While manoeuvring past a line of stationary cars, bus driver Suzanne Armstrong from Dublin was horrified when a bicycle appeared from the space between two vehicles and ran directly under her bus. Overwhelmed, she quickly stopped the bus and tried to assure herself that the bike had no rider. She noticed three youngsters, from the corner of her eye, laughing and rejoicing as they ran away from between the parked cars.
Suzanne shared her alarming experience during a meeting at Liberty Hall in Dublin on Tuesday. The gathering was organised to discuss Siptu’s proposed plans to establish a uniformed public transport policing unit in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick. They recommended the recruitment of 100 uniformed officers with the authority to arrest and detain, creating a transport law enforcement system inspired by the airport police.
Instances of drug usage and distribution on buses pose a constant threat to the safety of the staff, Suzanne pointed out. One particular incident involved a group of men accusing her of disturbing their drug use when she drove over a speed bump. She stressed that though such encounters seem commonplace, they should and are not normal.
Regarding the bicycle altercation, Suzanne recounted how a man threatened her with violence when she reported the event to her supervisor at Dublin Bus. It seemed the group of local miscreants had been causing problems in the neighbourhood, and the man didn’t want the bus to be moved before the arrival of law enforcement. Despite already planning not to drive off, she was threatened with the possibility of a large crowd being called upon if she attempted to move the vehicle.
While this specific incident took place in a northern suburb of Dublin, Suzanne emphasised that these issues can happen anywhere and that her colleagues have also faced similar experiences.
Alan O’Brien, a ticket inspector working with Luas, shared a harrowing experience where he was attacked by a passenger and his four companions when asked to wear a mask during the Covid pandemic. Suffering from 15 blows to the head on New Year’s Eve, he was unable to seek immediate medical attention due to the pandemic restrictions and could not consult his GP for four days, making do with home recovery instead. “I was fortunate,” he concedes.
Despite these incidents, Siptu’s suggestion for a national transport police force proposed last February has not made any noticeable progress. Even though the proposal seemed to gain wide approval from various politicians and political parties, there’s been no clear sign of the Government considering it seriously.
Adrian Kane, the Divisional organiser of Siptu expressed the trade union’s intention to raise this proposal as an election issue. He emphasised the need for the political system to respond promptly and efficiently to problems. “Our political setting must be observed to react and resolve issues,” he stated, voicing his concern over the drawn-out reaction times in our current system.