New figures reveal Dublin Bus drivers have been assaulted 429 times over the last five years, Dublin Live can reveal.
It comes as Dublin Bus is struggling to recruit 290 new drivers as the network expands. The statistics, which were released to Sinn Fein TD Chris Andrews, also revealed 429 passengers had been assaulted over the same period as well as a whopping 3,344 anti-social behaviour incidents taking place.
The anti-social incidents range from objects thrown at bus, assault on drivers, assaults on other passengers, robbery, graffiti, drug use and vandalism. All of the assaults and anti-social incidents were reported by Dublin Bus drivers since the beginning of 2017.
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Sinn Fein TD Chris Andrews told Dublin Live the risk of drivers assault must be “an element” of the staffing issue. He said: "It is very upsetting that Dublin Bus drivers can't go to work without being afraid of getting attacked.
"There is a fairly high chance that you could be attacked or assaulted each week. That has got to be very worrying and in terms of staff retention that has got to be an element to it. It highlights the need for a transport police."
A recent survey found almost 80% of people support a dedicated transport police unit being established. The research found that 93% of people have witnessed anti-social behaviour while using public transport.
Dublin Bus has 2,800 drivers and is looking to fill 150 vacancies with 290 new drivers hired this year. The Acting Chief Executive said that “even with this number of new drivers, we are not keeping pace with the rate of network expansion and very much regret the impact this is having on customers”.
The shortage of drivers means many services have to be cancelled which can result in "ghost" buses showing up on real time apps and signs. Acting Chief Executive of Dublin Bus Andrea Keane said software issues coinciding with bus driver shortages exacerbated the “ghost" bus issue.
She said: “These cancelled trips should be removed from the real-time system in a timely manner. But in some cases, this was not happening.”
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