Two people were slightly injured last night in a collision between a bus and an SUV in central Dublin last night.
A Garda spokesman said a Dublin Bus was involved in a crash with the 4X4 at the junction of Townsend Street and Lombard Street at about 11pm.
The driver of the bus was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital with minor injuries, while the driver of the other vehicle was brought to St James’s Hospital. The four passengers on the 77 bus travelling from Tallaght to Ringsend were unhurt.
The crash was the fourth involving a Dublin Bus in less than 24 hours. Eleven people were taken to hospital following three separate crashes yesterday morning.
Four people were brought to hospital after a bus and a van collided in Rush, north Co Dublin. Three passengers and a Dublin Bus driver were injured in the crash at 6.30am on the town’s main street. Dublin Bus said 10 passengers were on board the 33 bus travelling to Skerries.
Following the incident, a diversion was set up through Corr’s Lane in Rush. At 7.45am, there was a collision between a car and a 33X bus carrying 71 passengers on the lane, Dublin Bus said.
Two bus passengers and the two occupants of a car were taken to hospital.
Extra 33X bus services were put on to take commuters into the city centre after the collapse of a bridge on the Dublin-Belfast rail line near Malahide last month.
Shortly before 10am, a 16 bus, travelling to Ballinteer, collided with a car on Camden Street. Three people in the car were taken to hospital.
According to Dublin Bus, all those taken to hospital following yesterday's incidents have been released. The company and the Garda are investigating all the crashes.
Labour’s transport spokesman Tommy Broughan said he would raise the recent spate of public transport collisions with the head of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) Noel Brett at the Dáil Transport Committee today.
“Undoubtedly, our public transport companies including Dublin Bus and Irish Rail have outstanding safety records and safely carry thousands of commuters every day,” Mr Broughan said. “However, there have been a number of serious incidents involving public transport vehicles over the past few weeks including the collapse of the Broadmeadow railway bridge, the recent Luas/Dublin Bus collision and four collisions involving buses yesterday alone.”
In a statement today, Dublin Bus said its safety record compared favourably to similar operators as measured in benchmarking done annually by Imperial College, London, of operators from 11 cities worldwide.
"In 2008 of the 11 operators bench-marked, Dublin Bus had the best safety record when comparing the number of vehicle accidents per million vehicle kilometres operated."
Dublin Bus said that in addition to "robust safety procedures and systems" and its driver-safety programme, its staff receive mentoring/monitoring and refresher training throughout their careers.