Who'd want this job!?From Todays Independant;ABUSIVE behaviour by bus passengers is forcing dozens of bus drivers in Dublin out of work every year.
Not only do some passengers still insist on smoking and drinking on buses, but many take out their frustrations at the capital's traffic problems on the driver.
The National Bus and Rail Union said yesterday that up to 30 drivers from one Dublin Bus depot alone needed time off last year because of stress on the job.
The union, which represents 3,700 drivers, inspectors and operative grades in Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann, said that incidents involving verbal and physical abuse, passengers urinating on buses and drinking and smoking were commonplace.
National Executive member John McGrane said that incidents happened "every night of the week", and that it had become increasingly common for drivers to seek counselling.
"There were 20 different incidents in Tallaght over a four-week period recently ranging from passengers and drivers being assaulted, attempts to set buses on fire and windows kicked out and broken," he said.
"We have a lot of incidents where drivers would be spat at which would affect the driver because they don't know if the passenger has hepatitis or HIV.
"You can't leave the cab or you could get a box in the head. The threat is always there. People getting off the bus can spit at you."
[posted by: Xp27]
BUSRAGE Discussions » General Issues
Busmen forced to quit jobs over abusive passengers
(19 posts)-
Posted 3 years ago #
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You cannot get out of the cab ,but if a skull spit,s at you ,you have to sit there and take it,the company do NOT recognise spitting as an assault,but the guard,s do.Strange!. One driver in Harristown was spat at and when he said he wanted to go home to change his clothes he was told he would be docked money from his wagesPosted 3 years ago #
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So can the bus driver spit at the depot manager cause they dont see it as an assault? and get away with it?
[posted by: spareman]Posted 3 years ago # -
couldn't blame the Bus Drivers for resigning, i've seen abusive behavior, i.e, Buses not stopping during traffic to pick up passengers, or someonewithout the right fare.
but i've never seen assault on a bus driver
[posted by: ADO]Posted 3 years ago # -
What would you do if you saw a bus-driver being assaulted?.Judging from experience everybody (skulls) ignore what,s going on ,and when the assault has finished they want to know why the bus has stopped.Posted 3 years ago #
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Best thing to do if a scumbag spits at you when getting off the bus is to jam him in the doors and beat the cr*p outta him...if the depot manager has a problem with that, then hock one and see how he reacts!
[posted by: XP27]Posted 3 years ago # -
I agree with Kevin. I was on the 67A yesterday, which I must say has improved of late. There was a bunch of skangers at the back smoking hash. The driver came up to put them off, in which he was successful. But other passengers should have the balls to back him up. I've been on buses in rush hour where people refuse to get off and we all (me included) just sit there harrummphing because the bus is late. If four or five people joined with the bus driver in telling them to get off they wouldn't be long shifting.
My sympathy to the drivers forced to resign. It's a bloody difficult job.
[posted by: zeppo]Posted 3 years ago # -
Do Dublin's buses have anti-assault screens?
[posted by: Dave (guest from Leeds)]Posted 3 years ago # -
Yeah they do but only within the last 10-15 years
[posted by: Daz]Posted 3 years ago # -
While they have the screens, a lot of drivers keep them open which defeats the puropse of actually having one in the first place... strange.
[posted by: P]Posted 3 years ago # -
While all buses have assault screen,s there is NO agreement on whether a driver should have them up or not, Union,s were to get together with management and find some common ground as to which routes/and between what times driver,s should use the screen,s . It is very difficult to hear a passenger when the screen,s are upPosted 3 years ago #
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Drivers caused stoppages in the late 90's demanding such screens be put in place, they curtailed services in some areas and unions insisted Dublin Bus protect their members by installing protective screens.
I just find it confusing to board a bus and find the screen open and the driver with his arm hanging out of the cab. If I was one of those drivers who campaigned 10 years ago to have screens installed, I would be a little insulted.
[posted by: P]Posted 3 years ago # -
As I recall, in the late 1990s bus drivers were still giving change for fares (i.e. prior to the "exact-change" rule) so they were targets for the infamous "AIDS needle" trick and other such nefarious rob-the-bus-driver tactics. Removal of ready access to cash helped reduce that one particular problem to the degree where the screens got more "opened" by the drivers...looks like the pendulum's swinging the other way again, but not in terms of robbing cash, which certainly outlines a bigger problem with law enforcement in the Dublin area nowadays...
Posted 3 years ago # -
As some have pointed out the Assault Screen was introduced at a time when Busdrivers were still doing the Moneychanger in the Temple routine and had a ready supply of cash in their dispenser and secreted in other locations around the cab.
The Assault Screen could be said to have been motivated more by the need to "Protect" the takings rather than any great regard for the Drivers personal safety.
There is however a great conflict between the modern "Customer Focus" Friendly Smiling Bus Driver image so beloved of Media Prople as each new Ad Campaign hits the streret and the reality of the Driver actually being securely and very definitely out of reach and hearing of his beloved passengers.
While the screen IS a protective tool it cannot be viewed as a permanent fixture as to do so simply surrenders yet another vital aspect of being seen to be in control of your own environment.
Having travelled recently in both France and Belgium I was happy to see most of their standard Renault City Bus fleets free from such anti-social devices.
Even the RATP in Paris now specifies an electric (Dead Posh) screen which glides up from the cab door.
This "Open" nature contrasts severely with London which specifies a full non-opening enclosure which I consider simply alienates the driver from both the passengers themselves AND the general demanour of the route.
I for one,do not accept that the actions of some semi literate scrote scratchers should have the effect of seriously altering MY right to have as "Normal" a working environment as possible.
One of the greatest problems in Irish society is how we constantly strive to adjust the living and working arrangements of the Majority in order to pander to the violent whims of a minority who then assume an even greater sense of self importance thus perpetuating a vicious circle in which the only losers are US ordinary folks.
Take a walk along O Connell St any evenin and look at how the disappointed patrons who have been refused admission to Dr Quirkeys behave towards everybody else who happens to cross their path..
The official Dublin Bus policy is for the Screen to be in position during the hours of darkness or at any time when the driver may consider themselves under threat...A nice wide ranging situation.
In my experience no screen can replace a degree of observation and concentration combined with commonsense.Posted 3 years ago # -
when did it happened last
[posted by: robert tedders]Posted 3 years ago # -
having been wittness to an attack of granny rage yesterday i can see why the drivers would keep thier screen up !Posted 3 years ago #
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To Alek Smart.
Don't be so precious. How nice that your sensitive emotions were massaged by the absence of screens in Belgium and France; how touching that these drivers weren't alienated "from both the passengers themselves AND the general demanour of the route." No doubt the absence of screens in this country would bring a dawn in warm bus driver/bus user relations. That's what taking a bus is all about, right? Not getting to a destination or anything. Most bus users, I bet, have no problem with drivers feeling a little safer in their cabs - I doubt it takes from their appreciation of the "general demanour of the route." Typical of opinionated people, you are full of criticism, but short on ideas, besides "In my experience no screen can replace a degree of observation and concentration combined with commonsense." So, how would this degree of observation and concentration manifest itself? Should the driver note the tracksuit and the 'tache and refuse the patron entry? If you're a bus-driver, and the inclusion of "in my experience no screen can replace etc." suggests you are (unless it was a metaphorical screen), then tell us what you do to avert these problems. And you may want to tell all of the other drivers. You know, the ones in counselling and looking for other jobs, because they must not be as wise as you. This is clearly a real problem for drivers and your patronising comments only offend them.
Also, if you think that "how we constantly strive to adjust the living and working arrangements of the Majority in order to pander to the violent whims of a minority" is the greatest problem in Irish society, then you, my man, have problems. Constantly strive to adjust the living and working arrangements? Relax, Smart, it's just a screen. If it stops the driver getting a biff or a gob in the face, then groovy. And say hello to 99 for me.
[posted by: GQ]Posted 3 years ago # -
Typical of opinionated people, you are full of criticism, but short on ideas
Alek, though, is the voice of experience and your own demeanour shows you to be merely a troll. Unless you have something to add, STHU.Posted 3 years ago # -
no i mean what route dit happened
[posted by: robert tedders]Posted 3 years ago #
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