Community project reduces bus vandalism in Dublin

A community campaign was highly successful in cutting down on costly vandalism on Dublin Bus routes, a transport conference heard today.

Peter Scott, a quality manager with the company, said they had targeted schoolchildren in the Coolock area of Dublin with an educational poster competition.

Mr Scott told the Dublin meeting of the International Association of Public Transport, which was attended by public transport authorities from around 80 countries, of the success of the 2002 pilot project.

A spokesman for Dublin Bus said the Route 27 community project, which was funded under a €3.7m Europe-wide project, had now been expanded to seven garages around the city.

“It helped immensely. People got to know more about it and they realised it was a service being provided for them,” the spokesman said.

He said their most recent vandalism problem, which had led to a reduced service through certain areas of Ballymun, had been solved.

“The issue was the 13A but we held a meeting between Dublin Bus, local community representatives and the gardaí and that solved it. There was vandalism and they were throwing rocks and stuff but the meetings sorted it out,” he said.

“There was a couple of incidents involving stone-throwing. The drivers were getting worried, not only about their safety but the safety of passengers.”

The Dublin Bus project encourages children, who can be some of the worst offenders, to respect the vehicles.

The company-funded scheme involves a driver based in each of the seven Dublin depots visiting schools in the community and encouraging youngsters to participate in poster and calendar competitions.