translink price hike

drew2k9

and how many years ago was that? when was the last hijacking of vehicles and who was blamed?

hbloomers

Well, there was a riot of sorts on the train I got on the 12th a few years ago. Maybe riot is overplaying it. Drunken idiots who decided it would be a good idea to start drinking, smoking and fighting in the end carriage.

drew2k9

no hijacking though, or am i mistaken?

crusty_toenail

screwedagain wrote: »

I spent 6 years in my last job commuting in and out of Belfast city centre from East Belfast on the metro.

In that time I came across:

1. a spide assaulting the driver,
2. someone who was standing at the front waiting for the next stop on a typically packed 4a being thrown forward into the windscreen, knocked out with their head split open and needing an ambulance called after the bus braked very suddenly
3. a window on the bus being smashed when the driver mistakenly thought he could squeeze down the inside lane of the Albertbridge road beside some sort of HGV with a folded crane/jib on the back, which agonisingly scraped down said window before inevitable shattering it
4. someone fainting for no apparent reason other than the fact they had been standing the whole time whilst the bus had somehow taken 50 minutes to get from Holywood arches to the Queen's Bridge during the morning rush hour
5. a very drunk guy upstairs on the 4a one morning entertaining everyone with his 'singing', whilst the older schoolkids on board egged him on saying he should go on xfactor etc.
6. Someone being thrown off their seat complete with bags of shopping when the driver took the bend round onto the end of Oxford St. far too quickly.
7. Without doubt some of the most horrifically smelly people I've ever seen (or smelt)
8. A woman bus driver giving a teenage lad the bollocking of his life infront of everyone for being cheeky to her as he got on the bus
9. Someone whose head was very close to being obliterated by a 4a wing mirror as they stood at the side of the road at the pedestrian lights on Oxford st. infront of the Courts. The people behind him grabbed him out of the way just in time.

I could go on and on!

I guess I've forgotten what point I was trying to make with all this, but basically am I glad that I don't have to tolerate any of the above any more now that I drive to work in my own car.

Also, I think there needs to be serious restructuring of the metro buses into town from the east, as it can take a horrendously long time to get anywhere. There always seemed to be far too many stops along the upper n'ards road for one. I also think it's incredibly anal of the 4a drivers to stop letting people on at city hall after they pull away from the kerb and proceed to sit at a red traffic light beside the stop for what seems like ages.

HaHa, made me laugh loads!

Must be something about buses bound for East Belfast!
Does anyone remember the 'night-line' bus services that was put on at about 2 or 3am on Friday and Saturday nights - this was years ago!!!

I was on the East Belfast bound bus travelling home to Fourwinds (it went round half the world) on my own! It fairly sobbered me up when we passed the lower Ormeau and some lads got up to get off the bus and shouted 'Tiocfaidh !r l!' translated 'our time will come', just as they were gleefully hopping off the bus!!!!

Oh my goodness, the madness that followed was like a living nightmare! Suddenly all the guys - about 85% of the bus started to behave like wild animals and smashed out all the windows of the bus and started beating holes into the roof - the bus driver didnt stop and just kept driving up the Ormeau Road - it was NUTS!!!!

I was never so happy to get off a bus in my life.

My friend was on another Night Line bound for Holywood road direction and someone produced a knife and she was terrified!

The East Belfast Nightline changed its route right after the incident thank goodness!

jenheiffer

They stopped all the Nightline buses because they said not many people were using them.

Is it any wonder?

Apart from the antisocial problems mentioned ,the stupid thing was that you were supposed to buy your ticket in advance but they only went once a night at a certain time from a certain stop so you could easily miss them and be left stranded.

avoniel

avoniel wrote: »

Found this while surfing Translink site.


Seems on Friday you can buy 5 journey smartlink card for only £4 working out at only 80p per journey, half the price of cash fare.

I was able to purchase one of these cards today. 5 city zone journies for £4 Not bad.:T

jenheiffer

Is there any time limit for making the 5 journeys?

avoniel

Just an ordinery Smartlink card. Journies should be good for 1 year

marksimpson

I checked iLink prices and found it dramatically more expensive than buying normal tickets owing to the fact that I am just outside zone 2 (ie, just in zone 3).

A monthly iLink ticket Donaghadee-Belfast is £195. That's £9.75 per day, assuming 20 return journeys per month.

A standard day-return journey is £7.00. Presumably a weekly/monthly ticket would cost less than that per journey.

Based on that, iLink is at least 40% more expensive than normal tickets.

Well done Translink, must have taken you ages to work out that future-looking pricing strategy.

code601

jenheiffer wrote: »

They stopped all the Nightline buses because they said not many people were using them.

Is it any wonder?

Apart from the antisocial problems mentioned ,the stupid thing was that you were supposed to buy your ticket in advance but they only went once a night at a certain time from a certain stop so you could easily miss them and be left stranded.

Any time I was ever on one they were very full, because they only ran a couple through the night that seemed to cover half the city. Surely it would be of benefit to everyone to the regular services far later into the night than they currently do. Lots of services seem to stop at half eight or earlier, what a joke.

The bus station near the city hall should be available to taxis at night so its easy to find a taxi, I hate walking around town waiting or looking for one. Seems such an easy idea.