Damn you public transport!

Now that I have finally started my travel plans and actually bought my Canadian visa, I'm really looking forward to going away. And one thing I will certainly not miss is my work commute courtesy of Dublin Bus and the Luas red line. I've tolerated the Luas red line since I started my current job in October 2007 but I have finally had enough and am counting down the days to when I no longer have to use it. The tipping point came this weekend with my eventful journeys on both the Luas and Dublin Bus. Enjoy!

Case study 1: It's Friday night. Two guys get on the Luas, one smoking a cigarette and one drinking from a pint glass. I try to avoid looking at them. They get off soon after, phew! Mostly uneventful journey.

Case study 2: It's Saturday night, I have just finished a long day at work and have survived the Luas trip home, despite some boys fighting and me fearing as usual for my life. I get a bus on O'Connell Street and as we go up Parnell Square, a car appears on the inside lane, apparently trying to make it up the hill as well. Naturally, the bus driver slows down and starts honking his horn incessantly, joined by the car driver who tries to get past the bus. This then turns into a shouting match between the bus driver and the car driver, the car driver apparently shouting racial slurs at the bus driver (although the car driver may not be Irish himself, hard to tell!). There may be some mention of someone getting stabbed but luckily the bus driver eventually moves on. We go a bit further and he honks his horn at a jeep trying to pull out. Someone is not in a good mood. So we reach the top of Dorset Street and the drama appears to be over. No, no. It is not. As we drive up Dorset Street, a car pulls in front to turn off the street but is going very slowly. And who is it but our old racist friend from Parnell Square. He eventually turns off Dorset Street, slows down, lowers his window and out comes his arm wielding a hammer. Now at this stage, I begin to really worry. The bus driver decides that this is now the time to turn off the engine and begin shouting at our friend with the hammer, taunting him to come over so they can engage in some sort of hammer fist fight. The girls behind me are pretty scared while the guy in front of me laughs. I can feel my heart pounding, really not wanting to see anyone get hammered (and not in the good sense!). Luckily, the car drives off and the bus driver restarts his engine and drives on. Thankfully, my stop is only a bit further. Note to self, never get on this bus again. I'm seriously considering lodging a complaint with Dublin Bus. Still shaky when I get home. Lovely.

Case study 3: It's Sunday morning. It's 7.40am. I have already passed two Gardai patting a guy down on the main road near my house on my walk to town that morning. 7.20am and people are getting searched. Lovely. Now I am on the Luas. I am still half asleep but decide to try and read some of 'A Heart of Darkness'. Fate has something else in mind. At Jervis, three guys who are sleazy as hell get on and have to sit next to me. They then proceed to talk really loudly in between singing along to the music playing loudly from their phone and popping bubblegum bubbles interspersed with spitting on the ground. This continues all the way to Kylemore until they move further down the tram. Urgh.

Case study 4: It's Sunday evening. Numerous girls sit at the back of the Luas screaming their heads off for half of the trip into town. A woman appears later on, can in hand calling for her friend Aaron, who she calls 'a fat bastard'. Rest of journey is uneventful thankfully.

So there you have it, these are only a sprinkling of the experiences I have had in the last 2 and a half years on Dublin's public transport. I've seen a drunken woman, baby in tow, picking fights with strangers, only to be held back by her young son. I've seen junkies doing headstands while claiming they 'only do coke now'. I sat on a bus one evening while kids threw stones, smashing in the back windows. RTE recently reported that incidents on the Luas have increased 100% and that security will now be present on the trams 7 nights a week. Conveniently, they never seem to be present when I want them to be. Then again, there must be incidents on nearly every tram.

I know that public transport is a problem worldwide and no doubt I will experience plenty of crazies and scary incidents when I get the hell out of here, but I have certainly had enough of the Luas. Only 36 more days in work, which means only 72 more Luas trips at the most. Roll on April...