ValueIreland.com | Carlsberg don’t do Bus Routes, Dublin Bus do

A couple of months ago, I got bored with the walk from my house to the bus stop for my 19 or 19a bus route into town for work, and was similarly bored and frustrated with having to fight through the morning commuter crowds from Dame Street, up Grafton Street and across to my office on Molesworth Street.

Being someone who advocates for others to make their complaints known to a service provider in a clear and concise manner, I wrote a letter to Dublin bus. I explained the following:

The 10 minute walk from my house to the bus stop was just too long in the morning. Either move the bus stop closer to my house, or make it stop raining in the mornings so I wouldn’t keep getting wet.
The 19 and 19a bus routes take somewhat indirect routes into town, and for a certain amount of the journey, they don’t even go on roads that have bus corridors. Either get the council to put in bus corridors on Botanic Road, or change the bus route.
And finally, could they do something about the hoards of people getting in the way in the mornings for my walk from Dame Street to my office. They were slowing me down and making me late(r) for work. Either that, or could the bus drop me off closer to my office and save me the walk completely.

Dublin Bus, fair play to them, wrote back to me immediately and apologised for the ongoing inconvenience I was experiencing. Based on the fact that I’d taken the time to explain the situation to them so clearly and politely, they offered to do the following for me to try to improve things:

They would have a bus pick me up from right outside my estate – due to the narrow roads in the estate, this was the best they could do.
Instead of the bus battling with Botanic Road, they said that the bus would drive me directly down the Finglas Road where there’s a bus corridor all the way from Finglas to the city centre.
And finally, the bus would drop me outside the back door of my office.
Then, in the evening, the bus would then pick me up at the front door of my office, and leave me back to the front gate of my estate.

Hence the new 140 bus route was born! What a fantastic service! I couldn’t have asked for more. Who says there’s no point in complaining to Irish companies, that they never really take complaints seriously or respond or follow up on them?

(Clarification: I never sent this letter, Dublin Bus didn’t respond, but I did get the best bus route in the world).

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