The Ban Bus

In Wellington we spoke with many about doing an Irish Ban Bus and many were keen to see it happen. As usual, the problem is to fund, then execute it. Our old mate Rae McGrath put his hand up to track down a budget and we then got busy. The clock was ticking and time was certainly of the essence. With only a few weeks to go we have flown to Dublin and want to get the word to the masses as fast and far as possible. When it comes to NGO’s trying to organise something like this it’s a case of the few doing the impossible with very little except a huge amount of commitment. We had two friends already in Dublin operating out of a tiny room in the back of a church trying to pull logistics together. No power dressing or flash offices here but a great deal more productivity is what separates us from governments.

Susan and Tony were flat out working late into every night doing what ever it took to get civil society a good presence at the upcoming conference. One look told us not to try and lump more work on their shoulders. The first thing we did need was a set of wheels and a place to stay. Mette trawled the web and found a “Cosy studio apartment” a little way out of town. It had the perfect credentials as it was dirt cheap. We took it.

The taxi finally found the address and we met the old lady landlord. It was a nice suburban house in a quiet neighbourhood and the gable looked like the location of our new abode. This was not to be as our eyes were cast to the garage and the door was opened. It was a converted single car garage that was transformed to a granny flat. Well, it’s definitely cosy. Beggars can’t be choosers so that was going to be it for now. We moved in. To be able to move we packed everything vertically so as to get around the bed. There were two really oversized arm chairs at the foot of the bed which basically took up the rest of the space except for the TV that didn’t seem to work. Going out the back past the bed was a tiny shower um, toilet then kitchenish kind of thing. None of this mattered as it’s off the street and a place to sleep.

The next morning we began walking towards Dublin centre. Not really knowing where that was we got a few directions, found the docks, turned right and kept on going. When we finally got nearer the town we grabbed a cab and crossed the river to see Susan and Tony. With the money we did have we needed to set up. Transport and communications were next on the list so we door knocked all the bike shops we could find to get a pair of second hand bikes then a pair of cheap Irish mobile phones and some internet access. We were now fit to take on the world. Rae was working hard to finalise funding so I backed all costs on my credit card. This was a very scary prospect for me but you have to trust people in this world and I trusted Rae to come through with a budget and get everything sorted out. Our main concern now was not to lose time waiting. We had to spend and set up as fast as possible.

It’s magic what can be achieved with a mobile and a bit of the web. Piece by piece we started locking down and ticking off all we would need to do a good Ban Bus. Rent a van, get signage, design brochures, design T-shirts, find printers and start to line up places to talk to. The bikes were great and we sped from one side of Dublin to the next amongst some of Europe’s worst traffic jams with a massive road toll on cyclists and pedestrians. The logistics were almost complete and Rae would also be over in a few days. The money problem was being solved and we could now look for a second flat as more people would be rolling in and we would have no trouble finding bodies for beds.