Written off by some before its launch in 2004, Dublin’s tram system confounded its critics but has had to deal with riots and increased antisocial behaviour
Dave Rooney , operations director of Transdev Dublin Light Rail Ltd, with Paul Balmer, who drove the first tram after the launch of the Luas in 2004. Photograph: Alan BetsonRespected economists and transport commentators said the new trams would not meet passenger targets, would be “grossly uneconomic” and would probably aggravate, rather than reduce, city congestion by obstructing motorists.started operating on the Green line from June 30th, 2004 with the Red line following in September.
Plans for the return of trams, following the closure of the last line to Howth Head in 1959, had been put forward in the early 1980s, though it was the mid-1990s before legislation was enacted to facilitate their return. Originally there was to be a continuous line from Tallaght to Dundrum running through the city centre, with a later link-up through Ballymun.
“Everyone I was talking to thought it was not a good idea. Sentiment was very negative, so I don’t think there was that much surprise at the time that it wasn’t going to be joined up. It was only when it became so popular that people started complaining it hadn’t been done in the first place,” he says.Paul Balmer, who drove the first tram for the ribbon-cutting ceremony in June 2004 , said the instant success of the service was astonishing.
“There was a 45-year gap between the last tram that operated in the city and our one, and all that knowledge was obviously gone, so there was a huge piece of educating the public that the tram is now operating on the street,” he says. “A lot of time is spent teaching defensive driving techniques. This is where you expect the unexpected to happen, though we can’t put them in the mind of the other road users and obviously they can’t swerve out of the way.”
A burnt-out Luas carriage on O'Connell Street after the Dublin riots in November last year. Photograph: © RollingNews.ie “I was with Paul, and had the same feeling of almost grief seeing the tram go on fire; it was very upsetting to see,” he says. Complaints of antisocial behaviour reached their highest level in a decade last year and more than doubled from the previous year, to 2,159.
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