Foreign Students on Dublins Bus Services

AlekSmart

This topic came up on a related thread,but was ruled offside by the Mods.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=107647043&postcount=2864

Perhaps a thread of its own,to facilitate debate or exchange of experiences/opinions ?

they are a total pain in the arse

but

was i any wiser meself me first few times on a city bus, or my first time abroad, or when i was in a group of teenagers?

was i fcuk

i will say that the number of adults/supervisors per group seems very low. twenty per about the norm.

and they could break up into smaller groups and take separate buses. maybe board failte needs a word

road_high

Not just on buses, a menace everywhere. Principally Spanish- find them very loud, rude and aggressive in public areas. Must be quite intimidating for elderly people in places

uck51js9zml2yt

road_high wrote: »

Not just on buses, a menace everywhere. Principally Spanish- find them very loud, rude and aggressive in public areas. Must be quite intimidating for elderly people in places

So no different to gangs of Irish teens then!!

Bray Head

For a few months I caught a bus into town around 8. Often, about 20 language students would get on, and then get off about 600m later:)

I don't begrudge their presence - they are paying customers on public transport - but the whole thing annoyed me. Not all of them had LEAP cards, so there was the inevitable fumbling with coins and change tickets, and of course no middle doors for them to get off, etc, etc.

They slowed the other 60 passengers down by 2-3 minutes - which is hours of people's lives.

Please note that 90% of this delay is fully within the control of the relevant authorities, who should bring in use of middle doors and a ticketing system that doesn't involve the driver.

PlaneSpeeking

Deleted User wrote: »

i will say that the number of adults/supervisors per group seems very low. twenty per about the norm.

and they could break up into smaller groups and take separate buses. maybe board failte needs a word

They have supervisors ???

The eejits trying to get 35 kids on a packed LUAS at Four Courts the other morning didn't seem to.

ED E

No problem with them being there.

Have a HUGE problem with their numbers. Chinese tourists? Group of 6. Americans? Nice couple. Bunch of Dutch students? 8 of them. Spanish student group? 45.

PlaneSpeeking

ED E wrote: »

No problem with them being there.

Have a HUGE problem with their numbers. Chinese tourists? Group of 6. Americans? Nice couple. Bunch of Dutch students? 8 of them. Spanish student group? 45.

6 Chinese tourists standing on a pavement, you can ask them to move and they will.

45 Spanish "students" blocking the road outside my office just now - nope, nothing is moving them till THEY want to move!!!

magicbastarder

main issue i would have is the lack of supervision/marshalling. half the time, the supervisors are barely more than bored college students who don't make much of an effort of corralling the big groups.

Xterminator

there are as entitled to use public transport as any users. some of the begrudgery you can hear is sad verging on xenophobic eg, they should be speaking english etc .... Ive heard them getting dogs abuse.

Does anyone think groups of 20+ irish teenagers are quiet and well mannered? try getting on the 42 bus to portmarnock when the sun is out. Often see the Irish groups with open alcohol containers etc on the bus/trains. Never once seen that with spanish students.

the problem is anyone travelling in groups of 20+ on public transport is capacity. the organisers are responsible for that, IE the people coining in the profits. not the individual students. they should have guidelines they must adhere to with 1 adult to X students etc, allowing them to split the groups into manageable sizes.

Stephen15

sugarman wrote: »

No problem with them, they're a bit loud but so are all teenagers.

My worst experience of late was having the pleasure to travel on a jam packed 75 during good weather. Feck me it was something else. It was like a competition of who could roar over eachother the loudest while blaring 20 different tunes from 20 different phones/speakers non stop. I had to get off a few stops down to change bus.

The 75 turns into a bit of a party bus anytime there's good weather all the Tallaght heads using it to go to the beach or around Longitude/Marlay Park Concerts

Teyla Emmagan

There are 13 standing right behind me waiting for my bus. Sobbbbbbb

Cordell

Xterminator wrote: »

some of the begrudgery you can hear is sad verging on xenophobic eg, they should be speaking english

Having to hear a loud conversation in a language that I don't understand is one of the most annoying things I could think of.

PlaneSpeeking

Cordell wrote: »

Having to hear a loud conversation in a language that I don't understand is one of the most annoying things I could think of.

Probably racist to some (isn't everything) but four Chinese lads having an argument by M&S near Jervis the other day.

My ears were bleeding.

Pawwed Rig

Bit loud but otherwise very respectful and never a hint of trouble from any of them. I wish when my class in school visited Germany when we were 14 that we were as well behaved.

Not their fault we have a crap public transport system.

magicbastarder

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

Probably racist to some (isn't everything) but four Chinese lads having an argument by M&S near Jervis the other day.

My ears were bleeding.

at least they weren't from cork.

PlaneSpeeking

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

There are 13 standing right behind me waiting for my bus. Sobbbbbbb

I texted the tipline or whatever it is on the LUAS because there was about 40 at the platform by Four Courts and were preventing people getting off. Doubt anything will be done.

Cordell

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

Probably racist to some (isn't everything) but four Chinese lads having an argument by M&S near Jervis the other day.

My ears were bleeding.

It's not racism, your brain cannot make head or tails of what it hears, and the brain does not like thinks that it cannot process, this is why is so annoying. Add the unusual accent. Add a bit of misophonia and you have a headache right there.

zetalambda

magicbastarder wrote: »

at least they weren't from cork.

How do you know? There's loads of Chinese in Cork.

Rawr

I often cart this story out every other year on the R&R forums...but since we're discussing it here I thought I'd share I have a cherished memory of Spanish Students on the bus, from many moons ago.

=================

In the pre-Luas days one summer I once caught a bus home from Middle Abbey Street. It was a few minutes before departure was due, so I was relaxing in the top deck when I suddenly noticed a Spanish girl run up to the bus.

"Crap" I thought. "She's probably got friends too. This will be a noisy ride home" My fear was confirmed when she frantically gestured to a large group of her friends down the street to hurry up.

Almost instantly after that, the driver shut the door and pulled out from the curb. This resulted in the most dramatic expression of surprise and shock from the Spanish girl who cried out "NOOOOOOOOO!!" at the top of her lungs.

But it was of no use to her. My bus had made a clean get away right before a large group of her friends had arrived. I remember that trip home fondly. It was comfortable and quiet, and that Dublin Bus driver will be my hero until the end of time.

Alun

Rawr wrote: »

This resulted in the most dramatic expression of surprise and shock from the Spanish girl who cried out "NOOOOOOOOO!!" at the top of her lungs.

At least that's one English word she knew, which seems to be one more than most of them.

iamwhoiam

Dublin airport T 2 arrivals . A plane load of Spanish students all arrive out the door in arrivals hall . Two exits , one right , one left . They are ushered into right exit by the leader , at least 40 of them were then stopped by leader to head count right bang slap in the exit . They blocked that one way out for at least 20 minutes while EVERYONE else had to go to left exit causing a back up

Rawr

Alun wrote: »

At least that's one English word she knew, which seems to be one more than most of them.

"No" is the same in Spanish ;D

thomas 123

Definitely not just a Dublin issue.

Students getting on a city bus is so funny when its 70% full. Get on and just awkwardly stand in the standing section rather than getting into a seat. - totally blocking anyone else from filtering back.

Nowhere near as bad as the person who looks out the window with their bag on the seat beside them refusing to believe or acknowledge anyone else's existence.

Ben D Bus

Cordell wrote: »

Having to hear a loud conversation in a language that I don't understand is one of the most annoying things I could think of.

Then learn Spanish. Problem solved. And you will have a new skill.

cupcake queen

I taught in a language school a few years back. Classes in the morning then took the kids out with their own group leaders for excursions in the afternoons. Say what you like but they spent money like there was no tomorrow. Everywhere we went they came out with bags of souvenirs. Same in shops etc. They seemed to have no end of spending money. This on top of what their parents paid the school, teachers, host families etc. They do give a good boost to the summer economy. When I was working there it was recession time too, when it was sorely needed.

Alun

Rawr wrote: »

"No" is the same in Spanish ;D

I know

Seriously though, I've known a couple of mature Spanish people who've come here supposedly to improve their business English, who at the end of a quite lengthy course, sometimes several months, had made virtually no improvement. They paid handsomely for the courses as well. I suspect the level of teaching for the huge numbers of younger school age students is lower even than that.

magicbastarder

Cordell wrote: »

It's not racism, your brain cannot make head or tails of what it hears, and the brain does not like thinks that it cannot process, this is why is so annoying. Add the unusual accent. Add a bit of misophonia and you have a headache right there.

how do people travel to foreign climes so? absolutely surrounded by people speaking an unintelligible language, and them with an inbuilt headache generator for such situations.

Cordell

Yep, it can be, for me it's usually mildly annoying.

Infini

Most of the issues with these annoying groups is that they have a total ignorance of their surroundings and crowd in the most inapprppiate places or downright block pinch points. The groups are too big tbh and can be a hazard to people at times.

dashcamdanny

Just wondering, do people in Spain wait till the bus is completely stopped and doors open before the get out of their seats?

I carry lots of them and the dwell time even when offloading is making me want to drive past them the next time. I find it extremely discourteous to the commuters wanting to get home in the evening.

Oops69

they're grand but the baggage handlers at Dublin airport just need to 'loose ' the guitar for that one in the group ... there's always one .

Stephen15

cupcake queen wrote: »

I taught in a language school a few years back. Classes in the morning then took the kids out with their own group leaders for excursions in the afternoons. Say what you like but they spent money like there was no tomorrow. Everywhere we went they came out with bags of souvenirs. Same in shops etc. They seemed to have no end of spending money. This on top of what their parents paid the school, teachers, host families etc. They do give a good boost to the summer economy. When I was working there it was recession time too, when it was sorely needed.

The ones we get here are all from posh upper middle class Spanish families it would be a bit like having a load of Blackrock lads or D4 girls out in Spain.

degsie

Bray Head wrote: »

Please note that 90% of this delay is fully within the control of the relevant authorities, who should bring in use of middle doors and a ticketing system that doesn't involve the driver.

This...

Announcement on bus "please use double doors to exit bla bla" you press the request to stop button, stand at the middle door and the driver gives you dirty looks. Feck sake!

AlekSmart

degsie wrote: »

This...

Announcement on bus "please use double doors to exit bla bla" you press the request to stop button, stand at the middle door and the driver gives you dirty looks. Feck sake!

Also,this.....

You open the Centre Doors along the route,but there are so many chaps standing in the doorwell that few will brave breaking through the wall......then when they reach their stop...they ignore the door opening right beside them and instead stride manfully back up to the front to bid their driver a cheery Thank You

Addle

cupcake queen wrote: »

I taught in a language school a few years back. Classes in the morning then took the kids out with their own group leaders for excursions in the afternoons. Say what you like but they spent money like there was no tomorrow. Everywhere we went they came out with bags of souvenirs. Same in shops etc. They seemed to have no end of spending money. This on top of what their parents paid the school, teachers, host families etc. They do give a good boost to the summer economy. When I was working there it was recession time too, when it was sorely needed.

In my hometown the young students have a reputation for shoplifting and their parents are notoriously tight with spending money.

Stephen15

AlekSmart wrote: »

Also,this.....

You open the Centre Doors along the route,but there are so many chaps standing in the doorwell that few will brave breaking through the wall......then when they reach their stop...they ignore the door opening right beside them and instead stride manfully back up to the front to bid their driver a cheery Thank You

Also this today I was on a GT. Driver didn't use middle doors at all for the entire journey wasn't an issue bus wasn't busy as it was off peak and the route wasn't one typically operated by SGs or GTs but yet the driver gladly let myself and another passenger off at the lights despite not using the middle doors for the entire route. So he didn't take the risk of using the middle doors but gladly risked letting twonpassengers off at a non recognised stop.

WishUWereHere

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

Probably racist to some (isn't everything) but four Chinese lads having an argument by M&S near Jervis the other day.

My ears were bleeding.

How do You know they were Chinese? Perhaps You speak Mandarin?

dashcamdanny

Stephen15 wrote: »

Also this today I was on a GT. Driver didn't use middle doors at all for the entire journey wasn't an issue bus wasn't busy as it was off peak and the route wasn't one typically operated by SGs or GTs but yet the driver gladly let myself and another passenger off at the lights despite not using the middle doors for the entire route. So he didn't take the risk of using the middle doors but gladly risked letting twonpassengers off at a non recognised stop.

Some drivers are idiots.

The both doors button is actually closer to the handbrake. Making it simpler to use.
No driver will get nailed up for a customer failing out. Not unless you open in into an open ditch. And even then.

The only other reason not to use it with big crowds if the risk of little ****** sneaking in, which the Spanish students tend to do. They do it alot with the bar scanner. They know the driver is under pressure the check.

AlekSmart

Stephen15 wrote: »

Also this today I was on a GT. Driver didn't use middle doors at all for the entire journey wasn't an issue bus wasn't busy as it was off peak and the route wasn't one typically operated by SGs or GTs but yet the driver gladly let myself and another passenger off at the lights despite not using the middle doors for the entire route. So he didn't take the risk of using the middle doors but gladly risked letting twonpassengers off at a non recognised stop.

Personally,I feel the NTA's preoccupation with Centre Door operation,with the current fleet of Safety'd Up vehicles,leads to significantly longer dwell times,over a well managed Single Door AV,AX,EV,VT vehicle...Buzzers,Bells,DoorBrakes and Throttle Interlocks along with added observational requirements all serve to lengthen the Bus Stop procedure.

My view is that the extra seating capacity of the single door vehicle,complemented by a single tap,flat-fare or pass validation would show this up even more clearly.

In this case,it appears that you were assiduously following this Busdrivers every move on your journey,with a stop by stop record of which doors were opened.

Assuming that the Busdriver unilaterally decided to put you both out at the lights,without being requested ?

If so,presumably you politely refused to risk your life & limb at this location and declined to exit ?

If you did feel pressurized to leave,then I assume you submitted the details immediately to the relevant authorities ?

I'm uncertain as to your point here...the Bus-Stop protocol is very clear...The Driver knows it for sure...You certainly appear to be fully familiar with it,so either it's giving out for the sake of it,or else stating the obvious,ie:people will be people...not everybody follows the rules-not everybody wants the rules to be followed....which one are you ?

It'a part of being human,a problem which will eventually be addressed with autonomous vehicles.:)

It's not a binary world out here,whatever many folks would wish,there are so many shades and shadows to every facet of human life....even Busdriving :eek:

forward8

thomas 123 wrote: »

Definitely not just a Dublin issue.

Students getting on a city bus is so funny when its 70% full. Get on and just awkwardly stand in the standing section rather than getting into a seat. - totally blocking anyone else from filtering back.

Nowhere near as bad as the person who looks out the window with their bag on the seat beside them refusing to believe or acknowledge anyone else's existence.

This literally makes me see red. arrogant little ba****ds young and grown desperately trying to hold onto the seat beside them with their bag despite the bus being packed :mad: . The days of people giving up their seat for the elderly are long gone and now we have to 'ask' for permission to sit beside some spoiled entitled brat.

Mrs OBumble

Do Irish kids at summer camp in the Gaeltacht speak Irish as much as the Spanish kids (who are here to learn English) speak English on buses? It might explain why most of ye speak so little of it despite the investment.

TBH double decker buses are a god-send. ****s of all nationalities head upstairs. Old people like me stay down. Everyone's happy.

Hurrache

Well if this isn't this a lovely thread full of ignorance and racial stereotypes that someone managed to seep out of After Hours and fester somewhere that's usually a bit more reasonable.

uck51js9zml2yt

ED E wrote: »

No problem with them being there.

Have a HUGE problem with their numbers. Chinese tourists? Group of 6. Americans? Nice couple. Bunch of Dutch students? 8 of them. Spanish student group? 45.

We need to ban groups of more than 2 people In public places. That will show them.

Stephen15

AlekSmart wrote: »

Personally,I feel the NTA's preoccupation with Centre Door operation,with the current fleet of Safety'd Up vehicles,leads to significantly longer dwell times,over a well managed Single Door AV,AX,EV,VT vehicle...Buzzers,Bells,DoorBrakes and Throttle Interlocks along with added observational requirements all serve to lengthen the Bus Stop procedure.

I understand your sentiment but how do you think train or Luas drivers manage having to poke their head out of the cab to see if there any door issues and all passengers have boarded/alighted. It was only today I was on the DART and a pram ended up on the train after the mother put it on before the doors closed luckolynthere was no baby in it and it was near the terminus so I could assume it was returned to the mother.

In this case,it appears that you were assiduously following this Busdrivers every move on your journey,with a stop by stop record of which doors were opened.

It was just a little observation I made. The driver seemed like a nice guy and I have nothing against him. It appeared none of the passengers were eager to use the middle door either. In this instance the middle doors were surplus to requirements they would not have speeded anything up. They are only nessecary at peak time in my opinion.

Assuming that the Busdriver unilaterally decided to put you both out at the lights,without being requested ?

Again nothing against the driver. He did ask the other passenger and I also disembarked as it suited me more to disembark at the lights.

I'm uncertain as to your point here...the Bus-Stop protocol is very clear...The Driver knows it for sure...You certainly appear to be fully familiar with it,so either it's giving out for the sake of it,or else stating the obvious,ie:people will be people...not everybody follows the rules-not everybody wants the rules to be followed....which one are you ?

It's not a binary world out here,whatever many folks would wish,there are so many shades and shadows to every facet of human life....even Busdriving :eek:

I understand again I just pointing something out. Forgive me

Stephen15

I don't mind the students. I think Spanish students on buses in the summer months is a real first world issue and there are far greater issues surrounding public transport in Ireland other than Spanish students.

listermint

Is this the type of abject ****eology that people worry their days about.

Christ lads the mean life time is like 70 years or something. And ye waste it worrying about students on a bus.

Give up will ya