Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson
The difference is the Irish Government does not subsidise transport after 11:30, its not considered in the public service obligation
We would all love to have day time fares but and it is a big but who is going to pay for the extra security staff not to mention Luas drivers are probably on overtime to drive the trams (Dublin Bus drivers are not)
Dublin Bus was blocked from running 24 hour services in the recent past, by guess who, the Irish Government
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Your right Mark, LUAS drivers or ticket collectors are not obliged to work on the night luas, this is voluntary & based on a first come, first used basis. There is a special rate paid by Veolia to the staff but very few take up the offer & those that do are usually desperate to boost their meagre wages (which is close to the minimum wage).
Secondly staff are physically & verbally abused by drunken louts who ruin what should be an efficient means of getting home after a good night out. therefore security has to be paid for and that cost is added to the other costs of providing the service (the drivers, the ticket inspectors, the control room staff, & the energy costs)
thirdly, the trams have to be inspected & cleaned every night ready for service the following day. this takes several hours between cleaning & servicing, not to mention the fact that overtime would have to be paid to the maintainance staff to work later than normal.
so if passengers who live close to or within walking distance of either luas lines find the cost of a nightluas ticket too much, i would ask them, would they rather stand in a queue with aggressive drunken louts, for over two hours, then probably be told by the taxi driver that they are'nt heading that direction or have a fight over who skipped the queue to even get in a taxi.
not to mention its about €5 just to sit into a cab before the meter has even started running.
I think the nightluas service provides an excellent service taking all of these costs into consideration.