Sir, - I must commend Irish Rail for running a late night DART service this month. It is a value-for-money alternative, particularly for people in my own area where the only alternative is to pay extortionate taxi fares. Also very impressive is the security provided on every train by the Garda.
But public transport is not just for Christmas! Some of us go out in the city centre during the other 11 months of the year when late DARTs don't run. Perhaps it's time Irish Rail considered extending the service into the New Year and making it a permanent fixture.
Many people will also be pleased that Dublin Bus has provided extra Nitelink buses over Christmas. But not everybody will benefit from this. Night buses are not provided for areas such as Bray and Greystones. It's not a great stretch of the imagination to extend one of the Nitelink routes: Dublin Bus already gives this service to farther and smaller population centres such as Maynooth and Balbriggan.
As Irish Rail has shown, public transport can be a success when you put your mind to it. - Yours, etc.,
Tadhg O'Brien, Hawkins Lane, Greystones, Co Wicklow.