Luas Red Line (Junkie & Wino Bus)

blooper

I had a dream last night. I got the red line luas to work and I didn't have one druggie annoying me at the ticket machine asking me for spare change for the haaawspital or any piss stinking winos sitting beside me.

Ah! if only reality was the same.

DWCommuter

I agree. Its a multi million euro fun factory for degenerates. A very very unpleasant experience.

foggy_lad

And veolia won't do anything about it until their takings are down!

yoyo

This is an interesting line alrite, I use both the green & red regularly enough (few times each a week) and there is certainly a contrast , its funny how you can actually guess the junkies will get off at Bluebell, also seen junkies shooting up in view of everyone :eek: a few times, can they not just do it behind some bush and not in public view :eek: or something,

Nick

Run_to_da_hills

Tripping over bums and junkies seems to be synonymous with tram systems right across Europe.

mikemac

They need the security that Irish Rail use

These guys! They're huge, black uniforms, wouldn't mess with them for sure

yoyo

feelingstressed wrote: »

They need the security that Irish Rail use

These guys! They're huge, black uniforms, wouldn't mess with them for sure

They have them in the evenings on a selection of trams, not really great but they usually are on a tram after 6 or so I think

Nick

JupiterKid

As another poster wrote, the contrast between the Green and Red LUAS lines is huge.

The red line has serious problems of anti-social behaviour and drug addicts and associated scummers making the tram ride an uncomfortable and unpleasant expereince for everybody.

Just this afternoion I saw a Garda restraining and arresting a junkie who had been shouting abuse at people at the Heuston Station LUAS stop.:(

Cookie_Monster

The red line is all that is wrong with Dublin in a convenient highly visible package.
should really be an activity for adventure tourists.

markpb

JupiterKid wrote: »

Just this afternoion I saw a Garda restraining and arresting a junkie who had been shouting abuse at people at the Heuston Station LUAS stop.:(

In the front door and out the back door with a minor pause for processing and possibly to sober up. He'll be back at a tram stop near you by tomorrow.

monument

Out of interest are any of you regular Red Line users who complain about the line here, but do not make the same complaints to the RPA, local councilors, TDs, business groups etc?

Cookie_Monster

have only used it 3 time. once from Connolly to whatever stop after Heuston is and twice from O'Connell st to Heuston. From those experiences alone I'm glad I don't have to deal with it daily

murphaph

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Tripping over bums and junkies seems to be synonymous with tram systems right across Europe.

I use the tram to work every morning, no junkies in sight on it.

Cookie_Monster

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Tripping over bums and junkies seems to be synonymous with tram systems right across Europe.

never had a single issue or noticed scummers causing trouble in Amsterdam on the trams there...
nor on any U or S bahn in Germany
nor on the Milan underground
nor in London
...

Judgement Day

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

never had a single issue or noticed scummers causing trouble in Amsterdam on the trams there...
nor on any U or S bahn in Germany
nor on the Milan underground
nor in London
...

As I'm tired of saying Ireland has plenty of law but no order. Coming out of Dunnes Supermarket here in DG yesterday, about 3pm, and a quite respectable looking man ran out the door carrying a box of Heineken with three security men running after him..........he dropped it on the street and took off.....:eek:

Tabnabs

I've used it a dozen times or so and never had any problems. But my OH has seen all sorts on it (including a streaking 10 y/o boy last week :eek:)

Heroditas

It certainly seems to depend on the time that people use it.
I use it fairly regularly early on Thusday evenings to get into the city centre from the Naas Road stop and I've never seen any of this stuff. Apart from the occasional drunk gettng on, it must be the best time to use the Luas.

I suppose I shouldn't complain!

jeckle

murphaph wrote: »

I use the tram to work every morning, no junkies in sight on it.

As a rule of thumb, junkies don't generally do mornings (unless it's dole or Methadone day). On other days they wouldn't normally be out & about until at least noon.

Wino's would be hanging around the stops alright, but don't seem to venture onto the actual LUAS until after the morning rush.

KD345

I could fill a page here describing some of the things I've witnessed on the red line Luas. From a lady being attacked at Abbey Street, to junkies shooting up, people selling drugs, gangs of youths boarding and terrorising passengers, and one day, as a packed tram was traveling along, a junkie pulled the emergency lever to open the doors - this applied the emergency brakes, passengers fell, the driver was shocked and the junkie just opened the doors and strolled off.

Only last night I had a conversation with a friend saying that the Red Line luas has made me start to hate Dublin. Coming home last night at 9pm, my Luas arrived with a garda car pulling in in front of the tram to meet a gang of teenagers who had been obviously causing trouble, the tram then filled up with drunks/junkies, and every stop was full of the same. It really makes for depressing traveling. It's a shame that this is what many tourists view once they arrive in Dublin.

Veolia are well aware of the problems. Many of their staff deal with the problems daily. The new security presence in the evenings is welcomed but it makes no difference at all. There are 27 stops on the red line with trams every few minutes, so it's impossible to have security on every tram or stop. It's very annoying to be on a tram full of scumbags while looking at fancy designed posters telling us that "you're safe with Luas".

If I was in charge of operating Luas I would be seriously concerned. This problem is the most common complaint people have about the service. The problem lies with the Gardai and their policing of the platforms. Someone begging at a Luas machine intimidating passengers should be moved, someone who can not stand up straight because they are drunk or off their face should not be allowed board a tram, and they need to take action against the gangs of teenagers who use the Luas simply to cause trouble.

This problem has been happening for years now, and in typical Irish fashion, the same issues exist. No other capital city would allow a public transport system with 90,000 daily passengers be subjected to the same problems that face commuters on the Luas red line.

AlekSmart

[QUOTE]If I was in charge of operating Luas I would be seriously concerned. This problem is the most common complaint people have about the service. The problem lies with the Gardai and their policing of the platforms. Someone begging at a Luas machine intimidating passengers should be moved, someone who can not stand up straight because they are drunk or off their face should not be allowed board a tram, and they need to take action against the gangs of teenagers who use the Luas simply to cause trouble.

This problem has been happening for years now, and in typical Irish fashion, the same issues exist. No other capital city would allow a public transport system with 90,000 daily passengers be subjected to the same problems that face commuters on the Luas red line.

[/QUOTE]

Absolutely 101% in agreement with KD345 here..

The parallels with Dublin Bus services are all to prophetic.

Dublin Bus has haemorraged passengers in avery short space of time.

Whilst the great and the good of the company`s management continually pandered to a Department of Transport fixation with Peak-Time travel,the equally important valley periods were totally ignored.

As many posters point out it is extremely difficult for any Public Transport entity to provide efficiently for "Peak" loadings.

However instead of addressing the Valley or Off-Peak as an opportunity to be seized upon we have continually treated them as services to be withdrawn at the drop of a (Tin) hat.

For example,far too long now,Tallaght Bus services after 1900 have been moveable feasts just as likely to be completely or partially withdrawn as to operate at all.

By far and away the greatest cause of this situation has been "Anti-Social Activity" by a substantial band of,usuallywell known,barely civilized cretins and their equally sizeable band of numpty followers.

This has a three-fold effect;

1. It frightens away the bread and butter paying passenger who simply requires public transport.

2.It instils a belief amongst the greater public that Dublin Bus management and staff do not hold their own operations in sufficiently high regard.

3.The "ordinary decent passenger" makes alternative transport arrangements and is lost....Forever.

Right now Veolia management have a choice,the opportunity to make that choice will not linger for long,so they must act fast and decisively.

They must choose whether or not to support their "Ordinary Decent Passenger" and fully guarantee the rights of that ODP to avail of their services without let or hinderance,as is their right under law.

OR

Veolia,with the active connivance of the RPA and inter-alia,the Government can decide to carry-on regardless and continue to pander to a steadily increasing emboldened number of anti-social malcontent deviants.

It really is a rather simple choice,nothing supersonic about it.

One allows Luas as a valued and desireable publicly owned resource to be protected and improved upon for the benefit of the greater good....the other,easier,choice is to allow Luas to go the way of the Dublin Bus bin-lorry routes that sporadically criss-cross the Dublin nocturnal suburbs carrying little more than those dedicated to making life miserable for everybody else....why..?....because they damn well can...that`s why...Bud !!!! :mad:

KD345

... It frightens away the bread and butter paying passenger who simply requires public transport.
The "ordinary decent passenger" makes alternative transport arrangements and is lost....Forever.

Spot on Alek. I work along the new stretch of the red line to the IFSC/Point. Initially, the arrival of the tram was met with excitement. A few people in my company started using the Luas. However, in the last year, many of them have come into work with horror stories of what they witnessed. These are people who chose public transport over their car and just want to travel to and from work in safety. Nobody wants a junkie or drunk sitting beside them.

Judgement Day

Same old ****, different day. ZERO TOLERANCE is the only policy to make the city safe for ordinary decent citizens. Reclaim the streets (and the DART & Luas). Drunks, druggies and yobs should be carted off to spend the night in the cells while they consider their behaviour. However, I see no chance of this happening and I'm off as soon as the kids are through college - last one out turn off the lights. :mad:

foggy_lad

Those scumbags have more rights than the decent members of society they are stealing and leeching from.

AlekSmart

I work along the new stretch of the red line to the IFSC/Point. Initially, the arrival of the tram was met with excitement. A few people in my company started using the Luas. However, in the last year, many of them have come into work with horror stories of what they witnessed. These are people who chose public transport over their car and just want to travel to and from work in safety. Nobody wants a junkie or drunk sitting beside them.

Herein lies the only hope we have of getting our Public Transport systems regarded as a normal everyday part of society...just like Electricity,Water or Gas.

These "few people" are what constitutes the only real hope of the legions of spin-doctors,graduate managers and associated trench coat wearing young guns having a viable future.

As a Busdriver I see it every day (and night) of my working week...the effect that one individual or group of such vexatious passengers have upon the genuine fare-paying non destructive passenger.

Taking LUAS as a point,I wonder why even though they monopolise the Ticket Machine areas for "Spare Change" the recipients of it would never think of using it to pay their Fare ?

Instead the "Few People" using LUAS for the first time are given a very obvious lesson that Modern Ireland places very little value on their decisions or attempts to behave in a socially desireable manner.

Nah....this Ireland will instead issue it`s Social Misfit`s,Deviants,and others of Ill-Intent with a Free-Pass which will allow them to travel free-of-charge throughout the State while not even bothering to seek a committment to treat the service provided them free-gratis,with some respect.

Why,for example do we facilitate substance abusers and a motley crue of others with free-travel whilst denying the same to a recently unemployed person who desperately needs to get around to job interviews and the like ?

Oh,I hear the middle management chorus sing,you mus`nt cause upset....don`t cause a scene.....the apple cart trundles along with few realizing that it`s actually more reminiscent of a Tumbril in revolutionary Paris.

Those "Few People" described in KD345`s post are what ALL Public Transport entites in this State need to focus upon and pretty damn quick because those folks will not procrastinate or delay about making their departure from Public Transport and when they go,they remain gone !....unlike our other friends who in true Pauline style will be forever with us....as long as it`s free ! :mad:

DWCommuter

AlekSmart wrote: »

Those "Few People" described in KD345`s post are what ALL Public Transport entites in this State need to focus upon and pretty damn quick because those folks will not procrastinate or delay about making their departure from Public Transport and when they go,they remain gone !....unlike our other friends who in true Pauline style will be forever with us....as long as it`s free ! :mad:

Unfortunately the "few people" you refer to Alek will not and never have complained about the problems they face. Thats why the problem persists. They will more than likely frown upon the behaviour, talk about it in work/pub/restaurant/home/internet and then eventually give up and take the car. The status quo will remain due to a lot of public complacency and resulting state inaction. Anti social behaviour has been a consistant feature of late night bus services since I was a teenager. (I'm well over 20 years on from that and still the problem continues.)

There has been an absolute failure to deal with this crap since it began over 30 years ago. Its an old problem that the state has failed to grasp.

L1011

feelingstressed wrote: »

They need the security that Irish Rail use

These guys! They're huge, black uniforms, wouldn't mess with them for sure

They use them, STT Rail Security, they don't seem to use the same stormtrooper outfit on the Luas though.

Run_to_da_hills

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

never had a single issue or noticed scummers causing trouble in Amsterdam on the trams there...
nor on any U or S bahn in Germany
nor on the Milan underground
nor in London
...

In a similar category to scummers are the Roma, they seem go around in packs and know every trick in the book on how to fleece people.

I have come across them in several Eastern Europe, Budapest, Madrid and Barcelona.

If I see them boarding trams, I batten down the hatches with any possessions.

foggy_lad

DWCommuter wrote: »

Unfortunately the "few people" you refer to Alek will not and never have complained about the problems they face. Thats why the problem persists. They will more than likely frown upon the behaviour, talk about it in work/pub/restaurant/home/internet and then eventually give up and take the car. The status quo will remain due to a lot of public complacency and resulting state inaction. Anti social behaviour has been a consistant feature of late night bus services since I was a teenager. (I'm well over 20 years on from that and still the problem continues.)

There has been an absolute failure to deal with this crap since it began over 30 years ago. Its an old problem that the state has failed to grasp.

these few people should never have to complain and you are right they will never complain they will vote with their feet and stop using the service even though it may be faster cheaper etc but for peace of mind and not being harrassed by criminals junkies winos and homeless people whose main problems are by and large self inflicted these decent members of society will choose their cars rather than complain.

so what is being done to keep these reasonable decent people using public transport? absolutely nothing! there was a flurry of security activity a while back after the roma incident on the luas but things have returned to normal now with so-called homeless beggars many having convictions for violence and most of whom are strung out on heroin harrassing people at most red line luas stops within the city area from heuston to connolly.

what is the answer? does the department of social "protection" actuall live up to its new name and start to protect society? can the free travel passes be taken off the scumbags or would the bleedin heart liberals pay for a judicial challenge to this? can they be barred from luas stops if found begging? is there a jail to put them if they ignore the law?

i am not sure there is any answers to this issue but one thing that can and should be done is for veolia to take action against these people barring them from luas property and constantly harrass the guards until every one of the scumbags are arrested and jailed for breaching the barring orders placed on them.

murphaph

Hard to believe it but Irish people eliminated the one "right wing" (slightly conservative) party we had (the PDs, for what they were worth). We NEED a conservative party in Ireland who represent middle Ireland. We are not a peasant nation anymore. We don't need Land-League esque parties to represent us: we need modern conservatism that places value in manners, common decency and respect for one another. I will not bring my children up in Ireland until the society there has changed drastically.

monument

murphaph wrote: »

Hard to believe it but Irish people eliminated the one "right wing" (slightly conservative) party we had (the PDs, for what they were worth). We NEED a conservative party in Ireland who represent middle Ireland. We are not a peasant nation anymore. We don't need Land-League esque parties to represent us: we need modern conservatism that places value in manners, common decency and respect for one another. I will not bring my children up in Ireland until the society there has changed drastically.

It's noting to do with "middle Ireland".

See this from the Irish Times today: Future is urban, where 'Up Mayo' politics won't do - http://short.ie/369adu

Urban voters will therefore make life difficult for the main rural-based parties because they have different priorities. They are less laissez-faire, and more demanding of immediate results. They want better public transport systems, more guards on the street, more lighting, less traffic, less drugs on the corners, speed ramps, school crossing wardens. Essentially they want things that will make living in close proximity to other people more bearable. And they want it now.

murphaph

monument wrote: »

It's noting to do with "middle Ireland".

See this from the Irish Times today: Future is urban, where 'Up Mayo' politics won't do - http://short.ie/369adu

ok, Middle urban Ireland....you know what I mean: the non-scumbags.