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A GROUP REPRESENTING rail users has said that although packed Luas trams are technically safe, it “doesn’t feel safe” to passengers.
Commuters who take the Green Luas Line have said that delays and serious crowding have been a problem all this week, with passengers saying significant amounts of time have been added onto their morning commutes as a consequence.
The problems are mostly on the Green Line, which was extended in November as part of the Luas Cross City project and created an additional demand for the service.
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, Transdev said that the Luas service “has received a significant increase in the number of passenger complaints”, with most of those complaints focusing on overcrowding and frequency of trams.
Dr Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland said that the Luas trams have been built to withstand weight much heavier than the maximum number of people who could be allowed on the trams, he said that when the trams are packed “it doesn’t feel safe, and that’s the most important asset on the ground”.
“If the tram has to stop suddenly, even if it doesn’t hit something, you will get thrown across the tram, people get hospitalised. And that’s the worry if the tram stops suddenly, people could get crushed up – remember the Luas stops quicker than a car in an emergency. It stops frighteningly fast.”
He said that when trams are packed, people can get agitated and no air conditioning and limited airflow can cause problems for people.
Since the recent increase in frequent delays, Gleeson said that there’s been “poor if no information” from Luas operators about problems.
“The Luas has gone from the best transport service in the city to just average.”
Among the complaints that passengers made this week about the service were delays in Luas trams arriving, a lack of information about how long delays would be, and several trams passing a station without being able to let anyone on.
Gleeson said there aren’t really regulations about how many people you can let on a train or tram.
“There isn’t really any strict regulation on how many people you can squish on. It’s kind of self-regulatory – if you stand on a platform and you don’t like it you don’t get on.”
But what’s happened the last few weeks, people trying to get out to Brides Glen, basically found the service doesn’t exist anymore frequency has disappeared. They’ve no choice.
He added that “tempers can fray” in these kinds of situations between passengers, particularly during rush hour.
Transdev has said that the issues raised in complaints are being addressed by the operator with Transport Infrastructure Ireland and National Transport Authority.
The customer experience will improve in the coming days and weeks and the introduction of seven 55-metre trams will see noticeable improvements to the service.
These 55-metre trams could be the longest in the world; the original Luas tram was 30m in length.
On Friday, it was announced that longer Luas trams have been withdrawn from service due to a fault in the system.
Green Party TD for Dublin Rathdown Catherine Martin said passengers’ patience “is at breaking point”, adding that there were “grave safety concerns and accessibility concerns for wheelchair users and young children”.
“This is further evidence that not only were the Government ill-prepared for the launch of the Cross-City Luas, but there appears to be no contingency plan in place. This has resulted in a protracted and ongoing fiasco which could have been avoided.”
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Why would we give two hoots?
@Wishywashy: The government is attempting to undermine the cause of the protests by linking them to outside agitators. It’s not true of course.
The Serb government eased the lockdown before the June 21st election in order to get a big turn out and win votes, after the votes were counted they re-imposed the knockdown after announcing a spike in COVID-19 cases. The protestors upset at this, are a mix of people upset at the bent election and conspiracy minded who think COVID dies not exist or was exaggerated as a political tool to stifle descent.
The reason why we should care is that there is now a rapidly worsening outbreak of COVID in Serbia, the government capitulated to the protestors demands, ended the lockdown a 2nd time, so Serbia is now faced with a worsening mishandled outbreak they cannot control. That outbreak could force border closures and cause problems/outbreaks elsewhere in Europe.
Mr Bald of the Bald and Bankrupt YouTube channel caught Coronavirus in Serbia and was in hospital for a month and the ICU for a week.
Here’s his video: https://youtu.be/clscC120ZQM
He didn’t realise how ill he was and was taken to hospital in taxi by a concerned friend. They found his oxygen levels were in “the low 70s”. He recons the low oxygen levels affected his judgment and that’s why he didn’t realise he was dying.
Also, Serbia was caught covering up the severity of the outbreak.
There was an election on June 21, some protestors were upset about the bent election, think the corrupt government eased the lockdown in order to win votes. There’s now a second wave of infections, that’s why the lockdown was re-imposed, or maybe the first never ended, or maybe it’s to stifle protests. One of the leaders of the protest was a 5G conspiracy theorist, but there’s various reasons why people were protesting.
@David Jordan: he is brilliant to watch !! Especially his south American travels
@Maalouf: you might want to do a bit of background research on him, you will think twice about watching his videos.
@David Jordan: oh a communist sympathizer who worked for MI5 probably still does by the look of his videos. Reserch who you watch
@Tiktok: Sources please. Have been following him for a good while and this is the first I’ve heard of that
@Alex Nevin: Used enjoys his videos until I found out he’s a d!rty little git
@Hup Abù: eh hem..I quite enjoyed his videos until I learned he’s a d!try little git
@Alex Nevin: he used to post under a pseudonym in a sex tourist forum and people have corroborated events he mentions in the pseudonym account with facts known about his life (where he has been, an unfounded rape accusation, ex wife from Belarus, tips for learning Russian). He posted despicable stories and totally denigrated all of the people he pretends to be friends with. https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/cz1sz4/the_x_files_of_bald_bankrupt_a_brief_summary_and/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body
@David Jordan: and that is hilarious because he was a denier until he got it
Sure or government used the pandemic to form a government nobody voted for!
@Aaron Jones: you got precisely what you voted for. No overall control….
@ℝ: yeah I never voted for mehole or Leotard!
@Aaron Jones: 76% didn’t vote for Mary Who either but sure that’s democracy for ye.
@GrumpyAulFella: I never voted for Mary Lou!
@GrumpyAulFella: Why can’t people understand how our voting system works!? What you mean to say is 76% didn’t give SF their no1 vote.
Probably the ringleader and a spy.
@:
They should protest at the Chinese embassy
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