Tales from the NX - ‘The buses either don't turn up or turn up full'

When Meath County Council launched its Commuter Survey in September, it’s aim was to get real insight into the habits of commuters in the county that could have a far-reaching and positive effect on the lives of Meath commuters.
The survey was for residents who travel outside the county for work with the information garnered helping to try and solve the issues that cause over 30,000 people to leave the county every day to work.
The figures threw up some interesting early results: Almost half (48 per cent) of the Meath commuters working outside the county, say they are hitting the roads before 7am most days. A further quarter leave before 7.30am daily.
A sizeable portion of that number is travelling to Dublin by bus and the NX service between Navan and Dublin.
In light of growing criticism around the issues of capacity and supply on the route, the Meath Chronicle spent some time at the bus stop in Johnstown (SuperValu) Monday morning to see first hand the issues of buses arriving full and the knock on effect that has on passengers.

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6.10: Just two people stand in the bus shelter at SuperValu Johnstown, early arrivals for the 6.20 (from Abbey Road, Navan) NX service to Dublin.   It’s a cool, fresh start to the day and mercifully dry before the day’s forecasted deluge. There’s few people about, and the most activity to be seen is from the early starters in the window of the Feel Fit Gym across the road pounding threadmills.

6.20: A Bus Éireann inspector arrives, zipping up his hi-viz jacket and is busy on his mobile phone. More people start to arrive all at once. 
A dozen to 15 people are now gathered in the bus shelter, wrapped up against the cool breeze, earphones in, backpacks on.

6.25: A single decker NX creeps around the roundabout and pulls into the stop. These are the vehicles that have drawn complaints from frustrated commuters who claim that Bus Éireann are failing to provide adequate capacity buses at peak times. 
Passengers make their way on, before the driver stops the last four intending travellers to check for spaces. The inspector makes his way onto the bus to assist.

6.27: The NX pulls away from the stop and looks to be full, with the inspector on board. One commuter tells me an inspector has been here over the past week or so, monitoring the situation of supply and capacity on one of the 
country’s busiest commuter routes.

6:29 Further down the route outside the People’s Park, one person boards. A minimum eight people are left behind at the stop according to people posting to the new ‘NX Collective Complaints’ group on Facebook which has galvanised into a dedicated number of commuters sharing real-time information on the the Navan Dublin service. It’s not all criticism either with many posting of pleasant journeys on spacious double deck vehicles and courteous drivers. However, its aim is clear: “A place to keep track of all problems with the NX route in order to voice concerns. The purpose of logging complaints here is to forward a list to Bus Éireann and Minister for Transport at the end of each week.”
Deputies Peadar Tóibín and Shane Cassells have also been equally vocal about the standard of the NX service in recent months.

6.30: All goes quiet here at Johnstown SuperValu. A worker for Adshell, the company who build and maintain the shelters and the money-making display advertising arrives to clean the unit and straighten a poster for Boo-Hoo clothing.

6.45: David Hynes travels to Dublin five days a week where he works in the IFSC. The 34-year-old Johnstown man says he regularly sees buses arriving into Johnstown full and is particularly critical of the single decker vehicles being used when more capacity is clearly required.
He’s late this morning, having just missed the 6.20 but he’s a bit more wriggle room than others.
“This is my normal commute, it normally takes about an-hour-and-a-quarter to an hour-and-a half depending on traffic. I’ve just been finding that in the last few weeks the buses haven’t been turning up, either on the way to Dublin or on the way back. The buses are often single deck buses and so there’s not enough capacity and people are not making it into work on time. It’s causing severe problems for a lot of the local population.
“I’m lucky enough in that I have flexi-time in work but I’m sure there are a lot of people who don’t have that sort of flexible agreement at work so it can’t be looking good for them if they’re not turning up on time.
“There’s been a lot of frustration locally and that’s reflected in the new Facebook group that’s been set up with well over 100 members now. Everyday there seems to be more and more complaints going in about buses not turning up or turning up full, there seems to be a lot of problems with it.”
We cut the interview short 
as the 6.40 NX from Abbey Road sweeps around the roundabout. It’s one of the newer fleet of double deck coaches.

6.50: There’s a lesser number of people waiting for this service and it appears there’s little concern of anyone being left behind here. The driver, with the help from the inspector (he’s walked back from the stop further down Metges Road), does a quick headcount to ensure there’s seats for everyone. 
The bus pulls away, everyone on board and this time the inspector stays behind. The Meath Chronicle asks him for a chat but he politely points 
us in the direction of head office.
We understand this bus which left Abbey Road at 6.40am just managed to get through Johnstown with space for one additional person at Garlow Cross - with some intending passengers left behind.
This is confirmed by a number of passengers including 37-year-old Peter Heylin. “I was one of the passengers left behind on the Metges Road by the 6:20am service. There were eight people left behind on the Metges Road. Many of these passengers walked towards Navan try get on the next bus fearing it would be full also.” Peter himself walked back from Metges Road around the corner at SuperValu to the Athlumney stop in order to get a seat.”

8.04: David Hynes and Peter Heylin arrive in Dublin Connolly in a journey time of just under 75 minutes.

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An extra bus will be added to the morning peak NX bus route with immediate effect, Bus Eireann has told the Meath Chronicle.
A spokesperson said that since the middle of September, customer demand on the NX  Dublin to Navan route has shown significant growth. “The vehicle type allocated to operate on this route is a double-deck coach that can carry up to 83 customers per trip. Unfortunately on a number of recent occasions, this vehicle type was not available to operate on all scheduled trips, leading to a reduced capacity for intending customers. The vehicle allocation to this route has been reviewed to ensure that all peak trips are operated by a high capacity vehicle.” She said that from today (Tuesday 15th of October) an additional vehicle will be deployed in the morning peak to cater for the significant growth and demand on this route. Bus Éireann would like to sincerely apologise to our customers who have experienced issues with our NX service recently and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused them,” she added.