Dublin Bus have discontinued services after 11pm on the number 10 bus route after further anti-social behaviour earlier this month. The decision has been described as being “not up for discussion”. From the beginning of 2010 and until further notice, the last three route 10 departures will operate from the stop before Nutley Lane.
The service was withdrawn due to intolerable levels of drinking, violent and anti-social behaviour on board some buses. In recent months, the Students’ Union, Dublin Bus and their trade unions SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union (NRBU), the Gardaí and UCD Buildings and Services were in talks to agree security for buses entering and leaving campus late at night.
Despite the efforts in curbing the anti-social behaviour on northbound buses departing from UCD, Dublin Bus felt that withdrawal was the best option available to them.
Dublin Bus’s West Area Manager, Gareth Quinn, stated that despite there being an agreed action plan to address this problem, there were still “numerous incidents of anti-social behaviour both on and off campus. The forum at its year-end meeting discussed the above and Dublin Bus decided that the real problem time was the last three departures.”
Anti-social behaviour has been commonplace on late night UCD bus routes, and this is not the first time a service has been curtailed. However, despite significant effort and money being spent on trying to solve this problem, continued misbehaviour on the UCD campus and on the number 10 service has forced Dublin Bus to reduce the route’s service.
After persistent behavioural problems in the first semester, post-8pm services on the route were reinstated and monitored by Dublin Bus representatives. On a number of occasions the behaviour of a minority of students led to the Gardaí being called.
Students’ Union President, Gary Redmond stated that the Students’ Union were “extremely disappointed with the withdrawal of their service. We feel that we’ve been working with Dublin Bus, and certainly anytime I’ve been at the bus stop things have been markedly better than previously.
“This now causes an issue with students in the library because they won’t be able to get a bus to town at half past eleven when they leave the library.”
The University Observer understands that Dublin Bus may be willing to return to a full service in the future, but that such a return would be dependent on students’ behaviour.
Comments are closed.