Public transport – getting from A to B

Joining the dots

A chara, – In my experience of standing at Dublin bus stops, there are only four kinds of buses that might appear: the bus you have been waiting for, which will bring you home; the bus that you hadn’t expected but that will bring you in the right direction; the out-of-service bus that is always empty and travels faster than a normal bus; and the phantom bus that never shows up.

I suspect the phantom bus is real but composed of dark matter. We know it’s there but we just can’t see it. – Is mise,

DERMOT O’ROURKE,

Lucan,

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Co Dublin.

Sir, – Having been caught out by disappearing buses three times in the previous week, I thought I’d be clever and get a Luas to Parnell Street. En route, I saw a 123 in College Green. It never overtook the Luas, which has a shorter route to Parnell Street. The bus stop signage said it would be arriving in eight minutes, then two, then it vanished.

The next bus was “scheduled” to arrive in 25 minutes. Along with others in the queue, I began to walk in the certainty that if it arrived it would pass by full, as happened last week. For the second time in a week, my wife had to leave home and collect me, which is hardly compatible with Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan’s transport plans.

On contacting Dublin Bus last week, I received a fairly stock response about traffic levels.

This whole debacle brought me back to my youth and travel experiences at the hands of CIÉ. Only the name has changed. – Yours, etc,

DAVID CASSIDY,

Dublin 9.