Ok, maybe I'm not totally up to date, but what on earth is the 22B, and how was one servicing the 10 route last night, finally terminating outside HQ on O'Connell Street?
Very strange, it looked like a 10, it's passengers seemed to think it was a 10 and it was even an O'Rourke bendi-bus (aka an AW). However the dot-matrix displays told a different story - 22B.
Is this a new route (there's no mention of it on the Dublin Bus site), or was it a case of the driver wanting to get home quickly (and thought using a non-existent route number would help this plan along nicely)?
BUSRAGE Discussions » Timetables and Routes
The 22B, N11 to City Centre?
(7 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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That is bizarre. The old 22B ran via Cabra West then Nephin Road, Navan Road, Auburn Avenue and Castleknock Road to Blanchardstown Village and Blanchardstown Centre (but originating in the city centre instead of Drimnagh). The 38 was re-routed via Auburn Avenue and Castleknock when it was cancelled.
Probably a case of the driver putting whatever number he felt like on the destination sign. I remember riding the “25” and the “67” out of Leixlip into the City Centre years ago—I suppose that the drivers felt that since the bus was going into the city centre via the same corridor as those other routes and to the same terminus, it really did not matter what number was on it. Kind of like when you were expecting the bus to go to Bachelor’s Walk and it went via Essex Street/Temple Bar/Fleet Street instead. Old DB trick.Posted 5 years ago # -
Ah - I know the answer to this one!!!
I'm sure it will surprise you to learn that it involves the company management implementing changes with absolutely no comprehension of how things are, on street level.
No time now, but I'll come back and post an explaination later today.
Steve
[posted by: Steve O'Shea]Posted 5 years ago # -
It has long been a tradition in Dublin that buses on cross city routes do not display a route number if they are heading for city centre only - this stops people in Stephens Green or Dawson St for example from boarding a 10 that was only going to O'Connell Street.
The bus just displays "An Lar / City Centre" on the blinds, with no number.
This system is so well established that changing it causes great confusion - I witnessed a scene recently where a new driver was displaying 16 - An Lar/ City Centre - and when he reached O'Connell Street there were big problems with people who had got on in Drumcondra to go to Georges Street etc.
Generally speaking the system worked well, and was understood by the passengers - which is the main criteria.
Recently someone at DB HQ had a brainwave, and demanded at all of the DMDs (dot-matrix displays) on the modern buses be reprogrammed so that they could no longer display a simple An Lar / City Centre without also displaying a route number.
Despite protests from drivers, who were now coping with busloads of unhappy passengers (who had looked at the number, not the destination) they would not budge.
Most drivers found creative ways around the system - in the vast majority of cases if they were heading for City Centre they would now display route 1 - City Centre, or in some cases a discontinued route such as the 22B.
Hence you will frequently see a "1" in Harold's Cross or Donnybrook.
Management have since relented, and the DMDs are being reprogrammed, but not all are done yet.
The lesson: Don't tinker with stuff just for the sake of it, especially when it's been working well for more than 50 years . . .
[posted by: Steve O'Shea]Posted 5 years ago # -
SoS. BAC Management have NOT relented at all.
The present situation is that LOCAL management in some cases have delayed further implimentation of this retrograde measure.
The Official central line from 59 is that All routes working short MUST display the route number.
My own personal anti-bulls**t device when working in this manner is to advise my Pax in Westmoreland St that the last stop is about to be reached in OC st.
I also advise that this is displayed on the Destination and that if they wish to make an observation on the situation then I shall be stopping directly outside Head Office where customer service staff are available to discuss the matter with them.
rom my own unofficial enquiries this has resulted in a noticable increase in complaints regarding my route.
Eventually if my action is copied by fellow drivers I can envisage my District Manager being unable to attend to ANY other business due to the sheer volume of Customer Complaints on this issue.
It appears that 59 never thought about the Pax who come from behind or to the side of the bus and who see ONLY the number displayed thereon.
Simple solutions such as the Parisian Diagonal Line through the Route Number are considered too simplistic for our more Avant-Garde customers and so the entire silly and totally unnecessary mess continues.
An Irish solution to an Irish problem-that was non existant in the first place !!Posted 5 years ago # -
on the bus shelters outside the main door in blanch s.c it says buses to city:22B,39,70.
was it used much when in service because it would be good today because the centre is much bigger and people like it more
[posted by: gary]Posted 5 years ago # -
I agree the use of real or pseudo route numbers on short workings is confusing but a complete reversion to the old system doesn't help everyone.
The old practice of just showing "An Lar" on short workings is confusing for passengers at stops served by a number of cross-city routes which take different routes to the city centre. For example, I think there are stops on Ballymun Road served by the 11/A, 13/A and 19A. If a route number is not displayed in some form, a passenger has no way of knowing if the approaching bus is going via Phibsboro, Whitworth Rd., Home Farm Rd or Griffith Ave.
Why not program the dot-matrix displays so they show "An Lar-City Centre
via Route 11" and a "number" of "CC" on the side and rear indicators ?
DeryckPosted 5 years ago #
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