MOST OF the people on the 1st Luas from St Stephen’s Green, Dublin to Bride’s Glen on Saturday morning didn’t know anything about where they were going and didn’t much care.
They were there for the free fun of it; for the outing, the purple balloons and sharp pencils, the face painting, the treasure hunt, the hotdogs and the samba music. Most of all, they were there to say they were there.
The politicians and officials had taken the official inaugural trip on the Luas Green Line extension to Bride’s Glen. But they started out at Central Park, the first station of the extension, so they missed out on the free sausages.
The first tram left the green shortly after 11am. John Beirne from Stillorgan was onboard, but bought a ticket instead of taking advantage of the free fare. He hoped he was the first to pay for a tram ride to the new terminus.
Anne Moran and Ultan Dillon said they didn’t know where Bride’s Glen was. They’d travelled in from Sallins, Co Kildare, just to try out the new route with their two young children.
We passed through all the familiar, taken-for-granted stations; Harcourt, Ranelagh, Windy Arbour. At each stop more people got on. Buggies crammed in together, parents swung from the purple plastic straps and children held tight to legs and yellow poles, steadying themselves against the gentle sway of the tram. There were occasional pops and cries of distress as toddlers did the inevitable with those free balloons and pencils.
Ray Reynolds, with wife Darina and son Max from Ballinteer, said he was a daily Luas commuter. He hoped the tram wouldn’t be too packed on Monday morning by the time it reached him at Balally. No one paid much attention to the view until we got beyond Sandyford. “Look, its Central Park – no not like on the telly,” one mother told her child. The station looked like a work in progress. Then on to Glencairn and past the wrought iron gates of Glencairn House, the British ambassador’s residence.
At The Gallops, people embarked from Meadowfield Estate and Elmfield.Then past Leopardstown Park, Ballyogan Wood and Carrickmines with intermittent housing, trees and fields. We did not stop at Brennanstown, a ghost station on the line not served because of insufficient development in the area. At rural Laughanstown, no one got on or off.
Then the Cherrywood Science and Technology Park, close to the N11, came into sight all glass, steel and concrete. Everyone got off at Bride’s Glen, built on a raised area at the southern end of the technology park.
At the terminus, Minister for Planning, Ciarán Cuffe was listening to some unhappy travellers. They couldn’t believe the station was opened without a car park. The only facilities were for permit holders from Dell, Microsoft and other companies in the development and signs everywhere warned that cars left on the narrow roads in the park would incur a €120 de-clamping fee. The nearest park and ride was back at Sandyford.
Daisy Corrie from nearby Rathmichael was exasperated. “How stupid is it to put in this great facility with no where to park?” she asked.
Mr Cuffe explained the land around the station, where the park and ride was to be built, had been Nama’d. He defended the decision to open without parking.
“We have the horse ready and waiting before the cart for a change,” he said.
