Stone-throwing causes bus cancellations

Several buses were pulled from Tallaght on Friday evening due to incidents of stone-throwing and other anti-social behaviours that affected services.

The 77a and 65b bus services were both affected by incidents of anti-social behaviour in west Tallaght once more, with early terminations located near Jobstown House.

Buses were pulled at approximately 3.30pm due to anti-social behaviour and then pulled once more at 5.30pm with evening services affected as a result.

Councillor Adam Smyth noted that these incidents occurred earlier in the evening than previous instances.

Cllr Smyth said: “It was from early on as well. It’s obviously very worrying that it’s getting earlier and earlier – people who would have still been coming from work would have had to divert at Tallaght, even if they are going as far as Blessington. So, there’s obviously a lot of people affected by that.”

The pulling of diversion of services from an area for a period of time causes a knock-on effect for many commuters, who may have to take an alternative route to reach their intended destination.

Cllr Smyth stated that the anti-social problems that buses that pass through Tallaght face is an issue that the area has been dealing with for years.

He commended the work done at the Local Transport Forum to keep track of and combat the issue, but noted that more is needed to protect the local public transport and those that provide it.

“The transport patrols that we have in Tallaght are brilliant but we need more consistency when it comes to security on buses – not private security, the proper public transport policing – which I know has been spoken about for many years and it is in the plans, but making sure that it happens in a timely and efficient manner.”

The Tallaght Central councillor added that the good weather coming in in recent weeks has seen anti-social problems connected to bus services picked up earlier.

He understands that this may cause stress for commuters who travel routes affected by these events – the 77a, 65b and 27 are three routes that have dealt with these issues in recent months.

Cllr Smyth called on the local community to help the bus operators and An Garda Síochána on this recurring problem.

“It’s extending that call on the community and parents to step up and know where the kids are and what the kids are doing.

“If they see a kid doing something and they know a family member, make sure it’s being said that we need to be as a community standing up and doing what we can.

“There’s only so much the guards can do in that scenario.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.