Dublin Bus is meant to be reliable and promises to get you home safely doesn’t it? Well an ongoing complaint to this paper is the infrequency of the buses down to Ringsend and Sandymount, the numbers 2 and 3. A regular reader phoned in to make us aware of the situation at the bus stop across from Clery’s.

At this bus stop in particular eleven (yes eleven) buses stop– now imagine that in rush hour. Eleven different routes and all the people going home tired and cranky after work or a day’s shopping and the last place they want to be is among a sea of people taking up half the footpath on O’Connell St.

They wait from twenty minutes to an hour for a bus in which if they are lucky they’ll get to stand all the way home. While this may be OK for the younger, stronger and more unmannerly of us what about the older, more respectful of us who were taught to wait in line and show common courtesy, the disabled and women with buggies or shopping?

If you manage to get on a bus without being seriously injured in the frenzy, the people are packed like sardines which surely must be against some safety regulations.

Even the drivers are aware and disapprove of the lack of service and say they have complained to management, citing scheduling problems in the timetable. With a bus not coming for twenty minutes to an hour and then three coming together they have said that if the buses stop at Parnell Square and don’t go over the Northside where there are already plenty of buses they could get back quicker and therefore reduce waiting time.

Our reader has made local politicians aware of this and John Gormley has written back saying he has made representations to Dublin Bus on her behalf but there has been no change. Also, we were told that one local girl collected thousands of signatures from people complaining about the service but they have been ignored. 800 people got together and demanded a better service on the 123 bus route and got it.

With the ongoing development in Ringsend and Sandymount, more and more people are moving into and living in the area and the bus service is still the same. The number 3 route caters for students in UCD and DCU and other schools and colleges along the way.

Common logic suggests that the service should be upgraded but if anything it has been down-graded with the number 52 having been taken off long ago.

Shouldn’t a public service provide a service and not a health hazard? The people who make these decisions don’t seem to care because they don’t have to travel by public transport but, what about the elderly who have worked all their lives, paid taxes and should be entitled to some level of respect and comfort in their golden years.

Our reader has asked if Martin Duggan and John Saunders from Dublin Bus would like to come down to the Clery’s bus stop during peak hours, see for themselves the chaos that ensues and then tell them that the service is adequate?