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EVERYONE IN THE capital is familiar with the blue and yellow of Dublin Bus.
But it wasn’t always so. Aside from the formerly green fleet, the company wasn’t always called Dublin Bus.
In fact, it was 30 years ago today that the company was formed out of CIE. To celebrate, it has released a book of some of its best stories from the last three decades.
These include one from Dessie O’Toole who has been working as a driver since January 1975 and is now mostly seen on the 84 route. He describes the company as a “great place”.
“There was a woman who lived in Bray named Ethel who lived in a fisherman’s cottage across from the 45 terminus.
She had a seagull called Maureen. It was a pet to her, but not to anybody else. She had an unusual voice and would call ‘Maureen’ and the bird would come straight down to her and come to her.
“A photo of Maureen on Ethel’s head was turned into a postcard for Bray.”
Dessie’s also recalls one incident where the snow tried to wreak havoc with his route.
“There are so many stories you can tell. In 1976 or ’77 we were starting in Dun Laoghaire and around 5pm it started to snow as we got into Bray.
Two buses had tried to get down the hill outside what is now Tesco but couldn’t so we were stuck. We went around the back of the supermarket, got some pallets and made a fire.
“The residents of the housing estate came out and, being Sunday, they went in to make us food from the remainder of the Sunday roast.
“It was a bit of craic.”
The wedding singer
Theresa Lydon is another who has been with the company for more than 30 years. She tells a story about how she was a vital guest at a wedding.
I used to run a folk group in Ballymun and I booked a bus for a friend of mine who was getting married. I brought the bus to the church, sang at the wedding, then put the guests on the bus and brought them to the afters.
Theresa, who drives the 220, 39 and 37 routes, says that she has seen the number of women drivers grow massively.
“When I joined, there wasn’t many… but there’s a good blend now.
“I was only a child going in… I was only 18. But it’s been a great company to work for.”
Hold on to the turkey
Craig Shearer is another whose service outdates the Dublin Bus moniker.
He says that a story carried in the book – about how a rabbit was found aboard the number 16 bus in 1989 – was replicated recently enough.
“There’s a family of foxes living near Broadstone depot and one evening a driver went out to UCD around 4pm.
“The first passenger got on and said, ‘Driver, there’s a fox upstairs’.
The mammy had got on the bus, so he had to close the doors and head back to the depot.
Craig’s favourite story also involves an animal, though a slightly different type.
“Around Christmas we have the seasonals – seasonal drinkers and seasonal travellers. There are people who don’t really drink or get the bus, but around Christmas they do.
“There was this one guy out in Tallaght about 20 years ago. He got a turkey, rang the wife and said he was going for a quick drink.
“She said to him, ‘Don’t forget the turkey, whatever you do.’ He stayed in the pub longer than he’d anticipated and fell asleep on the bus in the middle doors.
He must have remembered the turkey as he fell asleep because we found him back in Ringsend garage, asleep in the middle doors on his back, holding onto the turkey!
The book also recounts how a red-faced woman had to ask an inspector not to open her bag in a search for a lost ticket – because it contained a large amount of lingerie. The ticket was eventually found.
The book will be displayed in depots around Dublin this month.
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Career choice and career often turn out to be two different things.
@Brendan O’Brien: When i done my leaving cert in 1999 i got very low points. I was never collage material any way. I done an apprenticeship in fitting and welding. I have worked all over the world building bridges, tunnels and oil and gas refinery’s. Home now and mortgage free at 36. Collage is not the be all to success. Even people who do poorly in school can be successful if they choose the right career.
@Jamie Jj Tobin: fair play to you Jamie – you are right – its not for everyone. but whatever you do, it is important to commit to it and take your opportunities as you seem to have done. good example for many in the next few months…
I know someone who always wanted to be a doctor but didn’t get the points so their parents (very ambitious) persuaded them to aim for teaching, I remember the father telling me “nice secure government job”, I told him if their heart wasn’t in they would regret it. Either way they did a science degree. The second it was done they turned around and used graduate entry to get into medicine.
If you want something bad enough, there is a way.
I work in a supermarket as a checkout supervisor, not the most glamour job in the world but I love it! I meet new people every day, I like to talk alot so that helps :) and I’m a good problem solver, I had good leaving cert results but money for college was a factor but I have to say I love where I am pays the bills let’s me live a decent life and I’m never hungry I could ask for more..
@Conaire DeBhairduin: What are your views on the potential of automation replacing all check outs in supermarkets over the coming years. Is this something that worries you?
@will: boom!
@will: who’ll check the check outs?, who’ll check the check out check out?
@iohanx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrmMk1Myrxc Nobody apparently!
I was in a terrible place mentally, recently diagnosed and placed on medication, but was told that completing the leaving cert was my best option. I passed everything, did brilliantly in the only subject I cared for, but still not enough points to get into college. I went to further education, it was close and affordable and would give me a taste of what I could be in for from college. I completed the level 5 with a partial due to coming off of the medication and instability, then spent the next 3 years working after I moved up to Dublin. Got work hours reduced and reduced and reduced until I couldn’t afford rent, and had to move back home. Did a level 6 this year with Distinctions in all subjects, now looking to move on to do an English Bachelors at 24 and then go into teaching.
Took me 6 years before I found out what I wanted to do.
@Shannon Mcg: good luck, don’t give up!
My career advise at school was,
“You may as well emigrate, there is nothing here for you.”
So I did, and had a great time before eventually returning.
@Brian McDonnell: I did the same but without having been given any advice. It forced me to become independent at 22 and was a very positive life lesson.
@Brian McDonnell:
how long ago? Just curious, as members of my family were told and did the same in the eighties.
@Denis Moynihan: Yeap….the career choice was work elsewhere or the dole here, so any job would do, from warehouses to offices, building sites to factories. As long as I could pay my way I wasn’t too fussy.
@P.J. Nolan: Late 80′s.
The notion that when you sit your leaving cert is when you should make your career choice is totally outmoded and ridiculous anyway.
@Conor Paddington: the way careers change and jobs change, continuing education is vital. 46 and still don’t know what to do.
My parents supported me in every step I took to get my degree but they always said that the subjects I picked to study at college was my own choice.
@davo gazeley: exactly.
Left school after a not so great leaving cert about 30 years ago, went to UK and became a Telecom Engineer in London – - 5 years later became a Commercial Diver in the Middle east – - 6 years later did a degree in Computers as a mature student and now working in the IT area. My parents did not influence me but they always had my back which is the most important thing and thats what I will try to do with my children. Do your best in the exams but try not to get worked up on it (its hard I know).There are so many avenues you can go down when choosing a career and you will change as it suits. Just be there for the kids when needed with a helping hand and supportive guidance.
The number of points I got in the leaving decided
My mother was a stripper and my father a debt collecter. I became a priest. They’re still struggling with the shame of it.
Me uncle Paddy. He gave me his old van and a gallon of diesel and said:
‘There you go kid – the world is your oyster’
I never looked back.
No. For most people, only themselves know what they want to do
My parents were very supportive of any choice I was to make. They didn’t inspire the career I would take, but they inspired me to be hard working, ambitious and to do exactly what I wanted and they would support me as much as they could. I couldn’t have asked for better.
No one’s parents should directly influence or choose their child’s career or CAO. It is up to the individual to choose a path they are interested in. Advice can go a long way, but it is ultimately your life and your choice.
TBH I don’t care what career my kids choose. I will be proud of them regardless. Though I did dissuade my daughter from putting nursing and midwifery as her first choices along with help from the guidance counselor. Weighing up pay, working conditions, social life, family life, benefit packages and so on. She has stem subjects at her 5 top options. Nursing and midwifery as last resorts.
@Lily:
So you did influence her decisions
@P.J. Nolan: not really, the guidance counselor did. I told her what i thought but she was adamant to do midwifery that was until the guidance counselor told her the realities of her choice and explored stem subjects. So really it was the guidance counselor who influenced her cao choices. I can’t force her to choose any subjects neither would I want to, it’s her life to live how she pleases. If she dose midwifery I’m sure she will be happy and I’ll still be proud though probably worry if she is eating enough, getting her legally required lunch breaks and so on.
Generally when a parent says one thing, kids do the complete opposite.
Dissuading her was just me pointing out all the bad bits of the job. But she didn’t listen until the guidance counselor advised her not to go for it. The guidance counselor didn’t know my thoughts but I was delighted that we were on the same wavelength and convinced her to do stem subjects. She really did help. Had the guidance counselor told her to stick with nursing I could accept that too.
I have much respect for people in health care. It’s a noble job.
@Lily: Jesus Christ will you go and tell that girl that she can do anything she wants! It doesn’t matter about money and life balance when you love what you do! How dare you influence a young person away from what she is telling you what she wants to do! I work long hours, weekends and not for amazing pay but with great people. I’d prefer my child was a nurse than working in a stable, well paid banking role or many others instead of working among the kindest hard working people around. Give her the approval to change her mind and don’t live through her!
Yeah my Ma was a huge influence ‘Get off your arse and get a job, you lazy shite’ worked wonders.
@Dermot Lane: Same here. Best of luck son and don’t come back was about the jist of it.
Now I have kids I finally understand.
As the first person from my all-girls secondary school to do engineering of any sort in college it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have even considered it if my father hadn’t been an engineer. As he was a computer engineer we always had technology around the house so I had far more experience with computers than anyone else in my school. Heck when my primary school got a photocopier for the first time I was put in charge of it rather than any of the teachers and I was only 10.
I wouldn’t say parents but older sisters and brothers as well as their friends where able to give realistic advice. If you know what you want at 17 I’d almost be worried about you. It’s tough to know at any age.
Parents were supportive of my choices but never told me what I should do. School was useless, they wanted me to follow one of my parents path and do the same degree as one of them and any attempts by both me and my parents to explain that wasn’t what I was interested in fell on deaf years. Just had to grin and bare it with them while doing my own research outside school.
@ztoical: same happened from my guidance counselor. She swore I should be an accountant. Had to have her look at my last maths tests so she could understand how wrong she was.
Yes, I decided at age 17 I would never be a parent, clergyman nor have anything to do with “mental health,” whatever the f. that is…
@Paul Jennings: I take it you’re not working in comedy?
No it was the computer that told me to be a taxidermist or wig maker… Oh the 90s…. coincidentally years later I am now a careers adviser trying to add a bit more thoughtfulness to the process
I think a mistake some make is they choose a course they will enjoy rather than a career they will enjoy. If i was going back to college this is what i would tell myself before i choose a course. Dont do what you will enjoy in college because you will only be in college for 3 to 6 years, whereas you will be working for thirty years.
When I was applying to university in 1989 my father told me not do computer science as it was “played out” things worked out ok but imagine getting into the field almost 30yrs ago. Still bring it up whenever I can
Had shite career guidance teacher but other teachers were much better at proposing options that suited my aptitudes. Parents worked in the hospitality industry – they only wanted me to have a 9-5 job with weekends and bank hols off – never tried to push particular subjects
Ffs, no. No one did. My choice was my choice… I’m not one who would ever be “influenced” by anyone, family member or not…
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