Trust Tommy

Since I’m up in Dublin, and I’m largely working a 9-5 job like, er, normal people, it means that my evenings are largely free. So on Tuesday, yesterday and today, I decided to mosey on into town. Stillorgan is the closest stop to me, so I just walk down that stop, no more than a 12 minute walk.

The value of the LUAS is quite good. I can get a return ticket between Sandyford (about 100 metres from Stillorgan) and St. Stephen’s Green for just 1.50€. If I’d known I was gonna be in the city 3, probably 4 evenings out of 5, I would have considered buying a weekly ticket.

Buying the ticket itself can vary. Some of the screens are easy to see, while others have been scratched to that you have to squint and others don’t like my fingers, so I have to have a thumb war with the machine to get my ticket.

Once you’re on the LUAS itself, you notice that people are awfully subdued. I haven’t travelled on the red line this week, which I’m told is a lot worse than the green one, so I haven’t seen many druggies or drunkards. Having said that, everyone really does keep to themselves. I’m not sure of the general reputation of the LUAS (Dubliners, feel free to elaborate in the comments), but I just get the feeling that everyone keeps their head down, and want to get off as quick as possible.

I’ve only had my ticket checked once, so far. The ticket checkers can be seen a mile off, they’re huge burly folks, with fluorescent jackets, and, being honest, a certain indifference about them.

“Ticket please” he asked, not looking at me. I fumble in my wallet for a while and eventually get my ticket. I remember how I didn’t actually check what age the child’s ticket extend to. If it turned out it was 12 or 13, or 14, I intended to play (legitimately) the innocent card, saying how it never occurred to me to check that I was right in assuming it was indeed 16.

I hand him the ticket and he doesn’t give it a second glance. He punches two holes into it and returned it.

This supports what a friend said about how they’re satisfied once you have a ticket.

Overall, the LUAS is a great success. I think it’s a good way of looking at the city. Whenever I get a chance to go to London, or Paris, or New York, I’m gonna take in the city by grabbing a weekly metro ticket, get on board and just get off at some random stop. When I get tired, I simply hop on again.

So, TrustTommy’s verdict: LUAS = win