It’s jungle warfare commuting in Dublin’s rush-hour

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

It’s my third week in a new job in Dublin. From door to door it’s a nine-kilometre journey across the city.

In good weather I cycle, when it’s raining public transport. I’m accustomed to cycling in urban and rural terrain but it is a number of years now since I have commuted through Dublin rush-hour traffic. 

It’s a fabulous sensation to be back out there with the travelling public heading to and from work, indeed, there’s a sense of camaraderie about it. I often find myself knocking at the cab window of a bus and chatting with the driver; I tell them I’m a bit of a bus nerd, so regularly we talk about the new electric or hybrid buses. 

I’m told that since Dublin Bus installed cameras on its fleet the number of insurance claims has plummeted.

Cycling through Dublin early on a Sunday morning has been a mind-blowing experience; the amount of litter on the streets is beyond belief; the filth and dirt strewn across the streets and footpaths is honestly astonishing. And all this has been done by people out ‘enjoying’ themselves the previous night.  

Every Sunday morning council workers are on the streets cleaning it all up. I make it my business to say hello and thank them for the job of work they are doing. Sometimes we get chatting; on Sunday on Camden Street, which was in a filthy state, the council workman said: ‘I can assure you it’s just as bad over on Leeson Street, the posh side of the city’. I thanked him for his job of work as I pedalled off; he gave me a big smile and was appreciative of my gesture.

When it comes to road and footpath safety it is honestly jungle warfare. It is almost impossible to describe how bad things have got since the last time I was cycling in rush-hour traffic in Dublin. Cyclists, pedestrians, motorists, all have their fair share of clowns on the roads. Where are the traffic police who are meant to be policing our roads? 

I cannot understand how there are not more serious accidents on our roads every day. It is mind-boggling the number of cyclists who break traffic lights. 

I’ve heard and seen jay-walking but every day now I am observing the phenomenon of jay-cycling. Pedestrians crossing the road engrossed on their phones and if you say a word to them you get a stream of foul language thrown at you.

I’ve learned how dangerous it is to say a word to misbehaving motorist. I’ve seen road rage first hand.

Top of the list of road abusers have to be Deliveroo, Uber, Just Eat and all the others fast food deliverers. Their behaviour must be stopped. The companies for whom they work need to be held to account for what’s happening on our streets.

And then the electric bicycles that travel at speeds well in excess of the legal 25km/h; why are the gardaí allowing all this to happen? And please, don’t mention the electric scooters. 

Do we have to wait for some cataclysmic disaster and a multi- million euro inquiry before something is done. We deserve better than this.

Full marks to our bus drivers for the extraordinary work they do.