Ok this post is all about blowing off some steam about some of the flaws in the current implementation of the leap card system. Let’s put this way, i’m not entirely sure what’s the point in it being “live” when these issues are present, as I consider them pretty much fundamental to the the usability of the system. So instead of just venting on this here blog I decided I would pop off a nice construcive email to the folks at leapcard.ie HQ.

Below is the email I sent this morning with added pictures for blogging posterity cus who likes to read just a bunch of text!

Leap Card Feedback

My name is Colin Broderick and I’ve recently purchased a leap card and have been mostly satisfied with its ease of use on Dublin Bus and Luas services. However there are a number of issues which detract considerably from what can be a fantastic product and are as follows.

Your website (leapcard.ie) is not user friendly in that it’s navigation structure is very difficult to navigate, this is especially evident when you login to the “My account area”.

When one is logged in it is not immediately apparent what services are available. The only difference that is apparent upon staring at the screen for a number of minutes is two extra items on the left navigation bar. Clicking the manage my profile link on the right, brings you to a page where the main body has information which is irrelevant for the main purpose of being logged in, such as what is a Leapcard, newsletter signup and info on getting your Irish rail /Luas card as a leap.

This is the screen you are presented with after login. Useless.

It is not immediately apparent where one can view their Leapcard balance, this is hidden in a sub menu only available when you click manage my profile, which frankly does not link to any sort of profile management either. Another issue is that when signed in and one returns to the root page/main page (leapcard.ie) the extra navigation options are not present in the left nav bar.

This is the page you get when you click "Manage my Profile" after login

This can be simply remedied through the sign in redirecting to the accounts page such as a user/account dashboard showing total money spent through leap or monthly money spent alongside a current balance and possibly a list of last three journeys. Navigation links for the actions available during login should be moved to the right hand navigation, where the login box was.

I like the majority (some 68%) of the population in Dublin use the Dublin Bus service for my public transport needs, I live in north county Dublin near the airport and as such do not live nor work near a Luas stop or Irish rail station. As such I cannot check the balance of my leap card without registering online, where I believe the details in which must be provided are onerous (i.e. having to provide a date of birth and full address). And if one does not have a credit card or laser card you cannot complete a registration as bank details must be provided. I do not understand why there is no facility to simply query the balance of a card online?

Top Up online is not topping up online as far as I can make out. Similar to the last point, what’s the point of providing this facility when I still have to visit a Payzone outlet or a Luas or Irish rail station in order to “activate” my top up. You already have the money, it just defeats the purpose of online top up. Surely the balance can be disseminated throughout the card reader system, including those on the buses.

As regards, buying a Leapcard, I had no issues as I ordered it online and it arrived two days later with a nice information leaflet on how to use the card. However another family member of mine purchased their card at a Payzone location in the Dublin 9 area and only received a card with no information leaflet. Is a customer meant to only receive a card or are they to receive a card and information leaflet exactly like those ordered from leapcard.ie?

One final issue I have is as regards the woolly statements provided as regards future functionality specifically travel rebates, the wording only suggests that changing between modes will be rebated, such as changing from bus to Luas or Luas to Dart, etc. There is no mention of rebates for multiple journeys on bus, such as getting a bus to town from the south-side like the 14 and then changing to an airport bus like the 41. I assume since the system appears to be modelled on that of London’s Oyster card, will there be a flat rate Bus charge introduced instead of multiple fares with a rebate after like 5 journeys?

While I understand the leap card is in its infancy and there will be teething problems and issues to iron out, however I cannot understand how the product was released across the city without these services being fully functioning.

To end on a positive note I really like the leap card and really hats off to you for finally getting some semblance of a combined transport card out into the open for Dublin. I hope this can seen as constructive feedback.

Kind Regards
Colin Broderick

If you have any gripes with the leap card, I would love to hear them! Comments below.

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. [UPDATE] Dublin Transport Map v1.5
2. Dublin Bikes – Over 6000 sign up!
3. Dublin Rapid Transit Map – Feedback please!

I would also advise you to check out all the other entries, some fantastic ideas providing food for thought in the ideas section and some great apps!

UrbanRural – Built on Heritage

Given that everyone seems to be mad into searching their family trees and establishing their personal histories, I figured why wouldn’t they be interested in their local area also. There’s a lot of built heritage out there that most people may never of known existed right in there back garden. UrbanRural aims to change that! I would be grateful if you could check out my entry and like it, spread the word, whatever!

The problem with Irish Planning is….

We don’t have enough documents like this one kindly retweeted by Dominic Byrne.

Very interesting paper on Participation in #SpatialPlanning (for both content & presentation) ow.ly/8sGDg via @rusty1052

— Dominic Byrne (@Dominic__Byrne) January 14, 2012

My Dissertation is now available online

For those of you interested in transport may want to have a read of my undergraduate dissertation which is now available online at issuu. Long story short, it looks at the barriers that one would come up against establishing orbital bus rapid transit routes in Dublin.

DT106ers is now on Google+

So plus one us!

Dublin Rail Transport – What it might be

Well the guys over at the Mental Planners have put together a nice map of what the complete NTA 2030 Vision transport strategy would look like if all the rail projects are all implemented. It’s an interesting idea. I have mashed up their map with the population growth maps of the NTA strategy and the result is below. Interesting to note that while the strategy fails in many respects it actually deals with the growth areas by proposing rail projects quite well.

Other Stuff

• My Dublin Rapid Transport map final version will be available for printing soon! So watch this space.
• The Irish Planning Institute is on twitter, Follow them @IrishPlanInst
• I’m planning on setting up some planning podcasts, if anyone is interested in being part of that, get in touch with me!
• Since their is bugger all planning work out there, we may aswell start our own businesses. That’s what the Dublin StartUp weekend is for! Build a business in 54 hours, more at – dublin.startupweekend.org

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. Metro North – What’s the story like?
2. Links I liked 30/01/2012

Any who that aside it was announced that the National Transport Authority had made one of their datasets available fo public consumption. This particular dataset is that of all the transport stops in the country, and for those transport planners/traffic engineers among us will know theses are the same nodes used in the Greater Dublin Area Saturn Model for travel and transport. [Update] As per Peter’s comment below: “The transit access nodes used in the NTA Saturn Model are not the bus stops in NaPTAN, but rather access to public transport is generalised to road junction nodes.”

So basically to break it down the data is a rather large xml file which contains all the points (the individual stops and stop areas) and a .mbd file containing what i presume is service information. Unfortunately I can’t open that one as I don’t have microsoft access on the mac. So if someone can open it I would love to hear what is in the file.

Right long long story short I parsed the xml file into a csv file and uploaded it to the great fusion tables and below is the result. There are a few problems with the data in that if you zoom out you will see stops are mapped all over the world! This I reckon is a result of a portion of the co-ordinates not being projected in WSG84 as they are probably in Irish Grid form.

NTA NaPTAN Data Mapped

Just for a small bit of brevity if you’re wondering what the hell a Stop Type of BCT means check out this handy reference from the Department for Transport, UK.

NaPTAN Stop Types

Source: http://www.dft.gov.uk/naptan/stopTypes.htm

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. Open Data – Ever wondered where all the applications are?
2. Census 2011 by the county and Fusion Tables, mapping the data.
3. News Roundup – Technology, Technology and DATA

Background

My dissertation in college focused on this idea of the network effect in public transport with study on the north eastern area of Dublin (Santry across to Howth), while also critiquing the differences in spatial land use policy and transport policy. That is a post for another day though.

There is no map of Dublin that shows the Dublin Bus, Luas and Rail networks on one sheet of paper. The closest representation is by Aris but also includes other possible modifications.

What really spawned this map was that I have been working on a geographically accurate map of all Dublin’s Transport in a similar style to the maps produced of Paris. But this map would also show the frequency of routes simply by varying the thickness of the lines. It is showing the frequency part that is the major challenge using illustrator as any minor changes are much more difficult than using a grid like with the map below.

Also as has been pointed out by a number of tweets such as this one:

@rusty1052 But Rusty, about 13% of the region’s population live north of the airport and another 8% live in Dublin 15

— Fingal Data Hub (@Fingal_Data_Hub) December4, 2011

As such there is also a slightly loaded message behind this map in that it can’t address a large proportion of the Dublin population lives in both Swords and the Dublin 15 area, where rapid services are very limited. It is also a shame that no orbital services like the 17A lack frequencies to allow seamless transfers. Instead most transfers have to made within the city centre.

Finally the current cash fare system penalizes people who need to make transfers to complete a trip by charging full fares twice. Hopefully the National Transport Authority will soon fix this as they are they have the power to set fares as part of the Public Transport Licensing process.

Objectives

• Only services which operate at 15 minute of less frequency Monday – Friday off-peak will be represented on the map.
• To show all transport modes, Bus, Light Rail (Luas) and Heavy Rail (DART & Commuter)
• To illustrate the frequent network of transport routes that are available in Dublin.
• To show the places which are possible to transfer as part of your journey.
• To create the first multi-modal map of Dublin.

Map v 1.5

Why version 1.5? The map is still in development and I have not implemented the full array of suggestion that people were so kind to make in the comments on the last post.

The Future

I hope to refine the map into a usable product with the ultimate goal of pitching it to the National Transport Authority for use in Dublin.

I’m considering the addition of some combined routes, including the number 41′s which operate to Swords and beyond, which when combined roughly have an off-peak frequency of 15 mins. The 25′s and 26 to Lucan are similar in that combined they will be of sufficient frequency. Another feature which no one noticed was that Docklands Rail station is also missing and it will be added in a future release.

As I mentioned earlier I have been working on a complete Dublin Transport map which shows all services in the Dublin Region. This is a huge job! Unfortunately that is on the back burner as I have lost my enthusiasm it due to the difficulties of representing each and every route in the inner city. It is a nightmare as almost every Dublin Bus service stops on either D’Olier Street or Westmoreland Street. This map will take many months to complete to the same standard as the Frequent Map above. If someone has a GIS solution that they could put forward as alternative solution to hand drawing the map I would be over the moon! Here is a preview of that map in its current work in progress state:

http://zoom.it/hXh4

Draft Geographic Dublin Area Transport Map

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. Dublin Rapid Transit Map – Feedback please!
2. [UPDATED] Sunday Rant: Dublin Bus putting up prices again!
3. Leapcard has still got some living up to do!

Not sure if you remember but last year a Aris Venetikidis completed a future fantasy (with a lot of fact) complete transport map for Dublin as part of his design masters at NCAD, you can view his work on his website ventikidis.com. It was fantastic to finally see someone produce something well thought out and could actually work, except for there was one problem it didn’t reflect what is on the ground now!

We all know Dublin’s public transport network is not the best but hey it works (most of the time). So I figured we don’t have a map showing the most frequent routes in the city, so why not make one? Here is what I have come up with, it include Dublin Bus, Luas and Irish Rail/DART:

The Map

(Click for Full Image)
Please I would love to hear feedback from you regarding the above map, any and all feedback is welcome via twitter email or the comments below!

So what is Rapid Transit?

There is a pretty standard definition the world offer that most will agree on and that is:

A Rapid Transit Route is one in which a service operates at frequency of 15 minutes or less

You might be wondering why there are some routes missing off the above map. Well I shall explain, I conducted an extensive audit of all the Dublin Bus timetables for all bus routes. I got an average peak frequency for the buses and then found there average off-peak frequency for Monday – Friday buses only. All routes shown above operate Monday – Sunday however Saturday and Sunday frequencies can vary substantially from weekday frequency. So you can view the spreadsheet below which is the data I was working from:

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. [UPDATE] Dublin Transport Map v1.5
2. Dublin Bus releases Network Direct – Phase1
3. Bikes on the DART, what about in Europe?

Decision Map

DecisionMap.ie - Is  new online resource which maps census data on a number of levels including the electoral distrcts and provides one of those cool percentage box type things on the right hand side like they had on WhereDoesMyMoneyGo. First impressions are it’s pretty cool, it would be great if it went all the way down to the enumerator areas while also being able to compare data across census periods, but sure maybe that will happen in the future!

Keep up with the News

The Mental Planners of DIT have a great worldwide urbanism and planning resource pulling from some 300 odd twitter accounts and blogs – The Mental Planners Daily I encourage you to check it out subscribe and you’ll be amazed what ya find out!

Of course I also have a paper.li account running which you should also check out for your daily spatial planning fix around 9am  The Irish Planning News

Open DATA

Dublinked the Open Data initiative between the 5 Dublin based city and council councils has two events coming up this month which if you have an interest in using the data you should definitely check out.

08 December 9.30 – 12.00 Planning Themed Workshop in IBM Research Lab, Damastown.
There are a couple of speakers including the very engaging and entertaining Conor Skehan of DIT. MORE DETAILS

15 December 2.30PM Dublinked Technical Workshop John Hume Building, NUIM.
To explore & discuss the various technology issues that underpin a data sharing platform including interoperability, architectures, semantic web, search engines and real-time data streaming. The main aim of the workshop is to draw up a roadmap that sets out the technology topics, challenges & priorities that are relevant to the successful operation of this Dublinked initiative. MORE DETAILS

Dublin City Council

Dublin CIty Council has published it’s Draft Public Realm Strategy and they are looking for your views regarding it, so pop on over to the DCC Planning Department Page and submit your criticism or positive comments!

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. [OPEN DATA] NTA NaPTAN Mapped
2. Open Data – Ever wondered where all the applications are?
3. Census 2011 by the county and Fusion Tables, mapping the data.

So as the end of the planning procedure element of the redevelopment of St Brendans Hospital or Grangegorman as we have all come to know draws to a close, what do we think of it? Will it be built? Should it be built in absence of the LUAS line which is supposed to serve it directly but only kind of does because it skirts along one edge? (Although it has a slightly better chance of survival than metro north)

Its funny when i started in DIT as many who came before can say, on the my first day i was told by the time your in 4th year you’ll be in Grangegorman, so like 10 years after DIT embarked down the road, finally settling on the Strategic Development Zone model last year, planning is drawing to a close.

The Masterplan  is available on the Grangegorman Development Agency website

The last hurdle to jump before the final Bord Decision, is the Oral Hearing. I think it might be useful for anyone even remotely interested in how the process works to make the trip to Bord Pleanala at 64 Marlborough Street on 24th November. Full details below:

ZD2005
Grangegorman, Dublin 7. (GRANGEGORMAN)

Case Type:
Planning Scheme in Strategic Devel. Zone (Board Reference: PL29Z.ZD2005)

Description
Grangegorman Strategic Development Zone Planning Scheme

Date lodged
19/08/2011

Decide By
22/12/2011

Location:
Offices of An Bord Pleanála

Date:
10:00, 24/11/2011

Source: pleanala.ie

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. The Bord are to reopen oral hearing into Dublin Port land infill
2. Bag O’ Links 31/07/2011 Incinerators, Transport, Dublin Bus and Grangegorman
3. ABP Hearing on plan for power plant in Tarbert, Kerry

Dublin’s first Park(ing) Day is happening this Friday 16^th September from 10am to 4pm at various locations around the city.

Park(ing) Day transforms on-street car parking spaces into public open spaces for one day. Car parking spaces around the city – from Arbour Hill to Portobello and right through the city centre – will be converted into temporary public parks.

The purpose is to create awareness of sustainable travel and the need for more public open space in urban areas. It aims to promote healthy cities by engaging with the public through temporary art. Consistently the cities with the most liveable streets are rated as the best cities to live and do business in. Good quality public spaces also make people healthier and happier.

A diverse range of organisations and individuals (see list below) are volunteering to design unique installations that will each make its own statement in favour of more people-friendly streets.

Park(ing) Day is carried out according to an established code, within local bye-laws and in the spirit of awareness-raising through imaginative artistic intervention.

The event has become a global phenomenon since it started in San Francisco just a few years ago, with over 180 cities now taking part.

Information about Park(ing) Day world-wide is online at www.parkingday.org

The first Dublin Park(ing) Day event is supported by Dublin City Council and the LifeLine Project. It is part of EU Mobility Week, a series of events promoting better mobility.

For more information about Dublin’s first Park(ing) Day event contact David O’Connor (086-8546401), Stéphanie Fy (087-9214479) or email us on dublinparkingday@gmail.com

Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/201267119929061/

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/parkingdaydub

Park(ing) Day is an original concept by REBAR (www.rebargroup.org)

Full Press Release: parking-day-dublin-final-press-release-110914.

Related posts:

1. Dublin City Draft Development Plan – Officially on Display

New Prepaid Ticket Fares 2011

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that the price of some discounted prepaid fares will be increased from Sunday 1st may 2011. Please see table below for new prepaid fares. Prepaid Ticket Old Price New Price 1-Day Adult Rambler   €6.00  to‚ €6.20 3-Day Adult Rambler €13.30 to‚ €13.50 5 Day Adult Rambler €21.00 to‚ €22.00 Rambler 30 Day Adult €105.00 to, €110.00 Rambler 5 Day Student €15.70 to €16.50 Rambler 30…

Having quickly scanned through it i clicked the link to find out how much more I would be paying for my 30 day student bus ticket next week to get this:

What you get when you click the above link in the quote

That’s right the news item does not exist anymore! Needless to say I’m not very happy at all, under one weeks notice that fares are going up!? A small piece of research on the NTA website revealed that under their performance obligations of the contract with the NTA:

Fares InformationUp-to-date fares information for all fare categories and all services to be available on the BÁC website.  Fare changes to be announced on the website as early as possible and not less than 5 working days in advance of the change taking place.

Quarterly Report

Availability of information and minimum 5 working days notice re changes

Also on further inspection of the contract they signed in 2009, only cash fare increases require the prior written approval of the National Transport Authority and not the prepaid tickets! Sorry for all the quotes but this is ludicrous:

Section 14.2: Pending the development and implementation of a fare scheme under section 59 of the Act of 2008, any increase in controlled fares  in respect of the Services shall be subject to the prior written approval of the Authority.  This requirement  for the prior written approval of the Authority shall not apply to discounted fares, prepaid fares, concessionary fares or multi-journey fares.

So essentially the NTA can’t force them to make fares cheaper? Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. It is beyond me how fares can increase pretty much every 6 months, that is if my memory serves me correctly. It’s not like services have magically got a million times better! Now they have improved but still there is no integrated multi modal fare ticket, have they even thought of making a zonal fare system which will allow people to transfer with out being penalized?

[UPDATE]

Dublin bus released there fare prices today on the website, but get this it’s not on the homepage, you have to go to the news page to find it! The spreadsheet below was made using the prices on the various prepaid ticket pages as on the 24th April, is it they had already updated some of the prices or are just lying about the prices on the updated price list. For instance the Monthly Adult Travelwide is quoted as €100.00 on the prepaid paid page yet the press release says its old price(the current one) is €98.00. Poor form guys. Below are the updated prices. You can view the press realease here: New Prepaid Ticket Fares 2011

Related posts:

1. [UPDATE] Dublin Transport Map v1.5
2. Lenihan says house prices now at bottom
3. Dublin City Council erecting Real Time Passenger (RTP) information signs

After reading an article in the Irish Times entitled “Regional airport cuts ‘should be reconsidered’” by Lorna Siggens. Given that the article was about the the subsidization of PSO (public service obligation) air routes within Ireland and how a late decision by the former Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey to cut costs by only subsidizing Dublin – Donegal from July and how these routes are vital for tourism and business in the far flung parts of Ireland due to there sub 2 hour travel times. What other routes are served by the various regional airports? So 20 minutes of research later and a bit of google docs magic here are the results:

• 28 Regular service non Irish destinations served by various different Airlines on non PSO routes.
• The majority of non Irish routes are to the UK.
• Dublin is served by all of the airports except Waterford.

Regional Airport Routes in Ireland

Information was compiled from the respective websites of each airport.

From this brief overview it shows that Sligo will stand to loose the most out of the removal of the PSO’s since Dublin – Sligo is its only route. All the regional airports bar Donegal and Sligo link into worldwide Hubs in London with all main airports served aside from London Heathrow (LHR).

Assuming most of these routes are economical to be run by the various Airline Operators all the airports currently provide major links for there respective regions through the network effect thanks to their connections to the Dublin, London and the UK.

Maybe a better use of the funds allocated to the PSO routes would be to provide proper connecting transport service to and from each airport to their respective tourism and regional destinations, to make something similar to the airline hub system to improve the land transportation.

Related posts:

1. Regional development key to growth in all areas of economy, report states
2. €14m to be spent on bus transport
3. Gotthard Tunnel breakthrough. Could Ireland create a high speed rail link to the UK?