thrifty in the extreme but it would not have been good news for the MANUFACTURERS of Aluminium Poles and Signs…….. 😀Well considering its almost EXACTLY twelve months since the gizzard was ripped out of Home Farm Road and only last week was the reinstatement almost completed I won`t be holding my breath on the signposts being attended to before 2010.
What would be far more beneficial would be a little investgative reporting on how much these Poles cost,how much did the attendant signage cost,how much did it cost to erect and display the signs/posts……and finally WHICH company was the beneficiary of the Council`s largesse in firstly the supply and secondly the erecting of the poles…..
Hiiii Ho…..Hiiiii Ho ..it`s off to work we go …to the companies registration office we go …. 😮
There is indeed something essentially “civilized” about the JC Decaux Lyon project and indeed the Litfuss columns throughout Grosser Europa.
Both of the items are most assuredly used in the “Common Good” throughout the Cities where they are used.
However,our deep rooted cultural animosity to anything which smacks of Commonality will as ever serve to stunt these plans.
This is why our “Public Open Spaces” fill up with burnt out stolen cars.
Our Bus Shelters are reduced to useless metal framed skeletons (Checkout the sad Supershelter on the N11 Stillorgan Road St Lauence`s Park)
Our Public Phone Kiosks/Pillars stand wireless and useless.
I would suggest that JCD take another look at Dublin before providing more metallic infill for the Canals. 😡Over on another thread the PVC King tells me that the DCC Legal Department are “reasonably Pro-active” when dealing with Housing Matters.
It is now over 30 years since I first began inhabiting Bolton Street`s motor engineering departments and using the Hen St as a short cut (!!) Through the Kings Inns.
In all of that period successive Corporations and now Councils have sat and watched as a piece of REAL old Dublin collapses …..
Probably waiting for JC Decaux to offer a multi screen adframe outside the benchers before they take any real action.
Just to echo The praise for DCC`s Parks Dept.
This section of DCC is Head and Shoulders above any other department and consistently does the City Proud in its Field (!!)
Given that it is usually well down the list of runners and riders in the funding stakes it really does make it`s budget stretch a long way.
Well done to the Parks Dept !!!! 😀Graham H,Shame on you Sir….
How could you remain unaware that the allocation and design of the O Connell St Bus Stops is the result of a process known as the Bus Stop Action Plan.
This BSAP was apparently devised jointly by BAC and DCC and involved a full architectural survey of the opportunities offered by the standard Bus Stop Pole.An Integral part of the O Connell St Bus Stop Action Plan is the inventive use of the spatial integrity of the Bus Stop Pole.
This allows the full 360 degree spectrum of the pole to be utilized by both pedestrians and motorists alike,and when each pole is topped by an imaginitevely crafted headplate carrying inscribed upon it the ancient Celtic term for Bus…..Bùs. the resultant icon serves to attract both casual pedestrian and potential Bus Passenger alike.There were some Phillistinic populist murmurings alledging that there was a popular demand amongst the lower-orders for some form of Bus Shelter structures in which the poor could take shelter whilst awaiting their omnibus.
Thankfully this proposal was resisted even though its proponents were to be found claiming the working classes would be in danger of catching Scurvy or Consumption due to the extended nature of their wait for the said contrivance.
I feel sure Graham that you will be supportive of the Gentry`s efforts to ensure our lower classes maintain a robust good health which the free unimpeded flow of fresh air along the street will do much to propogate.
The new Taxi Rank is a classic example of this,with no reports as yet of any fatalities amongst the Cabmens clients unlike the old Rank which had such fripperies as a shelter complete with seating,which only served to encourage laziness and slothfullness amongst the citizenry….
Your photographic records are very much appreciated by myself and other regular users of Gardiners Mall and I trust you will be well rewarded !
PS I saw the good Senator Norris out for his constitutional yesterday and well he looked too….Bring back the Boulavardiers I say…Hip Hip..!! 😮
Ode to Joy as one might say at Yuletide !!
That Camera 5 shot looking Eastwards back along Stephens Green should be cut and pasted to the City Managers forehead.
It clearly shows the Cats Menackie which the City Council made of the Bus Stop/Car Parking arrangements here.As one can plainly see the Bus Bays are located AFTER the row of Pay and Display spaces which are usually to be found full of Builders Vans (From the Shelbourne Development).
This means that Busdrivers having made the sharp left-turn from the East Side of the Green are faced with a Wall of Steel effectively blocking their view of the Stops.
Ergo the view of the intending Bus Passengers is also blocked,causing the poor souls to wander abroad amongst the ever lengthening queue of Taxi`s which also make use of the Bus Bays.A total frigging mess and a salutory example of just how POOR Dublin City Council`s Proffessional Planners really are at recognizing serious Safety Related Deficiencies in their own designs.
Simple shaggin Commonsense would have the Bus Stops relocated to the present location of the Pay and Display and these in turn moved to the Present Bus Bay location.
Several safety related benefits including clear sight lines for Busdrivers and Passengers.
No sudden sharp manouvering to access the Stops and no infringment of the Road Traffic Act by Bus Drivers attempting to enter Dawson St After utilizing the Stop (Read the bits of the RTA concerning Solid White Lines and Solid Bordered Hatched Areas).Its also interesting to know that when a Journalist friend of mine contacted the Garda Press Office last year to enquire if The Gardai had sanctioned this little scenario,he was told they had nothing to do with the location of Bus Stops as this was a COUNCIL function……Hatches being battened there methinks !!
It`s almost as if DCC has a secret Department of Men in White Coats who spend their entire working life dreaming up cock-eyed scenario`s such as this and then putting great effort into ensuring its permenancy !!! 😡
Well perhaps Ashlin Coleman will have managed to put a bit of professional thought into the pathetic dangerous mess which now exists at the Ivor Callelly Memorial (Taxi Rank) directly opposite the RDH.
This piece of farcical nonsense really does need to be observed for a while to grasp just how devoid of professionalism and a grasp of the real-world DCC`s Planning Dept really is.
The present Taxi Rank arrangement is on every count far worse than the “Old” one.
Intending passengers have virtually nothing to inform them that the place is in fact a piece of Public Transport infrastructure (DCC Style)
I watched yesterday as several intending passengers each tugging a pull along and shoulder baggage traipsed along the line of Taxi`s unaware that there was actually a Top to the Queue.
On a Street which now has a sign for almost every concievable event there is Sod-All to inform the intending public-transported minded person as to the conventions or rules of Taxi Travel.
The Shelter which was there pre IAP is long gone as are the information panels.By far the most dangerous element and the one which points a very accusatory finger at DCC Planners is the Designed-In element of DANGER which Taxi Drivers AND other Road Users now have at the New-Improved Rank.
It is Impossible for Vehicles to make the U Turn around the central reservation in order to maintain the queue without either projecting out into the Northbound general traffic lane,already compromised by the Cathal Brugha St right turn,or having to REVERSE back out onto the Southbound lane in order to conform to the requirements of the law.
Even when positioned correctly at the Rank the exposure to Danger continues with passengers entering the Taxi by the Nearside front and Rear Doors,which of course are now positioned on the OFFside of the general traffic lane travelling along OCS proper.
This is Lunacy and if it`s the Best DCC can come up with then it`s a living disgrace that former high-ranking City Officials can be wafted off into the stratosphere to the sound of Harps and rustle of rose-petals being thrown at them rather than having them dragged back to the OCS Taxi Rank and questioned as to what they were thinking of when they signed off on this piece of Krapp.
I am fairly certain that if,for example the Road Safety Agency were to commission a Safety Audit by REAL professionals on the design,construction and critically,THE OPERATION of this Rank then it would be closed down forthwith.
Perhaps if the RSA can not be bothered then the Motor Insurance companies which service the Taxi industry might be prepared to cast a critical eye over the situation.My essential point is that DCC have managed to take an imperfect situation vis a vis the OLD OCS Taxi Rank and make it immeasurably worse on every count ESPECIALLY from a Road Safety perspective with NO agency prepared to cry foul,even an Garda Siochana whose premises have a grandstand view of the crazed situation.
If ever there was a case for having our City Administrators chosen by the City Electorate this is IT.
Now……how much would UPS charge to deliver a crate of P45`s to Wood Quay ?? 😮Planning Enforcement Officer my ass……
If such a beast actually did manage to get from Civic Offices to O Connell Bridge he/she would first have to notice yet MORE stupid aluminum poles….Yes in our communal desire to be more Polish than the Poles,Dublin City Council have erected two MORE poles on the west side of O Connell Bridge this time.Do we have any Physchotherapists posting here who could broaden our understanding of this Councils communal NEED to erect a pole for each and every sign.
Not content with making a rats ass of what initially was an attractive idea for more public open space on O Connell St this so-called “Authority” now seems hell bent on turning the street and environs into an aluminum forest.
More evidence of this unhealthy fetish could be faound last week at the Pembroke St/Leeson St junction where the Traffic Signal maintenance company were busy (Yet Again) attempting to seperate the Traffic Signal pole from the pavement after yet another total flattening of the poorly located pole.
The only way the pole can sustain being in this particular location (S/E corner of Pembroke St) is if the council are prepared to protect it with embedded RSJ or to use a lamp-post diameter pole to mount the signal array.
Instead the contractors.just like lemmings,re-erect yet another pole which stands a more than good chance of being flattened within 24 hrs.
The cause is simple…ever longer and wider Commercial Vehicles and Coaches with NO extra manouvering spaces..the remedy is equally simple……:p
Hardly surprising really when one considers great chunks of the NDP remain unfulfilled…….Still no sign of the extra Buses promised to Bus Atha Cliath.
Mr Cullen now has so many pieces of leglislation to “Bring to Cabinet” that he will need a messenger boys bike….Perhaps he should have chosen Bloomsday to load it all up and pedal up to Kildare St….
Anyone know how to spell Muppet ?? 😡Long necks indeed although its the hardness of them I would be concerned about……:p
I`m guessing that this little lighting array would have had to pass muster with the aforementioned Mr K. Skay BEFORE it was nailed into position on O Connell St`s most influential facade……But of course … 😮Some of the more observant O Connell Streeters or should that be Boulavardiers may have noticed how Bus Atha Cliath have in the past 24 hrs erected a veritable Blue Forest of poles along BOTH sides of the “New” streetscape.
This presages the return to the status quo in Bus Stop terms.It now appears that the much vaunted Bus Stop Action Plan in reality was merely erecting all the new Bus Stops in EXACTLY the same location as the old ones were in 3 years ago.
It is a matter of some disappointment to me that Bus Atha Cliath have failed to subscribe to the ethos behind the IAP by doing something meaningful to reduce the stupendous amount of extended dwell time which buses have to spend at O Connell St stops.
What we now have from Friday 9th June is a Street which is largely nose to tail with immobile Buses for most of the day.
Buses on Most if not all of the major trunk routes are simply spending far too much time at the O Connell St stops which causes frustration for both passengers and for other users of the street too.
No opportunity has been taken to address this issue NOW rather than at some point in the future when the city eventually grounds to a halt because of a “Situation” at the Bus Stops opposite the Taxi Rank island.
The other and perhaps more fundemental issue is why DCC and The Depts of Transport and the Environment have failed to install Disabled Friendly Kassel Kerbing along this most heavily Bussed of streets.
What we now have is a situation whereby the FULL compliment of disabled access measures has deliberately been curtailed in order to maintain architectural symmetry.
This failure could well rebound upon DCC quite badly.
We have in the very recent past seen the Minister for Transport intervene in Bus Eireann`s new vehicle Tendering process following on from a complaint made to him by the Chairperson of the Disablity Authority,Ms Angela Kerins.
The gist of Ms Kerins complaint was that Bus Eireann were breaking the law (Sections 26 and 27 of the Disability Act 2005) by specifying new touring coaches which were not FULLY accessible for Disabled Persons.
We now have a situation in which the O Connell St Bus Stops are not FULLY accessible to disabled intending bus passengers due to the lack of Kassel Kerbing which is an integral component of the Disabled Acess package for Public Bus Transport.
I should imagine that Chairperson Kerins of the Disability Authority is presently dipping her quill in vitriol as she prepares a suitable missive for poor ol Mr Fitzgerald and him bein about to retire an all that…..You read about it first here but mark my words some quick witted legal brain will spot a nice little earner here and the Courts will be loath to accept a defence of “Nobody told me” from the highest and mightiest in DCC`s IAP office 😮
Well,I dunno,but I`m gettin to view this particular flagship IAP with increasing despair.
A brief stroll along the Street last evening at 1900 revealed little more than wat appears to be a form of steel pole nursery.
Hot on the heels of this observation comes the news this morning that yet MORE poles are being driven deepinto the heart of the street as Bus Atha Cliath set about replanting the original Bus Stops which had been displaced by the IAP works.The Bus Atha Cliath PR Person did allude some months ago to the existance of something called a “Bus Stop Action Plan” which she marketed as some form of integrated co-operative venture between the Bus Company and the Civic Authorities which would see potential Bus Travellers provided with State-Of-The-Art features such as Shelters,Seats and Accurate Information etc.
Now,at the time of this revelation I remember smiling inwardly at the very notion of this “Action Plan” actually existing and todays Pole Setting display confirms my belief that the Action Plan existed only in the secluded regions of a PR persons brain.
The other interesting little tableau I bore witness to last evening is the daily arrival of the Pennys Articulated Truck
This little display is now beginning to rival London`s Changing-Of-The-Guard as a Must-See for visitors to Dublin.Briefly,it consistes of a fullsize Articulated HGV arriving into O Connell St Northbound at c.1845/1915 each evening.
The vehicle is delivering/collecting from the Pennys store which has its goods inwards in Princes St,a street with only a single vehicular access point.
I would STRONGLY recommed members and friends of Archiseek to get a ringside seat to the events which follow the Arrival of the Siad Vehicle onto the GPO Plaza.Firstly the Truck Driver must attempt to position his/her vehicle along the front of the GPO in order to allow a reverse around corner manouvere.
This can be compounded by a reluctance of following general traffic to allow the HGV sufficient if ANY room to do this.
Cyclists are particularly adverse to giving the Truck any room at all and on last evenings observations appear to be fully prepared to cycle directly under the wheels of the container-trailer to prove whatever point they have in their head regarding trucks.The unfortnate driver DOES have an assistant,a young fellow who is despatched out from Pennys Warehouse to assist in the manouvere.
This lad`s prime concern HAS to be the amount of pedestrians who stream across Princes St on the recently widened footpath blissfully ignorant of a 38 tonne articulated vehicle reversing down upon them.Last evening for example I witnessed imbicilic women shoo`ing their little children across behind the MOVING truck in direct opposition to the poor lad who was doing his best flapping his arms to prevent the little dotes being squashed.
People reading newspapers,listening to MP3`s or merely looking for somewhere to have a slip,trip or fall were merrily playing Chicken with the reversing truck.
Whilst the unfortunate Truck Driver is carrying out his tricky and DANGEROUS manouvere,motorists and cyclists continue to drive directly up to the Cab Portion of the truck,preventing any further movement,until the dopey git`s stop their texting long enough to become aware of 38 tonnes of hardware blocking their path.
Even better is the City Councils strategic placing of its Poles,one of which is positioned on the central median just at the point where the Tractor Unit requires the maximum space to complete the manouvere.
Oh and I almost forgot the steady stream of cars exiting Princes St each of which makes great efforts to tuck itself into the Trucks Blind-Spot in order to give the driver a little more to worry about.
There is of course a Garda on permanent post outside the GPO,however depending on the member he/she can often be remarkable reluctant to stir away from the GPO`s facade as there are issues surrounding the active involvement of a Garda facilitating a 38Tonne HGV in mounting footpaths and reversing along one-way-streets etc…
THIS DAILY DISPLAY UNDERLINES THE COMPLETE AND TOTAL SHAMBLES WHICH DCC HAS PRESIDED OVER IN RELATION TO THE ONGOING OPERATION OF O CONNELL ST.
Presently the renovated street is little more than a collection of potential danger points which as both vehicular and pedestrian traffic resumes its former levels leaves little time left before a MAJOR accident.
As I read of the imminent retirement of the present City Manager and the eulogies being directed in his direction I am left wondering if there exists no disciplinary procedure within the City Council whereby Senior Administrators can be forced to account for crazy,half thought out schemes which at completion have SERIOUS safety shortfalls inherent in them.
Well,I dont REALLY wonder at all because I know that WHEN that serious accident occurs it`s the lowest in the food chain who will bear the brunt…yes folks the Truck Driver.
Mark my words,should some cyclist or pedestrian get entangled with that truck this evening the GPO Garda will launch forth like a rocket,pen in hand to take the Truckers details.Perhaps nobody in DCC`s Planning Dept ever bothered to ask how a major large scale department store would recieve it`s deliveries…perhaps they,like CJH,have somebody to do their shopping for them ?
Either way its merely reinforcing my belief that the O Connell St IAP is rapidly dissolving in a Vat of Acid ……Available in Tablet form from Civic Offices,Wood Quay …..:o
The entire T21 thing is IMO presently floundering without any real sense of where its going or why its needed.
Those behind the project are as divorced as ever from the reality of Life on the Buses/Trains.
We cannot even mange to get rid of a few miserable Pay N Display spaces in the City Centre to allow for a far greater Bus Throughflow.
However what is REALLY worrying me is a nagging sense that ALL of this is going horribly wrong.
I had a couple of hours on Thursday evening to stroll around the Temple Bar and South Georges St area and I was immediately struck by the pretty impressive amount of EMPTY office and retail space in the area.It doesnt look right …….:eek:
Yep….the longer I spend drivin past it up and down,up and down several times each day and night,the more it becomes solidfied in my mind…..:cool:
The Taxi Rank has compromised the ENTIRE IAP concept for O Connell St.
What we now have is 3/4 of an IAP which splutters to a halt at poor oul Fr Matthews Sandaled Feet.
The rag tag ecletic millieu of char-a-banc`s and their drivers which now line up along the street seem to be part of a bizzarre real-time Look Back in Anger representation of how we were.It`s almost as if some giant unseen hand had scooped up a collection of Taxi`s from the Old Rank one winter night in 2002 and stored them in a Sandmans Cupboard until this week.
Now they just look Horribly out of place sitting there exposed to the glare of exotic granite paving and totally bare of the shade from the old London Planes,whose true benefit is only now apparent vis a vis concealing the Taxi Folk and their customers.Even the only STATUE which ever stood on the street,the depiction of Christ in the Glass Case is now banished,no doubt in deference to our new found freedom as a multi denominational and all-embracing Capital City.etc etc…
It is difficult to fathom just what DCC can do in order to reclaim the IAP`s ethos on the Northern Fringe of the Street.
The linear Boulavard concept is a dodo for sure,as is the “Strollers Paradise” .
It really is a great shame as the Street now presents a huge blank canvas for enterprising and innovative use.
Just as with our Bus Routings so too have the Taxi industry managed to get away with the Status Quo principle as the only show in town.Meanwhile the off-streets now sit in a kind of stasis with no real idea of their purpose save to allow a kind of rat-run for Motorists hell-bent on reclaiming the Capitals Main Street for their own……
A terrible beauty is born……? :rolleyes:
“That would be a pretty ballsy thing for the council to do. But what interesting is that in the next ten years it is the buses and only the buses that will be able to improve traffic in the city , nothwithstanding my perpetually row with thomond over rail infrastructure. Freeing up college green would wipe precious minutes of all the bus route in the city.[/QUOTE]”
A very good and fundementally sensible set of proposals from a boyle.
If these were to be coupled with the introduction of a TOTALLY transaction free boarding regeime and ENFORCED bus access arrangements then I reckon you have a winner.However those Civic Office lurkers really have to come off the fence on this one and begin by removing virtually ALL of the on street Pay and Display parking in the Dawson/Nassau/Sth Frederick st area.
With sufficent PAVEMENT space thus released it would be possible to install some “Island” stops which would address the self defeating and dangerous practice of Buses having to load/unload from mid traffic lane due to Bus Congestion.This congestion is particularly visible along TCD wall from College Green to Kildare St and is TOTALLY avoidable given some committment from and cooperation between Dublin Bus and the Council.
IMO the first step has to come from Dublin Bus as it should have the confidence to forcibly state it`s case and if necessary make the running on it`s own improvements.
There are however other non Dublin Bus issues such as the Dualway City Tour operation and the insane allocation of stops to Aircoach and assorted Private COACH operators along by the Provost`s House.
This situation has its origins in a very simple yet fundamental inability to distinguish between a long-dwell COACH service such as AirCOACH or certain other Private COACH operators and (What should be) a short-dwell city BUS service.
There can be NO acceptance of a situation whereby a Coach Driver is required to leave the Cab in order to assist with Luggage removal/porterage whilst the vehicle remains parked at a drunken angle to the kerb.
Similarly the current accepted logic of Open Top tour buses having carte blanche to adopt the same position whilst bartering with Australian Visitors re a seniors/student discount is contributing to a daily thrombosis of the entire south central area traffic flow (Believe me I know my onions,cos I WAS that soldier….!!)The sheer simplicity and good sense of the Boyle Plan is commendable to all (Except perhaps a large rump of DCC “Professional” planners) and really deserves to be put on the Joe Duffy/Marian Finucane stage in order to rattle a few bars in the Civic Office Zoo.
By far the biggest aid to success would be the reduction of Bus Dwell Time per stop and Dublin Bus HAS to recognize this before any progress is possible….
“Build it and they will come…….Poke them with a pointy stick and they will Go ” 😮
WEll Said Mr Busman….The Point Depot itself could even be a potential TM location perhaps with some of the exhibits being utilised as Hertiatge Shuttles bringing folks to and from O Connell Bridge.
Cos Tradition Demands that ALL publick transport in Dublin must cross O Connell Bridge OR travel along O Connell St..
A Jolly Good idea I should think…..Now all we need is somebody to take a decision……. 😮
Good news on the OCS Ranca Tacasai isssue..
The Gabby Cabbies being a sight more pro-active than DCC or An Garda Siochana will ever be have developed an Irish Solution to their little problem.
They have simply taken posession of the Coach Bay outside the Gresham during peak hours which is fine by me…well until some Passenger wants the Cab to head in the opposite direction anyway.
However with the NCTS now beginning the takeover of Taxi Licence Issuing responsibility in Dublin,It cannot be long before the Nordics see another method of squeezing more revenue from the Cab Drivers….
Mind U I`m slightly disappointed at the lack of Game Play from the Gardai.
One of the evenings highlights in the “Old” OCS was the arrival of the Traffic Bike and its surly rider who would do battle wit the double,treble and quadruple parked Cabbies who would usually give him a bit of verbal..Great Street Theatre all the same,and makes them oul skulptures look tame in comparison….:rolleyes:
AHhh The slow and suspenseful dropping of the Penny…..
The single most important item missing from the Irish Political stage is the ability to take a decision.
The present Taoiseach is probably the World Champion at “Consensus” politics.
Concensus being a relatively new term for “Failure to make a Decision”.
The RATP “Carte Orange” setup you mention is testimony to the role which the RATP plays in PROVIDING Public Transport in Metropolitan Paris.It`s not seen in France as anything peculiar for the agency to get it`s hands dirty selling it`s ticketing options.
Here in Baile Atha Cliath our Bus Services CASH fares remain within the jealously guarded gift of the Dept of Transport whilst the Off Bus Ticket Sales are NON-Controlled.Over the years this form of “Gaelic” price fixing has eroded the universal benefit of OFF Bus Prepaid ticketing,namely DISCOUNT,since the cash strapped operator has over the years attempted to rack up income in the only manner it could by INCREASING Off Bus Ticket prices or by eliminating the discounts which once applied. to Pre-Paid tickets.
It`s not all bad news though,as the CIE company`s have put quite a bit of welly into the Taxsaver Ticket range which DOES provide a very flexible AND integrated range of tickets benefiting from a Revenue Taxback feature.
However the present Smartcard fiasco continues to wobble along with €16 Million already spent and NOTHING to show for it which surely proves the lack of a decision maker anywhere in the Capitals infrastructure !!
