Excitement with Dublin's new Luas system has continued, with queues of more than 1,000 at the St Stephen's Green and Sandyford stops during the evening rush yesterday.
According to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), the number of passenger journeys was expected to reach 100,000 by 12.30 a.m. today when the first full day's operation ended.
Such was the demand, the RPA said, that it had reversed its decision to host just a weekend of free travel when the Tallaght line opens at the end of August. A full five days will now be offered instead, according to the RPA spokesman, Mr Tom Manning.
However, some Dubliners are having trouble getting used to the system and, according to the RPA, one morning tram stopped for a dog which was wandering along the line near Ranelagh.
Another tram was in a minor collision with a car in the city area, while a van-driver forced a stand-off with Luas as he impatiently waved the driver to go round him.
Luas staff were not keeping a record of passenger foibles, but Mr Manning did mention a man who proposed to his girlfriend on the first day of service "and was accepted", he added quickly.
The number of users of the service was light at the 5.30 a.m. start of service in Sandyford but grew quickly, with commuters coming particularly from the Sandyford direction.
As motorists craned their necks to see the silver and purple trams glide by, troops of children off school for the summer holidays took advantage of the free fares to enjoy the ride.
Motorists who complained that there was no yellow box on the junction of St Stephen's Green were told it was because the traffic flow is set to reverse on the green from Sunday.
By about 11 a.m. the RPA had resorted to "crowd-control measures", and as the afternoon wore on queues stretched around St Stephen's Green North past the taxi rank.
Trams ran at the peak-hour frequency of every five minutes - the planned 10-minute "ramping up" period between now and the end of July forgotten.
As crowd numbers reached 1,000 at either terminus the RPA was encouraging passengers to walk on to the next stop, and arrangements were made to have empty and partially full trams leave the stops to pick them up.
"Everyone loves it," said Mr Manning, who predicted that the excitement was unlikely to abate at the weekend as the RPA lays on family entertainment in the form of face-painting, balloons and street artists.
He said a feature of yesterday's services was the number of people who came from the provinces to see the trams in operation.
"I've met people from Donegal," he commented.
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