Dublin Bus strike: ‘I’d have more sympathy with them than Luas strikers’

DAN GRIFFIN

Commuters in Dublin who normally travel to work by bus appeared to mostly sympathise with the striking drivers this morning.

Belen Diaz, standing in Harold’s Cross shortly after 7am waiting for a colleague to give her a lift to work, said it was up to the workers to fight for better pay.

She had to get to Blanchardstown, and the trip usually involves two buses, one to the city centre and then another to the suburb in the northwest of the city.

Today a colleague who lives nearby agreed to change shifts so she could give her a lift.

“If I hadn’t my colleague picking me up I wouldn’t be able to go to work,” she said.

She added that there should be some sort of minimum service put in place, adding that when strikes occur in Spain, where she is from, there is usually an hourly bus available to commuters.

Despite the inconvenience however, she said she appreciates the drivers’ need to stand up for themselves. “I think it’s fair. You have to fight for your rights.”

A short while later, Antoinette Gibbs was standing on the footpath waiting for a taxi. “Myself and my daughter are sharing a taxi,” she said. “She has to be in the city centre, and she always walks or gets the bus so it’s really putting her out.”

But Ms Gibbs added the bus drivers were right to strike. “I think they’ve been underpaid for a very long time, even in comparison to the Luas. The skills and responsibility they have, I think it’s time they get a pay rise, even though it inconveniences me.

“It’s years since they got a rise, and I do think they’ve got a really hard job. They have to deal with things other than transporting people, and they deserve to be paid properly.

“I think it’s well overdue, and anyone I’ve talked to, including my daughter, thinks it’s fair enough,” Ms Gibbs said.

Eoin Joyce was making his way into Grafton Street on foot from Kimmage, a 50-minute walk. He said he takes the bus everyday but also added he did not object to the workers taking industrial action.

“Obviously it’s a bit of a nuisance, but at the same time people have to do what you have to do. You have to be extreme to get the results you want to get.”

Another commuter on foot, going from Rathfarnham to the city centre, said she would take the bus everyday but the strike “doesn’t bother me”.

She added the drivers were entitled to a pay rise. “I’d have more sympathy with them than the Luas strikers. I think they have more pressure on the road than them.”

However, at least one cyclist felt aggrieved by the strike and the apparent increased volume of car traffic on the roads. “The bus strike is a disaster, isn’t it,” he said waiting at a junction at at New Street South in the city centre. “The drivers are all stressed to the nines.”