Sir, – Recent busy weekends in Dublin have highlighted once again how difficult it is for people socialising to get home. In various media coverage of this long-standing problem, I never once heard mention of an entirely obvious, albeit only partial, solution: for the Dart to run past 11.30pm on Friday and Saturday nights.
It’s almost as if what is entirely normal in any other capital city – some later trains on weekends – is simply unthinkable in Dublin.
If the Dart (which, with just one line to manage, is hardly comparable to the expansive urban train systems we encounter abroad) was to run merely a handful of services until approximately 1am, many people would not have to wander the streets looking for taxis.
That something this modest is not even proposed illustrates how low people’s expectations are for public transport in Ireland.
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Sadly, the management at Irish Rail and related transport bodies have absolutely no intention of changing these expectations. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW QUINN,
Clongriffin,
Dublin 13.
