The short term solution to this little crisis was to recruit some conductors on short term contracts and plug in weekend gaps on the remaining 25% TPO services at the time with 3rd level students who were employed the previous summer. C/Road and Ringsend were particularly affected at that time. Of course the company weren't too unhappy that the number of conductors had declined a little quicker than expected after the mass OPO conversion of Autumn 1988.