Growing up can be tough. We all remember getting the bus home from school and wanting to impress our friends or be the funniest in the group. What’s better than everyone laughing along at our joke? But sometimes we don’t think and it isn’t always as much fun for other passengers. Dublin Bus has teamed up with ‘Dublin Hun’, illustrator Aoife Dooley, to create an informative film which includes 4 short stories teaching children and young people how to use the bus responsibly. Dublin Bus Schools and Community Co-Ordinators will visit schools across the county to show the film to children, with great interest shown by those already visited.

Schools can view the film by visiting our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFfFHl8xq5c 

The informative short film uses the voices of Dublin children, Adam Donovan from St. Thomas’ National School in Jobstown, Kadie Morrison from St. Raphael's School, Kylemore Road, Katie Kelly from St. Ultan's Primary School, Cherry Orchard, Nick Rebreanu, Tyrrelstown Educate Together National School and Aoife’s distinctive style of illustration to bring to life stories that can happen on the bus. Each story is designed to engage on a peer level, showing children how important the bus is to their lives, their families and their communities. In addition to showing them how to use the bus responsibly, the film also teaches the wider message of social responsibility, how the way we act individually impacts upon our fellow Dubliners.  

‘I wasn’t even trying to hit the bus’ shows a young boy throwing a rock at the bus to impress his big brother and the lads, but later he finds out his granny is in hospital because a rock smashed the window of the bus she was travelling on; ‘The whole bus turned around’ sees a schoolgirl ‘joking’ with a fellow passenger to impress her friends but it backfires when no one finds it funny; in ‘Just messing on the bus’ a schoolboy ends up feeling bad because ‘messing’ with his friend ends up seeing a passenger falling down the stairs; and in ‘What do you think’ a little girl tells us about why Dublin Bus is important to communities and why we should be respectful.

Speaking about the campaign, Dublin Bus Schools and Community Co-Ordinator for South Dublin Joanne Courtney said “the bus is an important amenity to the communities across Dublin but sometimes children and young people’s behaviour, often without thinking, impacts negatively on other passengers. Aoife’s distinctive illustration style and the important message conveyed in this film will help to teach them how to act respectfully to themselves and fellow passengers we think.”

The Dublin Bus Schools Education Programme consists of a team of three co-ordinators who work to educate young people about the importance of the bus in their lives, their families’ lives and in their local community. The programme includes school visits (nearly 300 in 2015), an annual children’s art competition in national schools across Dublin, and the provision of buses for youth summer projects in areas such as East Wall, Ringsend and West Tallaght. Co-ordinators build and maintain relationships with both employees and young people in national and secondary schools across Dublin, visiting them to communicate how to use and respect public transport in their area through talks, anti-vandalism DVDs and on bus CCTV demonstrations.