People have inhabited Ireland for a long time, with the first arrivals being from the island of England; today, Ireland's traffic rules also follow the British system, which is the opposite of what we are used to at home. Driving is on the left side of the road, and the driver's seat is on the right side, although cars with the driver's seat on the left can also operate here. When I first arrived in Ireland, I accidentally opened the car door to the driver's seat, and I was stunned for a moment, my mind rapidly switching between left and right, only to be laughed at by a friend who said, "Are you going to be my driver?"
Having been in Ireland for a while now, I have generally adapted to the traffic rules here. After more than twenty years of driving on the right, along with my tendency to remember landmarks based on left and right, and compounded by my poor sense of direction, I have gotten lost numerous times in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The panic and frustration from these experiences caused my vision to deteriorate sharply, leading to several instances of getting on the wrong bus, as buses with the same number, such as 40, 40A, 40B, and 40D, all stop at the same bus stop. If I don't look around a bit more, I could easily board the wrong bus.
If you don't inform the driver in advance where you want to get off, almost no one will announce the stops. Fortunately, the Irish drivers I encountered were all very kind and would drop me off at the correct stop, often reminding me with a lot of advice before I got off, and even giving me a bus timetable from their vehicle, implying that if I got on the wrong bus again, I could take it back. Generally, buses in Ireland are not very crowded, and sometimes quite empty. If a passenger wants to get off at the next stop, they just need to press the bell next to them to alert the driver. Passengers always remember to thank the driver when getting off. I also followed suit, but that time I added "very" and "you are so kind, I am so lucky to meet you," to which the driver wished me "good luck next time."
Dublin's buses are all double-decker, while other towns have single-decker buses, which belong to different companies. Moreover, the buses here are mostly very punctual; if they arrive early, they will wait at the bus stop until the scheduled time to depart. Except for Dublin, buses in other towns require cash payment, generally costing around 1.60 euros regardless of the number of stops, and the ticket is automatically printed as a small slip of paper. In the capital, Dublin, there are various types of tickets available, including paper IC cards, one-day tickets, three-day tickets, student weekly tickets, monthly tickets, etc., providing convenient information for passengers.