jack jones

Firstly, I don’t live in Ireland anymore. I was back for two weeks a couple of months ago, and was once again (with difficulty) using a sub standard public transport system to travel from one part of Dublin to another. So if anything I’m saying is out of date, I apologise in advance.
There are a couple of basic changes I would like to see to make the public transport system easier to use.

1. Standard tickets. These could be used both on Darts and Buses. The same zones and fares should apply. I would like to see the return of the ten journey bus ticket, since a two journey ticket is a pain for frequent travellers. If you have a journey that involves Dart and bus every day, you need two different types of ticket and a lot of patientce.

2. Timetables. Accurate bus departure and arrival times, as far as that is practical, and minimum and maximum waiting times so you can decide if you want to wait fourty minutes, or not. There are certain buses (I can’t think of any specific numbers off hand) that run two times a day, and not at all at the weekend. What is the point? Can these routes not be expanded or integrated with another route?

3. Bus maps. Every stop should have a map indicating the route to be taken and all stops on it, not just the major five stops on a route with fifty stops. These maps should also be in the buses. At the moment, if you can find the bus stop (some chance after dark), you have to hope the driver both knows where you are going, and remembers to stop the bus for you.

4. Frequency. There should be more Darts and Buses at all times of the day, but certainly at peak times. Darts should have more carriages (this probably means extending some of the station platforms) and buses more standing room and better ventilation. The final Dart of the day (at an unfeasibly early 11:15) is full at Tara street and only has two Carriages. Why?

5. Integrated systems. Things seem a little out of control. We already have frequent flyers, imps, airport buses, nightlinks, standard buses, darts, trains, and now we’re going to have luas and a metro? How are all these systems supposed to work together? Are we going to need a ticket for Luas, one for Dart, etc. etc.? And Is everything going to be painted that sickly green colour?

6. Bus shelters (featuring maps as described before) at every stop. The weather is pretty horrible a lot of the time, and waiting in the rain for a bus that may or may not turn up is not a good way to start the day.

7. Later running times. Public transport should run until at least 1 am every night. nightlinks once an hour after 11 are not good enough, in my opinion. And the nightlink needs yet another type of ticket.

Even tiny things would help, for example indicating stopping points at dart stations so the elderly don’t have to run after a dart with two carriages that stops at the far end of the platform, or people being polite enough to allow passengers on the Dart to get off before they force their way on.
I think that making the system more user friendly would (hopefully) encourage more users, and thus reduce car traffic. This has little to do with design, and everything to do with effective operation. But i won’t hold my breath. I hope someone in power is going to have a look at how the public transport systems operate in other European cities (Paris and Berlin spring to mind) before decisions are taken about the operation of luas and a proposed metro.