aggro on the bus

lord lucan

was doing the annual st. stephens' day visit to the parents in leixlip yesterday and as my dad was drinking i had to get the bus back to my house in lucan. left the house early as i figure that the drivers tend to be keen to get home on nights like this(it was the last 66a from riverforest),sure enough he came 6 mins early but on we got and all was well with the world. a few mins later the bus pulled into leixlip village were a group of 10/12 young wans and young fellas were waiting to get on. the driver stopped them as they got on telling them that they had to leave any cans/bottles behind. there then followed a ten minute period of arguing with the driver,the usual "we've no cans on us mister" type of argument depite the fact that i could see and smell the cans (opened and unopened) along with a 2 litre of coke(yeah right!). the driver was refusing to let them on but eventually when he thought they had no drink left he let them on. a few mins down the road he got on the PA and warned them that they had cameras on them(they all went upstairs) and if they did'nt stop drinking and leave the bus he would call the cops. a few mins past and the gang upstairs were yahooing out of them so when he got to lucan village he stopped the bus in the middle of the road opposite lucan cop shop,put on his hazzards and then turned on this siren which i have never heard before,i assume its a sort of personal alarm for bus drivers because within a couple of mins a couple of cops came out to see what was going on,they went back in and rounded up a few more cops and came over and entered the bus,went upstairs,cleared the top deck completely. the bus driver then got a role of receipt tape and cordoned off the bottom of the stairs stopping anyone from going up.

now i have given DB and their drivers some stick over the years but i have to commend the driver from that bus for the action he took and not allowing a group of scangers to wreck the bus/annoy other passengers,cause general mayhem,a lot of other drivers would have kept the head down and got the bus into town as quick as possible but this guy(a coloured guy,though thats of no signifigance in itself) would'nt accept it and it a pity theres not more like him.

PS. anyone know when that siren/alarm came in on the bus,first time i've ever heard it,its a great idea.

layke

That is bloody fantastic.

That driver gets a high five. There's nothing worse then a pack of scobes down the bus smoking, drinking and screaming their heads off (except the Nitelink, which is to be expected).

The Black Oil

That's impressive, fair play to him.

irlirishkev

If I were you, OP, I'd write a letter to DB citing the exact route, and time of the bus, so that the driver can get a pat on the back.

The Irish are super quick to complain, but often let the good things slide by un-noticed. Having worked in the customer service industry in the past, it means an awful lot when someone actually says thanks.

K.

Kintarō Hattori

irlirishkev wrote:

If I were you, OP, I'd write a letter to DB citing the exact route, and time of the bus, so that the driver can get a pat on the back.

The Irish are super quick to complain, but often let the good things slide by un-noticed. Having worked in the customer service industry in the past, it means an awful lot when someone actually says thanks.

K.

Agreed, pop a quick note in the post.

macroman

Fair play to him, considering most drivers would turn a blind eye to it. The alarm has been a common feature on buses in Ireland since the early 80's when attacks on O.P.O. were common.

lord lucan

yeah,i'm gonna fire off a short letter to DB to tell them what happened and hopefully the driver gets to hear about it. only one thing concerned me while all this was happening,when the cops got on the driver went upstairs with them,he left the cab door wide open and the first couple that came downstairs were ahead of the driver,they could easily have hopped in and taken us for a joyride if they knew how(engine was still running):eek:

lilrayosunshine

Fair play to him.. Must be a father!
as the others said.. Write a short note and either send it to Conyngham Rd garage or to H/O on O'Connell St!

the_syco

Yeah, during the day 66/66a/66b/66d drivers sometimes stop outside the cop shop in Lucan if people are pissing him off/drinking/smoking. They do it less frequent now, tho.

Wishbone Ash

lord lucan wrote:

anyone know when that siren/alarm came in on the bus

Some private buses that I've driven have had it. I discovered it by accident on one bus - I was parked in a busy area and I was wondering what the little switch at the side of the driver's seat was for..YIKES!!!!

seamus

The siren's been on the busses for a while. I was getting a 15 out of town a few years back, when there was a bit of a scuffle in the queue to get on the bus outside of leinster house - some wan was trying to take money out of the bag of the woman in front. Bus driver stopped, stuck on the siren, and the Gardai legged it down from Leinster house.

Reganio 2

lord lucan wrote:

. only one thing concerned me while all this was happening,when the cops got on the driver went upstairs with them,he left the cab door wide open and the first couple that came downstairs were ahead of the driver,they could easily have hopped in and taken us for a joyride if they knew how(engine was still running):eek:

Sure its easy to start a bus even when the engine is not running its very easy to start a bus you just have to know how;) .

lilrayosunshine

Reganio 2 wrote:

Sure its easy to start a bus even when the engine is not running its very easy to start a bus you just have to know how;) .

Bus Driver????

jimmycrackcorm

lord lucan wrote:

yeah,i'm gonna fire off a short letter to DB to tell them what happened and hopefully the driver gets to hear about it. only one thing concerned me while all this was happening,when the cops got on the driver went upstairs with them,he left the cab door wide open and the first couple that came downstairs were ahead of the driver,they could easily have hopped in and taken us for a joyride if they knew how(engine was still running):eek:

Don't think I'd do that with a load of cops upstairs.

Red Alert

Yes the starting procedure's not that hard to follow but i'm not going to post on a board here how to start any of dublin buses' types (nasty people read this too!).

I thought they had this syren alright - i was in dundrum one day and the roadworks guys were giving the driver stick. I think when the horn didn't help matters he put that on instead.

gline

fair play to that driver, ive seen it a few times in tallaght when i used to live there:(, the driver calling the cops over when scangers were causing trouble, its good to see, making the buss service safer for all, instead of a lot of the drivers not doing anything about it

rediguana

Respect to the bus driver.

corktina

excuse me for asking but is it a condition of travel not to be carrying bottles and cans? (Bit awkward getting the shopping home if it is....)

I wasn't there but I can't help wondering if any trouble would have erupted if the driver hadn't harranged this group even before they got on the bus....

passive

corktina excuse me for asking but is it a condition of travel not to be carrying bottles and cans? (Bit awkward getting the shopping home if it is....)

I wasn't there but I can't help wondering if any trouble would have erupted if the driver hadn't harranged this group even before they got on the bus....

STFU, i think, is the most appropriate response to that... Not even worth talking you through the amount of things wrong with your suggestion and ignorance of the OP.

Pigman II

Hail to the bus-driver-man. Someone should give him an award.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

corktina

passive wrote:

STFU, i think, is the most appropriate response to that... Not even worth talking you through the amount of things wrong with your suggestion and ignorance of the OP.

I believe that is just a little uncalled for.There are always two sides to an argument and these could have been my kids or yours not wanting to miss the last bus but unwilling to dump there "in" to a party down the way a bit.The driver seems to have had no evidence that these kids would be troublesome....

(Not much of a driver either if he was 6 minutes early on the last bus.....)

Nevyn

When you bus your bus ticket you enter into a contract the bus company to get you to your destination and you to abide by the bylaws governing good conduct on the bus.

If you breach the bylaws then the contract is null and invaild and you are to be removed from the bus.

POINTS OF BUS LAW RELATING TO THE GENERAL BEHAVIOUR OF PASSENGERS ON ALL BUSES.


The Bus Atha Cliath/Dublin Bus Bye-Laws (S.I No. 236/1990) were made by Coras Iompair Eireann in the exercise of the powers conferred on by Subsection (1) of S.22. of the Transport Act 1950.


These Bye-laws govern all aspects of passengers’ behaviour on the buses. The following chapters set out in detail many of the Bye-Laws. A full text of the Bye-Laws is on display and can be examined at Dublin Bus Head Office, 59, Upper O’ Connell Street, Dublin 1.

Points of law relating to the general behaviour of passengers on all buses.

Each passenger shall comply with any lawful direction given to him/her by an authorised person, including a request to leave or not to board the vehicle.


No passenger shall travel:-

(a) on the upper deck of a double deck vehicle unless he/she occupies a seat provided for that purpose, or

(b) on the stairways of a vehicle, or

(c) on any other part of a vehicle which is not provided for the conveyance of passengers.


No passenger who, in the opinion of an authorised person, is in a state of intoxication or otherwise in an unfit or improper condition shall board or remain on the vehicle.


No passenger shall while travelling on any vehicle place his/her feet upon any seat except with the permission of an authorised person.


No person shall consume alcoholic drinks or other beverages or food while on the vehicle.


No person shall spit in or from the vehicle.


No person shall smoke or carry a lighted pipe, cigarette, cigar or cheroot in any vehicle or part of the vehicle.


No person shall throw or deposit any litter, lighted match, cigarette, cigar, cheroot, chewing gum or other substance on the vehicle except into a receptacle expressly provided for that purpose.


No person shall throw or trail from the vehicle or throw at the vehicle any article or thing whatsoever.


No person shall remain on the vehicle after having been requested by an authorised person to depart.


No person shall distribute any document for the purpose of giving or seeking information except with the consent of an authorised person on the vehicle. No person shall tout, ply for or solicit alms, reward or custom or employment of any description on the vehicle.


No person shall sell or expose or offer for sale any article or goods whatsoever on the vehicle.


No person while on the vehicle shall sing, perform on any musical or other instruments or use any audible radio, television, record player, tape recorder or portable apparatus.


No person shall molest or interfere with the comfort or convenience of any passenger or person in or about the vehicle.


No person shall at any time while on the vehicle use any threatening, abusive or offensive language.


No person shall behave in a riotous, disorderly, indecent or offensive manner in or about the vehicle.


A person shall deliver up to an authorised person any article of lost property found by him/her in the vehicle.

The bus driver was well with in his rigths to call the garda and have them removed.

Maybe you should give copies of the bylaws to your darlings and explain to them how they are ment to behave on a bus.

corktina

also uncalled for.
My point was I was asking IF it was against the bye-laws....apparently it is.....BUT could the driver maybe have handled it better? did he have any evidence these people were troublemakers? I wasn't there and nor were you so please don't condemn young people without evidence.

Stark

Corktina, you are entertaining.

corktina wrote:

also uncalled for.

Pointing out the law to someone qualifies as "uncalled for"? No wonder the country is in the state it's in.

corktina wrote:

I wasn't there and nor were you so please don't condemn young people without evidence.

Oh cry me a river. It's obvious from the OP's post that they were clearly troublemakers. It's also common for bus drivers to ask all passengers to discard beverages before getting on the bus. The bus driver was perfectly right to ask them to discard their alcohol for the sake of the other bus passengers. It's clear that you haven't travelled on a bus in many a year, otherwise you wouldn't be so keen to let people walk onto a bus drinks in hand.

corktina

it isnt at all clear....maybe had he said nothing to them they would have been model passengers....you get a crystal ball for xmas did you?

Waltons

Yes, maybe they would have been.
The eightball i got for christmas says "Outlook not so good" however.

Stark

corktina wrote:

it isnt at all clear....maybe had he said nothing to them they would have been model passengers....you get a crystal ball for xmas did you?

I'd love to live in your world. I've been on enough bus trips where the bus driver didn't utter a word to think differently though.

I mean seriously, try riding a bus before coming out with nonsense.

dame

corktina wrote:

....maybe had he said nothing to them they would have been model passengers....

Corktina, do you think it's OK for young people to act like that then, just so long as someone has "hassled" them beforehand? Cop yourself on. Maybe there are no late buses in Kanturk so you've led a sheltered life and the young ones in Co.Cork are decent enough to do their drinking out of your sight? Do you think it's alright for a large group of young ones to be hanging around in public places carrying a load of drink and making a nuisance of themselves? Yes, a bus stop is a public place. Would you share a bus with them? Would you enjoy patching someone up when a bottle got split over their head or they were fired down the stairs? You're trying to be PC and accepting of the spirit of youth or whatever, but your sympathies really are misplaced in this case.

AlekSmart

I see where Corki is coming from but I rather suspect it`s from an ideal world perspective.
Sadly,here in Dublin the active ingredients of a misery-pie for a great many boring ordinary Bus Travellers often tend to be youths in groups of more than 3 and carrying bags,boxes or otherwise stored cans and bottles of Alcohol.

Of course it flies counter to our native prediliction to enjoy ourselves and equally seeks to impose restrictions on our constitutional right to impose this "Right" upon everybody else.

However the constitution as devised and written by Mr DeValera almost certainly did not envisage large groups of feral adolescents under the influence of alcohol or other mood altering substances seeking admission onto Public Transport.

Certainly if Corktina wishes to expand his/her horizons and deepen his/her appreciation for the capacity of youth to enjoy itself then the N11 QBC routes on any Thurs/Fri/Sat night that the Donnybrook Rugby Clubs are open will provide limitless opportunity for turning of cheeks.

The problem with cheek-turning and showing understanding to such behaviour is that the novelty wears off RAPIDLY and having done so,remains lost forever.
Its a bit like prematurely losing one`s virginity.......:eek:

lord lucan

the first 2 of the group to get on had OPEN cans of dutch gold in their hands,were VISIBLY drunk,now i'm no judge a book by its cover merchant but you smelled trouble(and beer!) as soon as they got on. bus driver was well within his rights in my opinion,the cop out would be to say nothing and have a bus of fare paying passsengers being afraid/concerned/fearful etc,i'm sorry but when i handed over my €1.55 i expect a reasonable quality of journey,i'm not talking about sitting in a mobile library but i don't want to have to keep the wife from wanting to leave the last bus home 3 stops later just because of a few yahoos.

Call Me Jimmy

good man, a scummer wanted to get off in between stops and the bus driver (who was black, which is not significant but significant enough for me to have mentioned it) wouldn't let him and the dirtbag started loafing the ****ing glass that the driver was behind. The driver just told him to stop and when the knack was getting off the drive told him to "Get the **** off the bus".

lord lucan

another incident springs to mind that might help to explain why the driver took the course of action he did. i was on a 25a in september on the way into town,it was jnr. cert. results day. about 8 kids got on in palmerstown carrying bottles/cans openly,driver said nothing. when the bus was stopped at the bus stop outside the four courts an empty budweiser bottle was ejected from the upstairs window by one of the kids,it narrowly missed a passer by,much to the audible laughter of the gang upstairs. these sort of incidents happen reasonably regularly on the buses,they're not urban myths,there are key days in the year when its worse than normal;stephens' day/leaving/jnr cert results night/paddys day. and its also happening on a variety of routes,not just the "old reliables" like tallaght and ballyfermot/clondalkin(apologies to people from these areas,i'm not trying to tar everyone from there with the same brush,just trying to illustrate a point.)

cast_iron

Pigman II wrote:

Hail to the bus-driver-man. Someone should give him an award.

While I fully agree the driver did very well, and a letter is a good idea, lets not lose sight of ourselves. What he did was his job, nothing more, nothing less.
Yes, he did do it better than most of the drivers, but an award?

cast_iron

corktina wrote:

it isnt at all clear....maybe had he said nothing to them they would have been model passengers....you get a crystal ball for xmas did you?

Model passengers who break no more than 6 of the companies by-laws!
(And this is after you were shown the by-laws)

I suspect trolling. No other possible explanation for such mind boggling ignorance.

shltter

cast_iron wrote:

I suspect trolling. No other possible explanation for such mind boggling ignorance.

Stupidity ?

shltter

His mistake was letting them on in the first place there is no way that I would argue with them for 10 minutes and then accept them for travel.

No open cans or bottles of beer if they argue they are not getting on and I dont wait while they finish drinking the beer. They are also informed that if they open any beer while on the bus they will be removed.

The problem with rowdiness is that you have to identify the people who are causing the problem which is fine if it is a group like this but if it is a full bus and people start roaring upstairs identifying those responsible from the cab is difficult. You put the wrong people of the bus and you have another pile of trouble for yourself.

corktina

i'm sorry if I have upset you all by wanting to hear the full story. I just hope I'm never in court infront of you all as a Jury.

It took til 00.45 today for His Lordship to come back with the "visibly drunk" evidemce up to which point none of the rest of you had any evidence that the Driver HADN'T provoked the situation. With that information, I would agree with you that the driver acted correctly, but as someone pointed out, why did he let them on at all if they were visibly drunk? If they had given trouble for 10 minutes at that point he should either had left them behind or called the Cops there and then.

BTW ha noone got a comment on him running 6 minutes early on the last bus? I think thats disgraceful.

Tails142

BTW ha noone got a comment on him running 6 minutes early on the last bus? I think thats disgraceful.

I've been talking to my friends about this - none of them saw the prime time show on buses leaving early - I seriously thought this show was a complete joke. Buses.... leaving... 2 to 6 minutes early... and our state broadcaster does an expose on this... I would have accepted this show on april fools day but is this supposed to be some serious journalism.

Whatever about a train... but a bus... I dont even know where to start berating this lunacy. Let me take for instance the 14 route, that I used to regularly get from Ballinteer into town... it must pass about 30 sets of traffic lights. With no traffic you could get into town in 45 minutes, however I would often get into town in 30 minutes, sometimes it would take up to an hour. This variance in travel time could be due to traffic, pedestrian crossings, the bus only having to pull over at certain stops, there are many variable.

At rush hour, when I would say the largest chunk of passengers get buses, the journey could take up to an hour and a half. Now... my point is, you only know when the bus is leaving the terminus... that's the only information you're told on the timetable... you only have a rough idea how long the bus is going to take to get to your stop... so who gives two ****s whether the bus leaves 6 minutes early, unless you're getting on at the terminus nobody is gonna care - anybody who gets the bus, knows that whatever they figure to be the time the bus will arrive at their stop, they need to add a 10 minutes window... it just common sense.

And I used to get on at the terminus, if I ever did bother to look at the timetable, which was very rarely, I just used to wander up and take my chances as at the worst there was a bus every 40 minutes, so on average, the most I'd have to wait was 20 minutes. I would only usually look at the timetable on sundays when the buses were less regular, and even then I would be damn sure to get there 10 minutes early, just because I dont know if my watch is fast, is the bus drivers watch fast, yeah maybe he is gonna leave a few minutes early... either way - its public transport, you have to wait for it to come, its one of the pitfalls of public transport... hello?

My mind actually boggles at that prime time show on buses.... seriously.... someone chime in on this and please back me up.

EDIT: For just one more point....

Does anyone actually seriously believe that the way to get a bus is to look at a timetable... ok its 10 o'clock now, the next bus is 10:30... it takes me 5 minutes to walk to the bus stop so I'll wait till 10.25 and then head off, hopefully the solar system will align itself perfectly and I'll catch the bus... no most people would be at the bus stop at 10.20, with 10 minutes to spare.

I often get a different route where the stop isnt the terminus, I dont even bother looking at the timetable for that except perhaps to examine the frequency of the buses so I have a rough idea as to how long I'm likely to be standing at the bus stop waiting. It strikes me that those guys that made the prime time show, and corktina havent caught a bus (maybe just a dublin bus?) in a long time... or are mouthbreathers, either/or

corktina

i'm not talking buses in general...i'm concerned that the LAST bus could leave 6 minutes early and someone (perhaps someone vunerable) could be left stranded.

(I don't see any relevance to when I last caught a Bus...there arent too many to catch in rural Cork.....)

AlekSmart

I kinda like the timetables in Birmingham (Centro is the regulator I think)
"Buses approximately every 5 to 8 mins etc etc "
I would agree with Corktina (Mk 2 I take it....1600E perhaps ? ) that 6 Mins for a last bus is WAY too early.....
SO early in fact that my sensitive antennae are all a quiver in the wind (100K and rising ).
I think it`s time for a group hug and watch synchronize,ready everybody....At the signal it will be .......

corktina

beep beep beep

(not 1600E at the moment.....V6 versions predominate right now.....)

Limerick Dude

definetly write the DB a letter! Fair play to the driver, the amount of times Ive been hassled by drunken idiots on a bus be it in Dublin or Limerick!

Heinrich

corktina wrote:

i'm not talking buses in general...i'm concerned that the LAST bus could leave 6 minutes early and someone (perhaps someone vunerable) could be left stranded.

(I don't see any relevance to when I last caught a Bus...there arent too many to catch in rural Cork.....)

Vulnerable top whom? Guys with opened beer cans and fuelled with the contents thereof perhaps? Oh wait a mo, I don't have a crystal ball to be able to see the potential threats to vulnerable persons.

I used to live beside a bus terminus and guess what? THe last bus into town often broke down...

lord lucan

i actually thought this thread had ran out of steam,thats why i never posted back on it,only noticed it last night and seen the little commotion it was causing,there was no intent on my part by throwing in the visibly drunk bit as some form of legitemacy,just stating what happened to clear up the situation. i was'nt overly concerned about the bus being 6 mins early,i left my parents place 15 mins early just in case because last buses are notorious for leaving early,thats my experience of them anyway and i'm sure if you ask regular bus users you'll get plenty of anecdotal evidence of the same. i only started this thread to highlight what a good job the driver had done,yes i know he was only doing his job but its so unusual to see a driver take this action i felt it needed to be highlighted her,little did i realise i'd be opening a right can of worms!:rolleyes:

AlekSmart

Ah sure`n your Lordship need`nt be worryin at all at all.

I suspect Shome folks is merely a`tryin to stir up a whole mess of Potàge in an attempt to revive the RTE Prime Time ....Shock !!....Horror !! FREDDY STAR ATE MY HAMSTER exposè of Dubling Bust Drivers alledgedly leavin terminal points 2 to 4 Minutes Early.

Prime Time then extrapolated from this and drew the somewhat amazing conclusion that by leaving the terminus 2 mins "Sharp" these magnificent men in their flying machines would be up to 10 mins ahead of time by the time the bus reached An Lar !!!!

This little piece of Scientific poetic licence is what really caught the imagination of many in the Public Transport arena.
Talk about getting them "Rollin in the Aisles" !!!

The long established Last Bus time in Dublin is Half Eleven or 23.30 in Europe.
For many years the Last Buses were regulated by a Stance Inspector who would Blow His Whistle at the appointed hour before hopping onto one of the departing char-a-banc`s himself for the journey home.

His watch would have been synchronized with the Ballast Office Clock and it was always a talkin point for days after some Inspectors timepiece had managed to run a bit fast !!! :eek:
This was in the days when last buses would regularly have an almost full-load leaving the City Centre and indeed might have had an extra bus following them to cope with the loadings.

To this day a casual stroller along Dublin`s O Connell St at 23.30 will witness a pale imitation of the Last Bus line up as a line of buses none of which would have more than about 50% load factor sit waitin for that last few seconds to countdown.

So m`Lud,other than doing a very great service by highlighting a piece of Affirmative Bus Driving Action you have surely not opened any can of worms.
These cans remain well sealed until delivered to the new all singin,all dancing,private operators who will of course be operating to a new Nuclear version of ol Father time which begins tonight (Well in Lucan anyway) at............ 23.58 ??

:eek:

Victor

Honestly guys, can we not get along without resorting to abuse?

AlekSmart

And a Very happy annus neuevo to You too Victor !!!!
God You`ve just made me realize how much we miss Victor Borge around here !!! :eek:

Victor

AlekSmart wrote:

God You`ve just made me realize how much we miss Victor Borge around here !!! :eek:

???

Wishbone Ash

Victor wrote:

???

http://www.victorborge.com/

AlekSmart

A Deadpan comedian of the Highest Calibre...c`mon Victor..Google is your friend !!!!