Dear Dublin. You're Doing it Wrong.

I know the Irish are famed for a charming illogicality; its endearing and quirky. But every now and then I come across examples of this which truly make me despair for the continuance of our race. Our government have made a right balls of our financial system (so I'm told, I am not well informed enough about his to start making compelling arguments) (I know, I know, I am a disgrace, but it's just too depressing), but its the little things, the day-to-day oddities, that really irk me (see my issues with bureaucracy). Today its the new fangled machines standing abreast every bus stop.

Here is an example of the offending technology. In theory, when I first heard of the contraptions, they supposedly monitor the bus and give the information of when exactly it should arrive at your stop. Sounds like a fantastic, useful idea, to save many the weary commuter the anxiety of "Have-I-Have-I-Not" missed the bus syndrome. However, this is not what they do. Instead they give the time the bus is SUPPOSED to arrive at its stop. It does not factor in delays. It gives information ALREADY PROVIDED ON THE ESTABLISHED BUS STOP. It is a technological timetable, not a time keeper. All it saves us from is the effort of manually working out what time the bus is scheduled to arrive. As every Dublin bus traveler knows this is next to useless, as Dublin Buses appearing on scheduled time is an apparition on par with  Jesus' second coming; I'll believe it when I see it.

So. I would like to know. WHAT IS THEIR PURPOSE? WHY DOES EVERY BUS STOP HAVE ONE? WHY DOES IT TELL ME MY BUS IS DUE? I KNOW IT DUE. THAT'S NOT THE ISSUE. I WANT TO KNOW BY HOW MANY MINUTES IT WILL MOST DEFINITELY BE LATE.


As the picture suggests, it was raining. My new umbrella had broken in the wind. I very much wanted to go home. I took my frustration out on this, typically Irish, institution and its useless, useless, technologies. I feel this rant was more than justified.

Niamh