Best Idea Dublin Has Ever Had

Something has happened in Dublin over the last 2 or 3 months, I don't know if anyone has noticed this but people who travel by bus in this city seem jollier, they seem less hostile, more friendly, more patient. You know why? I'll tell you, CIE have pulled off a piece of genius, they have finally done something that has made me want to just stroll into that office on O'Connell St and give them all a big round of applause, but I cant because that’s kind of weird. They have done something that could ease some of the tension and anguish in this city and boost morale of everyone. They are beginning to put these things on each and every bus stop in the city, you fucking legends.



Throughout my childhood on up through to my college years, waiting for buses for hours on end, not knowing when the bastards were going to come, was pretty much a daily experience for me. I cannot tell you what it was like, and I hear what you’re probably saying, 'What buses were you taking, man?' I used to get some of the worst buses on the fucking planet, for instance - to kick it off, the 16 from St. Enda's Park in Rathfarnham, this stop used to be the terminus so if there wasn't a bus there, you were waiting for ages. You never knew how long the next bus was going to be, has one just left or is there one just around the corner, it didn’t matter because the bus driver always had a five or ten minute chill out when he got there anyway. It was a nightmare and if you wanted to get the 16A, you had to trek down to St. Mary’s at the end of Nutgrove Avenue and in doing that, you might loose concentration and miss the 16 coming from behind you.



The 44A from Dundrum, for about 6 months when we were about 15, myself and my mates used to wait and wait and wait for this particular bus that went up to Enniskerry. I swear to God, this bus came about 3 times a day and there was no timetable on the bus stop but we still waited. Why? I hear you ask. Well, there was a hot bunch of birds up in Enniskerry at the time and they wanted to score us and we weren't missing out on that for the life of us, so we would wait, for sometimes, a couple of hours, I am not joking. Sometimes when we would be in town, hanging around, we'd see a 44A and we would point at it like it was the abominable snowman or something, I still do to this day.



Let's move onto the bus of many names that took me to school in Rathgar, it started as the 47, then the 47a, then it was the 15C and finally the 74A. Not that this bus was irregular, it was just unreliable. You could be standing there for a half hour and then three of the bastards would come along at the same time. Absolute bullshit!



Then finally onto my college years, I had to take this bus we used to call the 'Rags to Riches', it went from Ballsbridge to Ballyfermot, the 18, I used to jump on at Harold's Cross and this was a nightmare of the highest degree. I used to play a game with myself to help me through the waiting, if I sparked up a smoke, by the end of it, the bus would appear around the corner, if I was playing a tune on my ‘mini-disc player’, by the end of the tune, I would be stepping onto the bus and when the bus didn't arrive, I would be genuinely fuming. I would be in a fowler going into college.



I remember standing at all these bus stops over the years, coming up with inventions in my head, inventions where you would know exactly where the nearest bus was and when it was going to arrive. There is something about knowing when it is coming, even if it is twenty minutes, at least you know, you can go get a coffee and you don’t have to stand there like tit just waiting. Then the Luas came along and they had them installed at every station. Savage! Bus stops had to be next.

One thing I can’t understand is, how are they are affording all this? It just goes to show that the oul public transport department of Ireland are not so short of cashola, even in these times of, dare I say it, resession. Imagine how much it would costs to put one of those things up on each bus stop in Dublin. That’s a good question actually, How many bus stops are there in Dublin? And how much does one of those things cost.

But listen to this, my mate, Jordi and myself were discussing these new phenomenons, we were, through conversation, celebrating their brilliance when Jordi dropped this bombshell on me. There is this . . . . department, I don't know, in charge of Irish culture, the Irish language or something. I'm going to have to research this more. But, supposedly, they are making CIE take all the ones that are up, down again because the destinations are in English, . . . . . get the fuck out of it. If this is the case, CIE should just tell them to piss off; this is more money, more of the same bureaucratic bullshit that has been wasting the money of this country to date.

Here is the link, thanks Jordi - http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/gaeilgeoir-protests-delay-new-bus-signs-2578542.html



Anyway, I want to finish this blog on a positive note. The whole idea is brilliant and as a person who takes the bus all the time, I salute you, genius, absolute genius. My life has been made so much easier. I can’t wait until they all have them.