Public transport and anti-social behaviour

Sir, – In her article “What should our teenagers be allowed to do?” (Health + Family, April 4th), Jen Hogan highlights the issue of safety for teenagers when using public transport. Safety is by no means an issue only for teenagers. As an adult male, I have regularly felt uncomfortable and often unsafe when travelling on public transport. A (non-scientific) poll of friends and relatives confirms that my experiences are not exceptional. Not one female I asked felt safe when travelling on public transport, due to the regular sexist, threatening and anti-social behaviour experienced, and very few males felt safe either. This confirms the concerns about passenger safety that Jen Hogan takes for granted in her article, and that many other journalists have written about in recent times.

Shifting journeys to public transport alternatives is a key plank of the Government’s climate action plan. Yet there seems to be no official acknowledgement of how many potential travellers are being turned off using public transport because of safety fears. Despite numerous calls for a dedicated transport police force to address this issue, neither the Government nor the Garda see any requirement for such a force. Also, in its recent (2021) Customer Satisfaction Survey of bus, Luas and Dart journeys, the National Transport Authority finds that only 1 per cent of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with their personal safety on their journey (down from 3 per cent in the 2019 survey). This finding is difficult to understand, given how obviously it differs from travellers’ actual experiences of public transport journeys.

Replacing old fleets, improving timetables and even reducing fares all have a role to play in encouraging greater use of public transport in order to meet our climate targets. Until travellers also feel safe on their journey, these changes will have a very modest impact on changing behaviour. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN KELLEHER,