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A BIZARRE INCIDENT occurred during the week, when morning commuters were thrown off their train and delayed by an hour because of a single serial fare dodger who refused to cooperate with Irish Rail staff.
Irish Rail said in a statement that the man was being pursued for a number of previous fixed penalty fines and two instances of violent behaviour towards staff. If this is the case, then clearly the individual needed to be dealt with. The Gardai were unavailable to attend at Ashtown station when the individual became uncooperative with staff, but arrangements were made for another Garda unit to attend the train at the Docklands station. The paying punters were put off and the train went on its way.
A lack of power for dealing with trouble on public transport
It was an overreaction to put everyone off the train, though I can understand too that if Irish Rail staff felt they had a particularly odious individual in their clutches they would want to soften his cough a bit with a trip to a Garda station. What this really highlights is the lack of effective powers or resources for dealing with trouble on public transport.
When he was the minister responsible for public transport, Labour’s Alan Kelly identified the key problem holding back use of the services on offer: middle-class snobbishness, he told The Irish Times, kept people off buses and trains. Two days prior, a man had dropped his trousers on a Luas and injected heroin into his groin. The presumably snobbish commuters on-board reported being horrified at the sight.
The catch-all term “antisocial behaviour” has come to be used in the official lingo to cover everything from gaggles of excited teenagers singing Crazy World on their way back from a concert at The Point, to out-and-out brawls between inebriated junkies in the middle of the working day.
A young boy sat down the DART one day and pricked his finger on a needle that had been left behind by some junkie. The boy and his family endured an agonising wait to get back test results to make sure he had not caught something life-altering or life-limiting from the needle. There isn’t a day that goes by that commuters aren’t subjected to people using drugs on public transport.
We have all been subjected to annoying or intimidating behaviour on a bus or train
Arguments, brawls, people carrying weapons, people defecating and generally soiling the place are regular occurrences. Public transport is also subject of attacks from people on the routes, and Dublin Bus in particular regularly has to curtail services in particular areas because of an uptick in missiles being thrown at vehicles.
We have all witnessed or been touched by sometimes annoying, sometimes offensive, and sometimes downright dangerous behaviour by certain passengers on public transport. The 39 bus in Dublin was my route in and out of town growing up, and it was unusual not to witness some form of trouble or selfish individuals inflicting hassle on their fellow passengers. One time I got off when someone started smoking heroin on the packed evening commute. Another time I got off after a group of lads got on at the dual carriageway before Ashtown, tried to break windows and eventually deciding to relieve themselves on the bus.
Maybe I’m a snob, but passively smoking heroin and urine flowing past me on a bus is my limit.
Protecting commuters
Luas operator Veolia and Irish Rail have both contracted private security firms to help patrol their respective routes. On the Luas, there are nine teams of two people patrolling from 10am until the service stops. Their presence helps alleviate trouble, but still the latest safety report for the Luas highlights over 2,200 cases of disorder and vandalism on the service. This is just the reported and accounted for stuff.
Commuters on other services, the bus in particular, have practically no security. An isolated driver can’t do much except radio for help and perhaps, in the odd case, drive to a Garda station and hope for the best if things get particularly bad.
Public transport can be a law-free zone in a way. At times the troublemakers are given free reign, and all the decent, fare paying folks are just stuffed in with them and advised to keep their eyes averted.
This isn’t good enough. It isn’t good enough because decent folks deserve the protection of the law. But it also isn’t good enough because public transport is one of the things we rely on to keep our economy and our society going.
If commuters are held up for an hour because revenue officers for Irish Rail either don’t have the power to deal with a rule breaker or the backup from someone with that power, then there is a knock-on effect. People are late to work or miss appointments. If people stick to using their cars because they’re too snobby to put up with piss, shit and drugs on their commute it increases congestion.
Public transport deserves its own fully empowered police force
Then there are the older and vulnerable people who are left to fend off odious characters outside of commuter hours. How many people feel trapped in their homes because of a bad experience trying to take a bus to a community centre or out to the cinema or similar? I’d say more than a few.
Public transport is an artery through which the lifeblood of society flows. As in other countries, it deserves its own fully empowered police force.
Anyone who has travelled around London knows the highly visible transport police there. You’ll meet them in stations, travelling around, and responding to incidents. They provide a real sense of security in one of the busiest transport systems in the world. Yet, there are only 2,931 officers in the transport force overall. Small numbers, as with the grand total of 18 security guards travelling on the Luas each day, can make a big difference.
A force dedicated to transport would have the flexibility to travel to trouble spots. We already see some of that, for example in an operation carried out on the Luas with Gardai and Department of Social Protection officers to hunt out people with fake or expired travel passes who are also, according to official reports, key troublemakers.
It would be nice to know that travelling around our busy cities there are patrol cars dedicated to policing the transport networks, who can respond to calls from bus drivers in difficulty. These same officers could patrol stations and help tamp down the thugs who have seen bicycle lock ups and even ticket machines removed because of constant vandalism.
Decent people deserve the chance to commute in peace, and those who have no respect for others need to know there’s a fair chance of meeting big cops with big batons the next time they decide to kick off.
Aaron McKenna is a businessman on columnist for TheJournal.ie. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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It’s high time for transport police, as in the U. K. Security staff that are operating on public transport at present don’t have the power of arrest and this is the core of the issue.
An electric cattle prod is astick with electrodes on the end which is used to make cattle move , situation would have been sorted in 5 seconds , happy days!
The other part of the issue is that they don’t care. Once a staff member has checked you paid the money that’s it. You could drop dead on the train and they wouldn’t bat an eyelid. Look at that poor disabled girl having abuse hurled at her- where was the conductor for that train? Chatting with his pals I bet.
Anyone who doubts transport police are needed just spend some time on a Dublin bus 27 or 40.
These non paying worthless filth ruin it for everyone.
I think if the author of this article had his way we would have 3 different sections on public transport. 1st class 2nd class and 3 class .As per usual Aaron is living in his ivory tower. Is it the peasants who misbehave on Business class airline travel. Time to come down from your ivory tower people Mr Author.
Sorry Paul but why should we as law abiding and fare paying customers be subjected to such behaviour by a select few? Having been commuting by bus for about six months (in Kildare) I’ve had the pleasure of being in the company of people smoking heroin, chain smoking, drunk, abusive and drinking amongst other things. The fare may be cheap but for crying out loud why should that mean people can’t act in a civil manner? I certainly don’t live in an Ivory tower but I agree with everything that the author says!
@Katie yes you hit the nail on the head it is a few.I have lived in Dublin most of my life and have come across anti social elements on occasion but this is the real world unfortunately and we have to get on with it.
“Getting on with it” shouldn’t mean having to put up with these gougers. If you believe otherwise, then it’s you that needs to join the real world.
I was over in London in the early 90′s with my father visiting family , we were on the tube and this c.nt was aggressively aggravating a couple of women with kids looking for a handout.
My father got up and told him stop,he told my father to F off , he got one more warning and he didn’t listen , he got laid out on his arse and thrown off at the next stop .
Can you imagine what would happen my father today if he did the same thing today, scrotes know the system is stacked in their favour and this needs to change .
Most companies have their own kind of security but the rail company have no security on their trains or at their stations. It’s a waste of time calling the Garda off other duties just to deal with fare dodgers. Ianroid Eireann needs to get real before someone gets seriously hurt on their trains.
Hands up if you have ever been attacked / assaulted or verbally abused on a nightlink? I know I have. And no, the other passengers didn’t chimed in, just heads down and hope they don’t get it next.
Sad thing is it’s not limited to the night link I’ve seen junkies smoking among other things on both the bus and dart in broad daylight
In America and Australia undercover police travel on public transport(trains generally) looking for fare dodgers as they believe that generally someone who’s dodging fares is also likely wanted in relation to other crimes
The Broken Window theory, crack down on the small crimes that are being committed regularly i.e. fair dodging, graffiti etc. and you automatically create a more “crime free environment”, which in turn prevents other more serious crimes from being committed, it’s what cleaned up the notorious New York subway crime problem in the late 80′s & early 90′s – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory
Good piece, well written displaying a good understanding of the problems of lawlessness on public transport. This story was seemingly posted 8 hours ago yet received only 430 views and 2 comments which can’t be right. Was the piece misplaced? I did not spot it earlier and as the subject is a hot potato with most people I would have expected thousands of views and a lively lengthy thread.
an excellent piece & as a bus driver I agree with what Aaron has written. when Dublin bus management & Garda management were asked not so long ago by the drivers representatives about why we don’t/can’t have specialised transport police they were told that they do. Apparently the traffic corps are the ones with responsibility. I can count on 1 hand the amount of times the gards have attended having been called to my bus in the last several years. The wasters know nothing will happen to them so vast swathes of the transport network has been surrendered to them.
this article is sheer middle class anti-kn@cker bias.
Surely our treasured underclass have a right to violently intimidate the people who pay them to do nothing and fund their self chosen drug addictions?
Late night travel, and not only late night, can be intimidating but the bus drivers on the routes I’ve used have mostly been courteous and helpful despite what they have to put up with.
A few years ago I got a black eye & bitten in my forearm for protecting a Spanish student who was being beaten up on the 41. The bus driver allowed the fight to spill out onto the road and basically shrugged when I and a passer-by asked him for assistance in prying the gougers away from the poor girl.
Thankfully it was at Dublin Airport and the Joeys (airport police) were onsite in a matter of minutes to assist.
Where we have An Garda Siochana covering all policing roles in the country, the UK and other European countries have multiple constabularies defined by region or function.
While on one hand I see how it would be worthwhile having a constabulary specifically for traffic, transport, ports & airports, and another for everything else, it may only add extra layers of bureaucracy to the policing function of the State.
Transport companies hire private security because it’s cheap. Having to pay for the services of a dedicated police would be expensive. What might be more worthwhile would be engendering societal civic duty by protecting civilians who are willing to stand up against aggression or obscenity on public transport from any costs incurred from their intervention (litigation, personal injury, loss of earnings, etc). We don’t step up, and as a result we empower thugs to behave as they do, and we cower down as a result.
In situations like that I really don’t think it’s fear of consequential “costs” that stops people intervening. Fear of getting a bottle smashed in their face, more like.
Seamus ” my son works for Anglo ” Brennan promised us transport police at the turn of the century , he didn’t say which century, though !
Anyone who doubts transport police are needed just spend some time on a Dublin bus 27 or 40.
These non paying worthless addicts ruin it for everyone.
we need a dedicated transport and tourism police fierce with real powers to deal with idiots ams scangers. ….here’s an idea. ..train the big eastern Europeans that do security on the luas to do the job. .they look like real cops unlike some of the gardai who loop like umpla lumpas .
fierce = force
Booking a seat online for a train journey is just asking for trouble.When I go to my reserved seat I am usually met with an ignoramus, bags on seat, feet on seats pretending to be asleep which I have to confront on my own.Russian roulette, as for security forget it.
Massively hyperbolic stating it as some kind of rampant epidemic. I travel exclusively by public transport. I’ve never encountered urine, faeces, or heroin. Not saying these kind of things don’t happen, but if you’re to believe this guy there’s not a bus in the fleet that isn’t smeared from top to bottom with excrement.
But there’s a crucial element to countering anti-social behaviour that he completely ignores. He mentions that the good and “law abiding” people have no option but to look the other way. Dublin Bus’s bye-laws cover anti-social, intimidating, aggressive, and discriminatory behaviour by passengers. How many people see this behaviour, and look the other way instead of reporting it to the driver who has the right to request the offenders get off. Sure, they won’t always, the driver’s then within his rights to call the Gards. But again, how many times do commuters just turn a blind eye because it’s easier to pretend it’s not happening than to get involved.
Getting the bus one evening, a particularly odious drunken individual up front began hurling abuse at a young Chinese couple sitting behind them. Disgusted, I called him out on it. Perhaps predictably he told me to get stuffed. When I refused, the rest of the passengers finally chimed in and told him in no uncertain terms his horrible behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated. The driver stopped the bus, came back and told him if he didn’t shut up he’d be put off or the Gards would be called. He shut up fair quick.
You are some flower. Try a few late night spins on the Luas red line and see how far stern language will get you.
you best believe you encounterd urine , but it was dryed into the seat you sat on
@ Bryan Kelly People usually ‘turn a blind eye’ to incidents because they don’t actually want to get blinded or worse by standing up to the maggots that infest the public transport system in this country.
No joke, Chinese people must get it hard in Dublin, the same type of thing happened to two Chinese women on a bus I was on.
At Least you have public transport, try getting from Wexford to Carlow, Kilkenny or Waterford on public services.. And that’s repeated country wide.
Wexford to Waterford is pretty easy and frequent.
Enniscorthy or Gorey it bunclody isint easy or frequent
I’ve been on the Luas once and it was a disgusting experience. Some drug addicts were pretty out of it and were being really loud when one decided to sit on my lap. What could I do? I was on my own and didn’t want to rake the chance of being confrontational.
My one and only time on the Luas.
100% agree with this Dublin public transport is in a shocking state and has been for years.
It’s not just Dublin, same all over the country.
I am a very infrequent user of public transport, but in the times I have used it or had to use it, I have experienced the following:
I was attacked 10 years ago by a syringe wielding thief on a train from Houston to New Bridge.
Some random person punched me in the face as he passed me walking down towards the back of the bus on my way home from work.
I’ve arrived for work physically sick from people smoking drugs on the bus.
My clothes have been ruined by chewing gum and other substances left behind on the seats.
Given the writers experiences matches my own and it is unlikely that we been on the exact same service at the exact same time, It would appear that these issues are more than just one-offs as some comments above suggest!
Half two today I stopped on corner beside the Black horse pub in Inchicore. The lights went green for about 10 seconds allowing just two cars in front to get onto the N7.
After a protracted length of time a Luas finally meandered its way around the bend taking just over an additional minute to pass through the junction. I saw three strung out junkies in the middle of the train of about 12 people.
No sooner had the Luas passed through a second approached the junction from the opposite direction and then took another minute to meander its way through, this time four men with cans openly drinking on the train going into town.
I sat at the junction for over 5 minutes waiting on these trains to pass, I understand now, why drivers on Benburb street jump the Luas lights.
Why can only one luas at a time cross at junctions? Why have they got priority over everyone else when all they are doing is transporting junkies and alcos around the city?
Are Dublin City Council going to forgo the 800 euro road tax I pay every year when they shut the capitals roads to cars?
If we all ditch our cars and start using public transport how is Dublin City Council going to pay for the upkeep of of the transportation system – they’re certainly not going to do it on 11 euro a week!
I’m not a big fan of inner city buses as they typically take ages to get anywhere, plus all the noisy school kids shouting and the occasional drunk who starts a conversation with anyone.
I’ve only been on a bus once in Dublin (taxis are the norm) but I sat on the upper deck near the back and the guy in front of me (chubby dirty looking bloke in a track suit) took out foil and snorked cocaine (I’m guessing) before racially abusing 2 Chinese women in the seat in front of him which started an angry shouting match. At that point another Chinese guy came up the stairs and after more shouting and as quick as a flash punched the junkie 3 times in the head before he fled down the stairs shouting for help and that he was being attacked. It was entertaining for sure, and got the adrenaline punching, plus I had a great tale for that night.
Now I’m sure that’s not a typical bus journey in Dublin (I hope) but it certainly put me off getting on another bus in Dublin.
“I sat on the upper deck near the back”
And that was your first mistake…
Yet if a complaint of a stolen bar of chocolate from a supermarket you will find not one Garda there there will be up to three of them
I’d rather take my chances on my bike or by car ! in the past I used the bus to college exclusively but much cheaper/better cycling and sometimes just handier driving.
widen the powers and duties of the Garda Reserve, as in public transport police, as a Garda present on public transport can be more reassuring then some knuckle dragging steroid popping eastern European, who seem to spent all there time checking themselves out in there reflection,
Garda Reserve isn’t “Garda presence”, they’re just civilians in Garda uniform. Gougers know that and aren’t bothered by them. A learned, empowered and protected civic population, unwilling to let mindless thugs intimidate their peers, would be a better deterrent. Just look at it as “plain-clothes Garda Reserve” if you must.
I hear ya Brian, Reserve members are required to work under the supervision of regular members of the Force. therefore you can have 2 are 1 reserve garda team accompanied/supervised by a regular member of the force.
public transport is for losers
Bus w ankers
Teenagers singing an aslan song? Ha, good one.
Why is the photo on top of this article of a foreign train in a foreign country? Why just show a picture of a random train?
If we are to be fair, then they should allow motorist to have a national strike day, block the road like the taxi drivers, go to Dublin and block every single roads, a million cars, block at the railway crossings so no train can move, block the Luas, bus lanes. If we are to give them a taste of their own medicine and demonstrate to ban VRT and lower petrol taxes then everyone else who does not commute by car would know how it feels to have your day ruined because of a group of unionised people.
Ever so slightly off topic there.
Once you ave passed through the disinterested mob of ticket checkers hanging around the automated ticket machines in Heuston head over t the information desk and ask the guy where can you get the Luas and wstch him awake to light up like a Christmas tree. .
Only pheasants used pubic transport !
Pretty sure you mean peasants. And change your profile pic, you’re not cool enough for Fleetwood Mac!
What do you expect ? Our roots are still rural – our politicians don’t value public transport and in the main never use it. Combine this with scant regard for basic law making and enforcement and you get the farce of smoking, drinking, fate evasion and intimidatory behaviour we witness every day. Take a look at the filthy graffiti covered approaches to Connolly Station – overseen by the board of Iarnrod Eireann and you’ll understand why when those in power don’t care – it’s hard to see why anyone else would. The difference is? We’re Irish.
who pays for the new police force? the fare payer or tax payer?
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