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Dublin Bus: a rolling lunatic asylum?

BMmeow

any stories about the crazy users of dublin bus?

I recently experienced a man who i believe was just genuinely ill muttering mean and nasty things at passengers around him on the bus and going up to people grabbing their arms, and attempted to hit a young girl. I was utterly shocked. He had been on the bus about 15 min and up until that point was totally quiet. This stuff can be very intimidating and scare some people about getting the bus.

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LXFlyer

This is more of a social issue than to do with public transport - that sort of thing could happen anywhere.

It's certainly not the norm.

jaymcg91

Yup i hate getting Dublin Bus because of all the lunatics and wasters. I don't seem to see the same types nearly as much on the DART.

BMmeow

well I've experienced a lot of insanity on the bus and barely any in the city centre. A year ago a friend of mine minding her own business was spat on on a dublin bus. Im sure other people have experienced similar things. I think because you can't avoid it on the bus the same way you can on a street where you can just walk away.

TeamJesus

Some random guy once started screaming at everyone on the top of the bus that his brother "was left hanging from a tree" and that we were all trying to get him with chemicals.

It was really scary when he went downstairs people didn't want to follow him until they were sure he was gone.

LXFlyer

BMmeow wrote: »

well I've experienced a lot of insanity on the bus and barely any in the city centre. A year ago a friend of mine minding her own business was spat on on a dublin bus. Im sure other people have experienced similar things. I think because you can't avoid it on the bus the same way you can on a street where you can just walk away.

Well you mustn't look very hard.

I don't think focussing on people who have obvious mental illnesses like this is very tasteful to be honest. They need help.

BMmeow

lxflyer wrote: »

Well you mustn't look very hard.

I don't think focussing on people who have obvious mental illnesses like this is very tasteful to be honest. They need help.

I agree they do need help. But I don't think its fair that everyday users of the bus must endure verbal abuse, racial abuse, even physical abuse, and can't even speak back for fear of provoking a further reaction and aggression. Its extremely unnerving and frightening for people unwillingly involved and all happening in an enclosed space. If you're sitting down on the seat and someone standing in the aisle right beside you is shouting, or worse they sit in the empty seat beside you and refuse to let you past them, you can't just walk away or run or avoid it like you can on the street.
Im wondering what other peoples experiences have been with this issue, I don't see the harm in that.

TeamJesus

BMmeow wrote: »

I agree they do need help. But I don't think its fair that everyday users of the bus must endure verbal abuse, racial abuse, even physical abuse, and can't even speak back for fear of provoking a further reaction and aggression. Its extremely unnerving and frightening for people unwillingly involved and all happening in an enclosed space. If you're sitting down on the seat and someone standing in the aisle right beside you shouting, or worse they sit in the empty seat beside you and refuse to let you past them, you can't just walk away or run or avoid it like you can on the street.
Im wondering what other peoples experiences have been with this issue, I don't see the harm in that.

It's definitely an issue especially in cases where people have been let out of psychiatric hospitals prematurely. Although lunatic is an insulting term for them.

BMmeow

TeamJesus wrote: »

It's definitely an issue especially in cases where people have been let out of psychiatric hospitals prematurely. Although lunatic is an insulting term for them.

I agree it can be taken offensively, however I don't mean it in that manner, and theres not a word I could use that isn't going to offend someone. This thread isn't to attack or belittle people, Im just genuinely interested in hearing other peoples stories about using the bus. Be it drug or alcohol fueled, someone with a bad attitude, or someone with a genuine illness, I think theres a lot of intimidation and abuse going on on our public transport, and I find myself increasingly fearful of the bus particularly after my recent experience.

LXFlyer

Well I'm sorry, but I know of several people who have suffered different forms of mental illness, and this thread from the title onwards is really distasteful.

And mental illness is a problem facing society at large, not just public transport.

Having said that I travel by bus everywhere, and to suggest there is widespread "intimidation and abuse" going on is totally unrepresentative of reality.

Victor

On average, I don't think using public transport is particularly more dangerous than being a pedestrian on the same street. It is actually likely to be safer in certain regards. You merely get to see more of life than one might see at home or in certain work places. If this upsets certain people, then perhaps they are being just a little bit precious. I am not saying that shouting or violence or any other abuses or low level nuisances are acceptable, but we have to understand that they happen.

While we do see some people on the lower end of the socio-economic scale who are substance abusers and / or have mental health issues and / or personality disorders, this doesn't mean that and of these are confined to lower socio-economic groupings. Better off people have more access alcohol and other substances of abuse, but also to to better health care, education, legal advice and other solutions. Indeed, car ownership probably appeals more to those with psychopathy, sociopathic, anti-social behaviour disorder and narcissistic disorders. We know that intoxicated driving probably kills dozens of people per year, whereas intoxicated bus usage doesn't.

Public transport is, in fact, much safer than driving the same journey. No Luas passenger has ever been killed (in more than 250 million journeys). Irish Rail hasn't lost a passenger to a train collision in decades (people are killed on the railways, primarily level crossing users, trespassers and suicides). Combined, all the bus companies lose less than one passenger per year (4 bus users fatalities in the period 2007-2012, compared to about 791 car user deaths, not counting other motoring deaths). Scheduled flights and shipping are particularly safe, although general aviation and some other water-borne activities are less so. I can't ever recollect a homicide on public transport in Ireland (other than collision-related manslaughter). Transport pollution, in particular that from cars is strongly associated with respiratory system deaths, which run at about 2,000 per year.

BMmeow

While those stats are fantastic, sir, I'm purely curious of people's experiences as daily passengers on the bus. This isn't a witch hunt.

Calm down everyone.

Aard

Are you asking people to recant stories of genuinely mentally ill people (or "lunatics" as the title suggests) on buses?

LXFlyer

BMmeow wrote: »

While those stats are fantastic, sir, I'm purely curious of people's experiences as daily passengers on the bus. This isn't a witch hunt.

Calm down everyone.

My daily experience of using the bus is:

I signal for the bus to stop.

I board the bus, say good morning to the driver, validate my LEAP card, and take a seat.

I then listen to a podcast or the news on the radio, and watch the world go by as I make my journey.

Then I make my way to the door as the bus approaches my destination, I thank the driver, wish him/her a good day and get off the bus.

Then repeat that later in the day.

That is what 99% of bus journeys are like.

What you are trying to do is make out that there is violence and intimidation all over the place, which simply isn't the case.

At the same time you've managed to spectacularly insult anyone with a mental illness.

Mrs OBumble

There is a pub in Galway city centre which I (privately) refer to as the Psychiatric Outpatient clinic, because of it's daytime clientelle. They have cleaned it up a bit lately, but the trend is still there.

This doesn't mean I rubbish all pubs.

frostyjacks

I watched a woman give someone a gypsy curse on the 37 once for not giving their seat up. Needless to say she was not the full shilling. Just don't ask me to repeat it.

s8080

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There is a pub in Galway city centre which I (privately) refer to as the Psychiatric Outpatient clinic, because of it's daytime clientelle. They have cleaned it up a bit lately, but the trend is still there.

This doesn't mean I rubbish all pubs.

if anyone but a mod posted this they would be infracted/banned.
suppose this gives posters the green light to post non PC comments.

the worst thing they ever did was remove the colour coding from the free travel pass.
when you seen red you knew they where a crazie.
very useful to know when you picked a passenger up in the morning outside dundrum mad house, when they had a bit of lunch under their arm and flashed a red pass , a mad man on day release.

Dyr

On a bus into town now, a delightful Chung fella Chung wan duo having a domestic and from downstairs drifts up the delightful lilt of a member of our indigenous community having an argument. No problems

Update: a temporary lull in the domestic as the schwehs have found a package of crips to eat

BuffyBot

I don't even know where to start with this train bus wreck