The 27 bus route has not been improved

The New 27 Bus Route

Dear Sirs

I write further to my telephone conversation with Phelim of your office today.

I write to complain regarding the dramatic drop in quality of service on the 27 route since Monday, when the new route and timetable was introduced.

On Monday morning, I experienced a 20 minute wait at peak time for a bus to take me from Glin Rd towards city Centre. The new timetable promises one every 10 minutes.

The quality of the fleet has fallen. On Tuesday I got on a bus with a 99-D registration plate. Its suspension was certainly appropriate for a vehicle not from the last decade, but the decade before that.

Quite apart from age or comfort of the buses, these machines are particularly unfit for this route. While the 27 route for some time had been almost all low floor buses, I have repeatedly found myself on buses unsuitable for either wheelchair users or parents with prams.

This is a shameful retrograde step, as this new Route serves areas whose populations include large numbers of people in social housing with exactly those needs and no means other than the bus to transport themselves.

Today, I got on my bus (photo of ticket attached with details) to be told that it was terminating in Hawkins Street because the driver was going on his break then and there was meant to be someone taking over from him, but there wasn’t.

This simply is not an acceptable service. It is most certainly not an improved service.

If these service failures are not addressed- and they go much further than teething problems- I will be notifying the National Transport Authority.

Yours faithfully,

Simon McGarr

Unemployment levels by neighborhood, per 2006 Census. Map by pobal.maps.ie

Dear Sir,

I write further to my email of today.

I am standing at the bus stop outside the Central Bank, intending to travel Northbound.

The live signage has, in the past 25 minutes, promised two 27 buses. The first simply did not appear at all. The second stopped but did not allow us on as he intended terminating in Hawkins Street.

The signage is now promising a third bus in 6 minutes time- at which point I will have been standing here for half an hour at peak travelling time waiting to begin my journey.

I can only hope this one appears and feels like travelling further than one stop.

Yours faithfully,

Simon McGarr

Affluence levels by neighborhood, per 2006 Census. Map by pobal.maps.ie

Dear Sirs,

I write further to my emails of 11.13am and 6.18pm today regarding the 27 bus service.

I am currently (6.43pm) sitting on a 27 bus on the North quays. It has been parked here for 10 minutes. The driver tells us that he will sit here until 6.45pm, when he expects to be relieved by a second driver.

Our time is to be burnt up without an apology or a second thought, seemingly.

I attach a photograph of my ticket. Please note I boarded this bus-after a 35 minute wait in Dame Street- at 18.24.

I will be copying all three of today’s emails to my elected representatives and they will form part of a complaint to the National Transport Authority. I will not be waiting 15 days to do so.

I would also appreciate an acknowledgement of all three emails.

Yours faithfully,

Simon McGarr