Almost 40 gardaí from Dublin’s Store Street station boarded buses in the city on Thursday night in a safety blitz designed to crack down on antisocial behaviour on public transport.
Gardaí boarded buses with stops in the Abbey Street area, close to the northeast inner city Garda station, and travelled on services between 8.30pm and 11.30pm, to deter antisocial incidents, which Dublin Bus said have doubled in the last five years.
No criminal or other unacceptable incidents were reported during the operation, with Dublin Bus saying the presence of gardaí acted as a “very welcome” preventative measure and provided a safety reassurance for passengers and staff.
“It is absolutely crucial that both our customers and drivers feel safe on board Dublin Bus services. We carry out extensive training with our drivers on how to deal with incidences of antisocial behaviour, but there is only so much that any single driver can do when faced with dangerous situations,” Dublin Bus spokesman Blake Boland said.
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It is expected a similar one-night initiative will be undertaken by another Dublin Garda station in the coming weeks.
Dublin Bus began using private security guards on its services on a pilot basis last October, with a particular focus on peak evening hours of travel, and late-night services.
“We launched our Safer Journeys Team a couple of months ago and have carried out more than 1,000 boardings,” Mr Boland said. “They have de-escalated numerous situations. But this trial is due to end in February.”
The success of the initiative will be assessed as part of the process to determine if it is continued beyond February. Enhancing security on buses is seen as essential to the retention and hiring of drivers, as well as encouraging people to use late-night services as an alternative to cars, particularly, in the run-up to Christmas.
Dublin Bus recorded 621 reports of antisocial behaviour, including almost 100 incidents of aggressive behaviour on its services last year.
Siptu officials representing Dublin Bus, Irish Rail and Luas workers, earlier this year provided details to an Oireachtas committee of drivers being spat at, assaulted, threatened and regularly witnessing drug use on transport services. The union is campaigning for the establishment of a dedicated transport policing unit.
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