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Win Butler from Arcade Fire AP/Press Association Images

Concert-goers walk hours home after Marlay Park gig (or get lift from pizza delivery man)

Some had to walk along the M50 in order to try and get home.

SOME PEOPLE ATTENDING the Arcade Fire and Pixies gig at Marlay Park in Dublin last night found themselves having to walk for hours when they couldn’t access buses or taxis.

In one case, a man got a lift from a Domino’s Pizza delivery driver after he got wind of his difficulty getting home.

The park has a capacity of 32,000 people and is located in Rathfarnham, about 9km (5.5 miles) from the city centre of Dublin.

Getting there

One young woman, who didn’t get home until 2am though she left the concert grounds at 11pm, told TheJournal.ie that there were issues with buses heading into Marlay Park.

“We got to Custom House Quay at 5pm and they said there would be no more buses until 6.30pm,” she said.

They got a taxi and then walked the rest of the way to the venue, as there was a “big queue” for the buses, run by Marathon Sports Travel, with people who had bought tickets online getting priority.

After the concert

At the conclusion of the concert, the person TheJournal.ie spoke to exited by the left of the stage with her friends.

They made their way through the venue grounds and, not finding any buses, ended up exiting by foot onto the M50.

However they were still unable to access a bus or taxi, and walked to the Rathfarnham Road before getting in touch with a taxi firm. They eventually got home at 2am after waiting at a service station for over an hour.

Another concert-goer told us she had to walk for an hour to get a taxi as there were no buses left.

What the transport operators said

In its comprehensive information guide on transport to the concerts, concert promoter MCD said that Marathon Sports Travel would operate a bus service from Customs House at 2pm, 3pm, and every half hour from 4pm.

When TheJournal.ie contacted Marathon Sports Travel, Francis Roche said that nobody who booked a ticket online with them missed a bus.

“We carried all the people [who booked a ticket online],” said Roche.

He said that the “big message” is that:

An awful lot of people just expect that there will be transport there. You can book our transport online with us. If you are going [to Marlay Park], it is a remote site so book in advance. If they book service, they are guaranteed to get service.

On the issue of the buses not running exactly to schedule, he said they had experienced a surge of people after the Dublin match, and that in order to manage expectations they told customers that it might be 6.30pm before they could get a bus.

However, he said that they had “all those people moved by 6pm”. He said the staff did not sell tickets to people unless they realised they would have to wait longer than expected for the bus.

Dublin Bus was also running buses to the venue. A spokesperson said that they put additional buses on their 16c services, with 35 buses in total: 27 bringing people home, and seven going to Marlay park.

“We did supplement the service the best we could,” she said.

That is what we will be doing for all the gigs in Marlay Park this summer, we will be putting on additional buses to deal with the extra people.

On Boards.ie, the issue of public transport to the gig was also discussed, with one user saying that getting home “was a nightmare”.

Some people had journeyed from outside Dublin – one said that she had missed her bus to Cork due to the delays, and had to stay in Dublin.
https://twitter.com/brid_ad_lib/status/483545428924055552

People were also describing their experiences on Twitter:

arcade 1 Malcolm Rule Malcolm Rule

arcade 2 Kenneth Hayden Kenneth Hayden

arcade 3 Barry Quinn Barry Quinn

arcade 4 Damo Kenny Damo Kenny

Read: The Pope ripped up a photo of Miley Cyrus at the Arcade Fire gig last night*>

Read: Heading to Arcade Fire tomorrow? Their Glastonbury set had Ireland divided>

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122 Comments
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    Mute Dave Collins
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    Jun 18th 2020, 1:17 PM

    RIP, she did a lot of good work as Irish ambassador I seem to remember..

    414
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    Mute Joby Redmond
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    Jun 18th 2020, 2:17 PM

    Lovely woman who loved Ireland. She pushed and got visa restrictions for Irish people lifted. And she appears in the film Micheal Collins. RIP Jean.

    222
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    Mute Declan Leonard
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    Jun 18th 2020, 2:18 PM

    A wonderful woman by all accounts. My father used to drive her about when she was here.

    181
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    Mute Joan Doyle
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    Jun 18th 2020, 2:32 PM

    What an an amazing group of siblings

    147
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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:20 PM

    @Joan Doyle: ya especially Ted

    18
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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jun 18th 2020, 6:26 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper: well other than that girl he left for dead

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    Mute James Walsh
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    Jun 18th 2020, 6:50 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper: Give it up ya gobsh!te, the Kennedys have always been friends of Ireland and take pride in their Irish heritage.

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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jun 18th 2020, 7:03 PM

    @James Walsh: so if someone takes pride in their Irish Heritage, they can drive a car drunk into the sea, leave a woman in car, take a boat to another town, hide for a night and then call for help? Good to know

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    Mute Cowboy Paddy
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    Jun 18th 2020, 7:45 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper:
    No… But bringing up her brother’s bad choice over 50 years ago during the announcement of her death takes a special kind of thinking…

    You could talk about all the wonderful things her family did

    22
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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Jun 18th 2020, 8:16 PM

    @Cowboy Paddy: i didn’t bring him up another poster did, he got away lightly, more than just a bad choice his family connections got him off murder

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    Mute Cowboy Paddy
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    Jun 18th 2020, 11:52 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper:
    Have you any proof of murder?

    If you do why do with hold it from the Police all this time?

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    Mute Teresa Ryan
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    Jun 19th 2020, 5:41 PM

    @James Walsh: He still left a woman to drown. There’s no getting away from that.

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    Mute James Walsh
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    Jun 19th 2020, 9:05 PM

    @Teresa Ryan: I was talking about the Kennedy family in general, and not Ted in particular.

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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Jun 18th 2020, 2:49 PM

    She was one of the good Kennedys. She served her society well. She was a friend of the old country. R.I.P.

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    Mute tuco
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    Jun 18th 2020, 3:05 PM

    Rip to a great woman.she really held Ireland in her heart.the last bloodline of the famous Kennedy dynasty

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    Mute Emer Caffrey
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    Jun 18th 2020, 3:32 PM

    Ah, such a lovely woman, rest in peace

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    Mute Sylvia O'Regan
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    Jun 18th 2020, 2:20 PM

    She had an interesting life. RIP.

    That being said, I hope that these political dynasties are coming to an end. Power shouldn’t be concentrated.

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    Mute Ben Keohane
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:15 PM

    @Sylvia O’Regan: not sure about the comment about dynasties. Her whole family were devoted to politics.

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    Mute John Caplis
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    Jun 18th 2020, 7:31 PM

    @Ben Keohane: And unfortunately they paid dearly for it. Both Jack and Bobby Kennedy helped to save the world from nuclear war during the Cuban Missiles Crisis. I wonder how the current president would have handled it?

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    Mute Cowboy Paddy
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    Jun 18th 2020, 7:38 PM

    @Sylvia O’Regan:
    Actually Jean was not a politician and never ran in a race in her life.

    She was diplomat and done a great service for Ireland and for that we can be forever thankful. This help to Ireland from the Kennedy’s was in a long line of help her family gave to Ireland .

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    Mute John Waters
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:42 PM

    A strong lady driven by ambition and the will to help people of all race or religion.Did great work for disabled and disadvantaged children.Has left
    a wonderful legacy like here brothers before her .You have earned your rest
    R.IP.

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    Mute Raymond Power
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:20 PM

    According to the embassy jfk visited Ireland “fifty five years ago” I’ll just leave that here…

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    Mute Tony Lyons
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:24 PM

    @Raymond Power: after he died very good

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    Mute Martina Lowe
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:35 PM

    A great lady I had da pleasure of meeting

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    Mute Martina Lowe
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:31 PM

    A lovely lady I had da pleasure of meeting her in 1994 in Tullamore was great to have met 1 of da famous Kennedy clan

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    Mute Martina Lowe
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    Jun 18th 2020, 5:34 PM

    A lovely lady I had da pleasure of meeting her in 1994 in Tullamore was great to have met 1 of da famous Kennedy clan

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