Sir, – Your article “The case of the vanishing buses” (Weekend Review, November 5th) details the woes of Covid, the difficulty in the retention of drivers in the system and the problems of antisocial behaviour in the public transport system. These are very real issues that demand a solution. However, if the simplest mobile phone can track my location exactly, why is this readily available technology not part of the Dublin Bus real-time system already? The real issue with vanishing buses is the traveller’s legitimate (but regularly unfulfilled) expectation of accuracy regarding the time of the bus’s arrival. This is unrelated to the frequency of the service. The timetable will be well-known to the user and will be factored into every journey.
The technology to track every single bus, minute by minute, exists and is readily available. There is no excuse not to use it. – Yours, etc,
DAVID POWER,
Lucan,
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Sir, – The proposed submissions by the Dublin bus companies to the Oireachtas committee appear to be models of evasion (News, October 8th). Lack of drivers and “software problems” do not explain the phenomenon of “ghost buses”. The system relies on continuous feedback from vehicles in motion to a real-time display on screen and online. The vehicles are either in motion or are not. If they are, they will arrive. If not, then their existence must be inserted into the system by other means. Perhaps the desire to have a report showing a 98 per cent rate of service delivery explains the gap between PR and customer experience? – Yours, etc,
FRANK LOUGHNANE,
Rochestown,
Cork.