Luas commuters more likely to feel unsafe
PASSENGERS on Luas services are three times more likely to feel unsafe on their trip than other public transport users. The latest annual survey on customer satisfaction levels published by the National Transport Authority (NTA) reveals a significantly higher proportion of commuters feel unsafe when either travelling on the Luas or waiting at stops for trams compared to bus and rail passengers. The latest figures show that 13% of Luas passengers surveyed in 2023 reported feeling unsafe while travelling on trams compared to 4% of bus passengers and 5% of rail passengers. While 66% of commuters and bus and rail services said they felt very safe on such transport modes, the figure dropped to 40% for Luas passengers.
Approximately 10% of Luas passengers said they felt unsafe waiting at stops compared to 6% of bus commuters and 4% of rail users.
While fewer women felt very safe compared to men when walking to and from bus and rail stops, both genders felt almost equally unsafe when near Luas stops.
The results of the survey show the attitude of commuters about safety levels on public transport services is virtually unchanged since the previous year.
The NTA noted that 96% of all users still felt safe across all stages of their journey on public transport services last year – an increase of one percentage point on 2022 levels.
Overall, the survey of over 6,100 public transport users showed that 83% of passengers had a positive sentiment towards Transport for Ireland services, of whom 39% claimed they were ‘very satisfied’ with services.
Despite the safety issues, the highest satisfaction levels were still recorded with Luas services at 91% compared to 90% for rail services and 80% for buses.
Approximately 80% of all public transport users expressed satisfaction with crowding levels and the number of seats available on services. However, the figure decreased to 63% among Luas passengers with 20% unhappy at the level of crowding on trams.
It was also found that a record 308million journeys were taken by public transport last year – an annual increase of 24%.
The survey showed 35% of commuters believed public transport services had improved during 2023, while 50% said they were about the same and 5% claimed they had got worse.