Fraudsters have been using forged bus and Luas tickets to evade public transport fares, it emerged today.

Dublin Bus launched a full-scale probe when the scam was uncovered, leading to the arrest of a number of suspects.

A man has already been fined €300 in court for using a fake pass, while other cases are pending.

The con centred on the ‘Combi’ 30-day pass worth €98 which was advertised for sale at a price of €50 on the Gumtree website earlier this year.

The pass is valid on all Dublin Bus vehicles and Luas trams.

The forgeries look almost exactly like the real ones, though they are not recognised by validating machines on buses.

The fraud was exposed when an employee of the bus company was going through ’standard fares’ — or fines — issued to passengers.

Mark Kelly, an area manager with the semi-state’s revenue protection unit, came across a fine issued to a woman for not having her Dublin Bus identification card with her.

He told the Herald he thought it odd that she would pay €98 for a Combi ticket and then not even carry her free ID.

Mr Kelly kept the ticket with him and within 24 hours had it checked out. It proved to be a forgery.

Dublin Bus officers then discovered an ad on Gumtree for a 30-day bus and Luas pass at a cut-price €50.

A full-scale investigation was launched, Mr Kelly said.

One of the first things the company did was to apply online for a ticket.

Within a short period, the fake was delivered to an address provided. This allowed Dublin Bus to call in the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

Bus inspectors were also told to be on the look out.

When forgeries were discovered, the vehicles were immediately stopped and the local garda station was informed.

“We have found over 30 people on our buses that were in possession of a false ticket.

“They are being processed through the courts,” said Mr Kelly, who praised the co-operation provided by gardai.

On one day alone, four buses were stopped at the same time at different locations around the city.

It is understood only one suspect was Irish, while the majority hailed from Eastern European countries.

One difference between the real pass and the fakes is the former has a matt surface on two specific spots, while the forgeries are glossy all over.

The crackdown, which started in April, proved successful as no more forgeries were discovered on buses after July.

As well as over the internet, the tickets were also offered for sale at the Spire on Dublin’s O’Connell Street and other locations.

It is not the first time public transport has been targeted by fraudsters.

In 2006, a lucrative fake travel pass scam on the country’s bus and rail networks was exposed.

It involved the falsification of travel passes issued by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to people with special needs.

The bosses of website Gumtree could not be contacted for a comment.

RTE reports:

SIPTU says it has belatedly discovered that there is a mechanical problem associated with certain models of bus in the Dublin Bus fleet.

The union says that despite assurances from management it is concerned about driver and customer safety, and wants an independent safety body to examine the problem.

In response Dublin Bus confirmed there was an issue regarding a braking system on certain buses.

However the company said all the affected components were being replaced in a process that would take ten days.

In the meantime it stressed there was no risk to the safety of customers, staff or the general public.

RTE reports:

A private bus company has begun High Court proceedings against the Minister for Transport over what it says was a decision allowing unfair competition.

Swords Express claims the Dept of Transport allowed Dublin Bus to change its route to compete with the private service.

The private bus company claims it is being put out of business because of the decision, which affects a route from Swords to the city centre using the Port Tunnel.

The company is seeking a judicial review in the High Court in which it will say it cannot compete with a State-subsidised service, and will ask the High Court to quash the decision.

The company will claim the decision to allow Dublin Bus to change its route was irrational and unreasonable and that the public interest was not considered.

It will also say that Dublin Bus and a public representative who lobbied on its behalf were told the application to change the route would be successful before the decision was made.

Frank Callinan SC told the High Court that the matter was of some commercial urgency, as Swords Express was being put out of business.

The case has been adjourned until September.

Andrew Phelan of the Herald reports:

Dublin Bus has been forced to pull out of trouble spots in the city following savage assaults on its drivers.

Following intensive talks with gardai, routes in Clondalkin and Blanchardstown have been diverted until further notice.

And now the company is looking for members of the public in Clondalkin to help them track the prime suspects in the attacks, or else the community risks losing its bus service.

Two bus routes serving the area have diverted away from their scheduled routes over a series of incidents that reached crisis point when a driver was viciously beaten. According to sources, the young victim was headbutted and punched on the ground by two men after he came to the assistance of a colleague who was being assaulted by passengers.

The two drivers had been operating a route that was diverted to avoid missile-throwing thugs who were targeting the buses on a nightly basis for a month.

Windows had been smashed with stones and bottles, while other passengers have been terrorised by anti-social behaviour on board.

The attacks were launched against buses on the 78A route between the city centre and Liffey Valley and 76 between Blanchardstown and Fettercairn.

The diversions after 7.30pm have been in place since July 5, with buses not serving the Neilstown Road, Ronanstown or Fonthill Road in either direction.

A Dublin Bus spokeswoman said: “After two meetings on July 15 with members of the Gardaí and the residents association, it was decided that diversions will continue. Dublin Bus is hopeful that the services will be restored as soon as possible”.

One driver said the decision to divert was taken as a last resort when the number of attacks went “off the scale”.

He said it was regrettable that the actions of a minority had disrupted a vital service and put the safety of drivers and other passengers at risk.

The assaults happened earlier this month when two passengers verbally abused a foreign driver when the bus diverted.

They refused to leave and started throwing coins at him, hitting him in the eye.

The other driver got out to help and was headbutted.

The pair set upon him and violently kicked him as he lay helpless on the ground.

The bus worker was badly shaken in the incident and was out of work for a week. The incident is being investigated by the gardai.

Councillor Shane O’Connor (SF) condemned the attacks and said he was hopeful the services would be back by this weekend.

“There is clear, unambiguous support from a number of service providers, including the gardai, to establish a forum to deal with this”, he said.

Dublin Bus has said it is hopeful the service can return to normal soon, following a series of meetings with gardai, local politicians and community leaders.

Apparently Louth’s politicians are even slower on the uptake than their Dublin counterparts, and have only begun to take note of this quite important fact in recent weeks.

As usual the local people, the users of the transport services in question, are being let down by their public representatives.

The ultimate result of this omission will probably be, among other things, the spiking of the proposed DART extension to Drogheda.

Add to this mix the loss to Louth of the strategic planning and funding elements of the DTA, and the you end up with a situation whereby the area to the north of Dublin, which is very definitely in the city’s commuter belt, will be treated as a poor relation to the counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.

This could be solved by altering the legislation in include Louth, but according to the government this can’t be done, or if it can be done the legislation will have too be amended at some unspecified future date.

All very strange considering the amount of development growth expected along the Dublin to Belfast corridor.

Unless something is done, the government will be leaving an area close to Dublin for property developers to build lots of houses without any public transport provision. We are as much against the continued sprawl of Dublin into the rest of the country as the next persopn, but the horse has well and truly bolted, and no amount of nailing the stable door closed will stop it.

Louth is part of the greater Dublin area in all but name and is now the home to many, many people who travel in and out of Dublin every day. Unless there is some kind of plan B that will move all their jobs to Louth, the county must be included in the DTA.

The firm are supplying some bikes (cost: secret) in exchange for the right to place lots ad lots of advertising on footpaths (value: secret). Many of these signs block either the view from vehicles of pedestrians about to cross the road and/or the ability of pedestrians to see on coming traffic.

There has been condemnation from the DTO, the National Council for the Blind and even Dublin’s own councillors. Apparently the councillors were not aware of the deal until after it was signed, and even then have not been given all the details due to “commercial sensitivities”.

This is, wouldn’t you know it, in direct contravention of section 183 of the Local Government Act “…which specifies that the release of public lands is a reserved function, necessitating a vote by councillor.” Needless to say, the council is pressing on with the crazy scheme. Bearing in mind the track record of Dublin’s local authorities for making deals with big business we can but speculate why.

MadsL, a contributor to boards.ie has been stirring it up for the public good, and has produced this video which explains the situation quite well.

If you feel strongly about this (and you should) you are encouraged to contact your councillors and the Department of Transport.

The Irish Times has more:

A couple whose home in south Dublin is close to the Luas green line have claimed before the High Court they have been exposed to very serious and aggravating noise on a daily basis since the Luas went into operation four years ago.

Paula and Vincent Smyth, of Cambridge Terrace, Leeson Park, Dublin, have brought proceedings against the Railway Procurement Agency and Veolia Transport Ireland Ltd, who operate the Luas on behalf of the agency. The Attorney General is a notice party to the case.

The couple want injunctions restraining the defendants operating the Luas in a manner that causes a noise nuisance and requiring them to erect an appropriate barrier to reduce the noise. They are also seeking damages.

The defendants deny the claims, contend the Luas is being operated in accordance with the terms of the Transport Light Rail Acts of 1996 and 2001 and also plead that the operation of the Luas under those Acts cannot as a matter of law give rise to the nuisance alleged.

Opening the case before Ms Justice Mary Laffoy today, Seamus Woulfe SC, for the couple, said their enjoyment of their home has been “severely undermined and compromised” due to noise from the Luas since it began operating in July 2004.

He said the Smyth’s back garden was in close proximity to elevated sections of the Luas Line running between Sandyford and St Stephens Green.

During the planning stages of the Luas in the late 1990’s the Smyths, who have lived at Leeson Park since 1992, believed special noise reduction screens would be erected at certain sensitive locations where the light rail would pass, counsel said.

The Smyths, based on an undertaking by RPA, had a legitimate expectation measures would be put in place to reduce noise levels to within acceptable levels, he said.

However, the failure to install the noise reduction screen had exposed the Smyths to very serious and aggravating noise which totally disrupted their enjoyment of their home. A tram passed their home 330 times between 5.30am and 12.30am every weekday and 254 times daily at the weekend.

The Smyths were unable to enjoy their garden or hold a conversation when a tram passes due to the noise. The glass in the kitchen area vibrated when a Luas passed and it was impossible to entertain guests, counsel said.

The most significant problem was that they were unable to sleep properly at night or in the early morning, he added. Their bedroom faced onto the Luas embankment and they regularly had to sleep with the windows shut and with ear plugs.

A consultant engineer who measured the noise levels from the operation of the Luas found those levels within their home exceeded acceptable or guideline measurements for residential areas. Counsel also argued the defendants did not have an immunity under the Transport Acts from being sued in the matter.

The case is expected to last several days.

While we may have given the impression (and indeed believed ourselves) that the issue of Dublin Bus being allowed to use the Port Tunnel was over and done with, it appears it is not so simple.

While permission has been given to run buses into town via the magnificent concrete monument to the Celtic Tiger (may it rest in peace) that is the tunnel, no such permission exists to run buses in the other direction.

Yes indeed, after well over a year of delays to the 41X tunnel route, primarily due to some bizarre thinking at the Department of Transport with regard to how to apply what is laughingly described as “the law”, Dublin Bus are still not allowed to run buses to Swords via the tunnel.

While Sinn Fein and Labour public representatives have been pointing the finger (rightly, in our opinion) at the Department for this idiotic situation, Fianna Fail politicians continue to attempt to spin the situation and blame Dublin Bus, with FF TD Michael Kennedy telling the Northside People that he has…

“…called on Dublin Bus to take urgent steps to ensure that the 41X service can use the Dublin Port Tunnel during peak evening journeys.”

It is clear that Kennedy is a very special style of iijit, who along with his colleagues, has continually tried to pin the blame for the 41X situation on Dublin Bus. What he is not saying is that it’s a government department run by another FF TD that is refusing to allow the service to run. The department meanwhile are pulling the usual “competition law” argument out of the hat.

They do not explain how the inbound route is not a problem, but the outbound one is. We’re sure the explanation will run along the lines of blaming some old transport legislation and then trying to distract everyone from this and the issue of there not being any money set aside for public transport improvements while cutting the ribbon on yet another consultation process for some light rail scheme that will never be built.

But that isn’t how things work in this country, is it?

The operator chosen to run the planned Metro North system in Dublin will forfeit an annual fee of tens of millions of euro if it does not achieve the highest standards in the world in key areas such as passenger numbers, punctuality and breakdowns.

Documents sent to the four consortiums bidding to build and operate the 17-kilometre line from St Stephen’s Green to Swords specify that the network operator must achieve a minimum 85 per cent target across all key performance indicators, or its income for the year will be withheld. Industry sources said this would be the highest standard in the world for any new metro.

It is envisaged that up to 8,000 passengers will initially use the service in each direction per hour, but the specified requirement for Metro North is a capacity of up to 22,000 passengers per direction per hour.

The inclusion of shops or newsagents in some stations on the route is being debated. The tender documents also include specifications for the metro platforms and tram lengths. The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) wants platforms of 98 metres and trams that can run up to 90 metres. While the average tram carriage is 32 metres long, operators could opt to connect two or more 32-metre carriages - or two 45-metre tram carriages - for a higher capacity.

The metro carriages will be the same width as the existing Luas tram carriages at 2.4 metres, which means that the two types of carriages can be interchangeable. Tunnelling costs will also be less expensive than for wider trams.

Most metro systems operate two tracks in a single tunnel, but the Metro North will be built as two tunnels, similar to the Port Tunnel. While this is more expensive, it will mean that the whole network would not have to be shut down in the event of a fire or accident.

Recent metro systems in cities in Germany and France have cost about €35 million per kilometre built underground and €20 million per kilometre over ground. This does not include the cost of land purchase, operator costs or the rolling stock of ticketing systems.

Estimates for the total cost of Metro North - which has ten kilometres underground and seven kilometres over ground - range from €3 billion to €5 billion.

A statement was issued this morning by Circle Line, the private bus company serving Lucan and Celbridge, announcing that they are to cease operations. If ever you needed an example as to why a privatised bus service is a bad idea, then this is one.

Circle Line, a paradox not just in name

Circle Line are claiming that they have been forced to go into liquidation due to “…unfair competition from Dublin Bus…” and because “…it was subject to route saturation from Dublin Bus immediately after it started.” This is, of course, nonsense. Unfortunately Dublin Bus are so inadequate at managing their own public relations, preferring to send threatening letters to websites rather than properly addressing inaccuracies in the media. So, for no fee, let’s do their job for them.

We agree that private bus operation in Dublin is not on a level playing field with Dublin Bus, in fact they have the advantage over the public operator. Due to the way transport policy is run in Ireland, and the way the Department of Transport (Dot) like to do business, we do not have a situation were operators can run like-for-like services against each other. In fact, direct competition is prohibited. So much for the “consumer choice” that has been touted every time privatisation comes up.

In fact it is even worse than this, due to the way licenses are managed by the DoT, a private operator can speculatively apply to run a route, get the license, and then sit back and to run no route at all. Meanwhile nobody else, including Dublin Bus, is allowed to run buses on that route due to it having been already awarded to someone else!

Thus you have the current situation in parts of Dublin where locals are complaining, rightly, that Dublin Bus are not providing a good enough service. Unbeknownst to them though, they are faulting the wrong people. The blame for all of this should be placed squarely on the desk of transport minister Noel Dempsey.

An express service that takes a year and a half to arrive

Take for instance the 41X situation. Dublin Bus applied in Spring 2007 to run services through Dublin’s Port Tunnel. They were told the DoT would think about it, but then got put on the long finger as the Swords Express applied to run a service too. In Autumn of last year the Sword Express got the thumbs up and eventually began it’s service, meanwhile Dublin Bus was told to keep waiting.

Then in March of this year, a whole year after applying to run the route, Dublin Bus was refused permission. Why? Because it would be in direct competition with a route run by a private operator. They were then told, if they wanted to run the route they would have to apply, again! Calling this Kafkaesque does not do it justice.

As all of this went on local people became angry and even local TDs, from Fianna Fail no less (!), weighed in blaming Dublin Bus for the situation (!!) claiming they had not applied to use the tunnel in the first place. Finally, today, after presumably finding the right form to fill in (at the back of a filing cabinet in the second basement of 44 Kildare Street, past a sign saying “Beware of the Leopard”) Dublin Bus have been allowed to use the tunnel.

Even with good news to deliver, Dublin Bus are apparently incapable of explaining the true nature of these kinds of situations to the public at large, with the Evening Herald reporting that “…eventually Dublin Bus has decided to use the Port Tunnel in an effort to speed up some bus journeys.” when in actual fact Dublin Bus decided that back in March of last year.

Oddly enough local Fianna Fail TDs are busy telling everyone that is was “they what won it”, blaming Dublin Bus for the delay, not the god-awful leadership coming from Transport House.

Coming full circle

So, what about the Circle Line blaming Dublin Bus for their woes? As the 41X situation demonstrates, our public bus service is a long way from being in any position to stop private bus companies operating and causing them to go bust, with all the protectionism towards privateers that the DoT conducts.

Perhaps the demise of the Circle Line is more to do with how they actually conducted their business. Did people know enough about the service in the first place, how much it cost, where it went and how often? Or maybe it was because they were prone to puling services at a moment’s notice that they deemed unprofitable?

Private operators are just that - private. They do not operate a public service, they are a business there to make a profit, and good luck to them. Certainly there is room for them on our roads in certain situations, but by and large having a properly run state monopoly taking care of your transport needs is what we need. We already have a state run semi-monopoly, now we just need to make sure it is well run.