Finglas Buses Cutbacks due driver attacks

trellheim

Breakingnews.ie reports :

Dublin Bus services in Finglas are due to be cut back this weekend because of increasing attacks on vehicles.

Drivers have reported a string of incidents in which rocks are thrown at their vehicles in the suburb.

SIPTU says there has been an average of one attack per night over the past three weeks.

Buses on the number 40 and 220 routes will be withdrawn from 7pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as a result.

flogen

I remember the threat of cutbacks on finglas routes before (a few years ago) but it never happened.

It's the kind of thing that comes up every now and again for areas like Finglas, Tallaght etc.

I can understand the reasons behind it but do they really think it'll make a difference? The scumbags attacking buses won't care and will still have plenty of targets even if all the buses were taken off the roads - in the end it just hits the genuine customer.

paulm17781

While I'm against any striking I totally support moves like this. It is unfortunate for people who depend on the buses but it shows the danger faced by the drivers. Transport police? I recall this happening since the 80s, if only something would be done about it...

January

It's been happening in Ballymun for a while too, the 13 and 13a were cutback for a while because people were throwing rocks at the bus. The busses didn't go near Poppintree or Sillogue for a while and then the 13 didn't go into Sillogue after that.

corktina

flogen wrote: »

I remember the threat of cutbacks on finglas routes before (a few years ago) but it never happened.

It's the kind of thing that comes up every now and again for areas like Finglas, Tallaght etc.

I can understand the reasons behind it but do they really think it'll make a difference? The scumbags attacking buses won't care and will still have plenty of targets even if all the buses were taken off the roads - in the end it just hits the genuine customer.

it wont make a difference to eradicating the scumbags, but it is a short term measure to protect the Drivers and Passengers...Long term solution? well, I guess a gas -chamber would increase our carbon footprint so I suppose Eduaction and Investment in the more deprived areas is the answer....maybe

markpb

A transport police force would go a long way to helping.

whosedaddy?

We need the army to protect cash transports cause the guards can't do it on their own, I think we need helicopters hovering over every bus to track down the scumbags throwing rocks...

ironictoaster

Don't blame them, I nearly got a smack with a brick going to past the travellers site on the bus.

AlekSmart

Ah,not to worry,people it`s only the childer gettin the last bit of use from the dark evenin`s

Corktina may well have been correct two decades ago but few can describe the €900+ Million cost of the still incomplete Ballymun Regeneration Programme as being insubstantial in Educational or Investment terms for a so called "disadvantaged area".

The other interesting yet not really remarked upon issue here is how the Withdrawal of Service response is portrayed in the media as being Union inspired.

This was true in the pre Health & Safety days but the ethos has altered dramatically in the past 2 years subsequent to the enactment of new EU led Workplace Safety directives.

Essentially this means that if an Employer knowingly puts an employee in a position of increased risk of injury then that Employer could be facing a stretch behind bars should the employee/s suffer an unjury.

Therefore,if the local scrotes are out smashing Bus Windows the Company have little alternative but to withdraw its staff from the increased threat.
Make no mistake but the prospect of Dublin Bus defending itself against a charge of negligence or reckless endangerment has tended to concentrate the corporate mind.

There is also the icing on the cake that if a Passenger is injured by such missiles or the broken glass then that passenger will sue Dublin Bus rather than the missile thrower who,of course will be poor,disadvantaged,underpriviliged,drunk,lame,bored or hearing voices.

The reality is that until LOCAL communities indulge in a fairly widespread and painful self-cleansing process then little progress will occur.

Just as we see in the Drimnagh affair,everybody seems to know the groups involved,everybody knows the individuals involved,everybody certainly knows the VICTIMS of these young apprentice phsychopath`s but NOBODY has the empowerment or confidence to put it up to them......:(

I`m still a great believer in the South African Police sting operations,which saw trucks full of crates marked Very-Valuable Goods driven repeatedly through high-crime areas until the cockroaches emerged to attack,whereupon the crates burst open to reveal SAPF Officers bearing a variety of Shotgun related weapons and indelible dye sprays ...makes it easier to locate ur miscreant at leisure....

Perhaps a tad TOO reactionary for Dublin Bus /An Garda Sicohana though...not enough Community Policing ethic I fear..

dub_commuter

AlekSmart wrote: »

The other interesting yet not really remarked upon issue here is how the Withdrawal of Service response is portrayed in the media as being Union inspired.

The article is totally inaccurate as a whole even before you consider blaming the unions for it, when it's far from being their fault, if they actually bothered to check their facts with the garage they may have got it right.

You will actually find that all 40 routes will run to their normal timetable over this Easter weekend, they simply will not serve the Tolka Valley / St Helena's and Cardiffsbridge road areas and will take diversions to their terminus.

This information has been circulated on buses and at bus stops for the last few days, unfortunately some knackers keep ripping down the notices so nobody knows this

DWCommuter

Hmmm.... I mentioned Transport Police many times during my tenure at the asylum for know it alls, carers and the just plain stupid. The concept has been stuck in my head since the 1980s when I regularly saw assaults on the DART, witnessed many a gashed face on the buses and even saw a lady fall out of a crowded 22 on the south circular, with her shopping, when a little asshole activated the centre door from outside. This kind of thing has been going on for donkeys years. Successive Governments have ignored it and will continue to do so. We can't get the actual police force right so what hope do we have of being so sophisticated that we can introduce a much needed transport police?????

I say, boycott all problem areas until, DB, Government and whoever else is supposed to be in charge, can guarantee safety for staff and passengers. Ultimately its a dept. of justice problem and in that beauracratic madhouse it will get lost amid asylum seekers, legal aid issues, bail for suspected screw driver killers and the oul reliable, road traffic offences. Personally, I'd like more and more shouting from DB drivers, similar to that which heralded exact fare systems and stamped out the regular "hold ups".

Go for it lads! This anti CIE man is with you all the way on this one.

stovelid

Services were cut off to west Tallaght in the past because of driver attacks before IIRC. They assigned unmarked police cars to trail buses for a while.

Obviously stone throwing is harder to eradicate though.

I assume the drivers are hoping that a public curtailing of the service will kick start a 'community response' to the issue.

markpb

stovelid wrote: »

Services were cut off to west Tallaght in the past because of driver attacks before IIRC. They assigned unmarked police cars to trail buses for a while.

The problem with that is that its a short term measure. The scumbags know they can wait a few weeks and then go back into action, safe in the knowledge that there's no-one around to catch them.

jdivision

The 40b doesn't go throught those areas so don't know why they're terminating it in the village.

markf909

I was on a 13A last night at 7PM and there were scummers on it throwing stuff at other passengers safe in the knowledge no one will stop them.

Until we get transport police to stop the small things then we can forget about ever solving problems that happen in Finglas and Tallaght.

When will we get transport police? Not in the lifetime of this govt IMO.

trellheim

cough... realtime bus CCTV wirelessing back to control centre where a copper watches it ... coppers called and told who to arrest.

thomasj

adrieanne__x wrote: »

It's been happening in Ballymun for a while too, the 13 and 13a were cutback for a while because people were throwing rocks at the bus. The busses didn't go near Poppintree or Sillogue for a while and then the 13 didn't go into Sillogue after that.

In the News report on FM104 earlier this morning there was a brief mention from one of the bus reresentatives that buses were pulled from Poppintree last night due to a spate of stone throwing.

WRT the Finglas situation and the talks ongoing a long-term is solution is required now otherwise we will be going around in circles with this process repeating itself every so often.

The Gardai are not the solution to this problem, they have so much on their hands and lack of resources are not helping things. They cant afford to deal with this issue for the long-term.

If ever there was a need for the garda reserves, these issues are where they are needed. Plain-clothed and within the community is ideal for this to work. This is where they can work in the short-term to erradicate this problem