Kildare Life in Lockdown: Friendships forged on roads of Ireland by bus driver Danny Doohan

When Danny Doohan started out driving at Bus Éireann, passengers were a slight bit curious about him.

“I was only 22-years-old when I started working for the company and I was the youngest driver there for a long time. I often even overheard passengers commenting on how young the driver was when I was driving along,” explained the Naas resident.

Little did he think he’d be working through a worldwide pandemic when he first took the job 13 years ago.

Currently operating at 25% capacity, the government has said public transport should only be used for necessary journeys.

Face masks have to be worn by all bus users. A screen has also been put in place on the buses to protect both the drivers and the passengers.

“The company have been very good, supplying us with all the proper PPE equipment, sanitisers and masks and so on,” Danny explained.

His route can vary but he generally looks after the Dublin-Navan or Dublin-Cavan routes.

Living in Naas, Danny is based in Phibsborough at the Broadstone depot.

“I go in at five in the morning. It only takes me a half an hour. Its grand,” he said.

When asked about the impact the Covid restrictions have had on his job, he replied:“It’s grand. It’s fair enough. You have to think of the safety of the passengers, your capacity is reduced and it’s limited. We are definitely starting to see a lot more people travelling.”

“A lot of people are getting fed up at this stage. It’s affecting people’s mental health. They want to get out. People are getting fed up of working from home.

“Big employers don’t want to be paying out for renting big premises so I think there will be some element of working from home into the future.”

Although he said the mask can feel quite claustrophic, Danny has no problem in complying with the safety measure.

“The job has been very good to me. I was able to buy my own house in Aylmer Park. The company has been very good to me.”

Having worked in the Rathcoole Inn prior to bus driving, Danny was used to conversing and mixing with people.

“I like meeting people and you feel their appreciation when you get them to their destination safely. I would be a people person. You meet people from every walk of life, from all professions. I have made a lot of friends.

“When I was on the Edenderry route for four years, there was a few lads from Celbridge that used to be on the bus and I met up with them, and stared to run with them.”

Like everyone else, Danny is looking forward to living a Covid-19 free lifestyle.

“You really miss the simple things. People want to get out of the house. You would be hoping they would be able to ease the restrictions soon. I used to do the Dublin-Belfast route. We had lots of people going shopping, people with free travel, going up over the border. It would be great to get back to that, but you have to take people’s safety into account.

“I loved doing the Edenderry route but we lost it. I loved the people, you got to know them, I saw them everyday and you would have a great laugh and a joke with them.”

Despite all the doom and gloom, Danny has an upbeat outlook on life.

“One good thing about the pandemic is that community spirit has become stronger. I’ve got to know my neighbours and I think in general, people are being a lot nicer and friendlier to each other and helping each other out.

“So that’s a really good thing and I hope we don’t lose it,” he concluded.