Bus Eireann

CINCLANTFLT wrote: »

That's an interesting view... to help get those villages served again BE should instigate efficiency and reform and thus reduced operating and overtime costs in return for keeping their jobs and even getting a small but important increase in their basic pay! I take it that you agree?

listen,

when i finished school in 1998 i bought a 1979 mini,£150, 1.0 liter

insured it for 1200 punt and off i went,



nowadays a young lad has to buy a car above 2008,cos of tax, and ask one of these international insurance companies for a quote of 3-4k

eeguy wrote: »

Pre 2008 tax on a 1 litre is 200 euro.

Insurance on a 1 litre is about 2000 euro, the same as it was in 2009 when I started driving.

Stop talking sh*te and drawing false comparisons. Also, increasing wages will NEVER decrease the cost of living. You're better off targeting the insurance companies than pushing for wage hikes.

ya sorry my mistake,

it;s easy for a school-lever to get on the road nowadays compared to 1998

average_runner wrote: »

No they don't. Too protected with job security, promotions without merit. Pension that does not match what they contribute and then to expect overtime as standard.

That's not the real world.

they do live in the real world. no such thing as job security. promotions without merrit and pensions happen in the private sector as well. and the oh so perfect private sector have their own customer issues depending on the company, so lets not pretend it's just a public sector problem.

Leroy Happy Moisture wrote: »

I know we can't make promises but if that actually does happen when private buses get licences to run routes which bus eireann normally operate wouldn't it be a good 3/4 weeks to get it all sorted out and these private buses to begin?

unfortunately not. it could be months or more. that is going on the 10% route tendering program the NTA are currently working on, which is now in it's god knows how manyth year i think with none of the routes awarded to the best of my knowledge.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

lies, lies and more lies. A bus service is not just a bus service. It can vary greatly, more frequent, larger or smaller buses, different routings, more stops or less. etc. How can you not understand the very basic principles?

How would tendering cost way to much, you must have detailed costings of operators to justify such a statement, right?

BE is not the cheapest for either the state or customer, a look at various fares in comparison to competition shows this, subsidy levels versus european operators show it.

BE dramatically overpays its staff, 48k average versus aircoach at 39k, or citylink at 38k

BE owns reporting show they have over 400 excess drivers! If you don't believe that how could you believe anything else the company does or says?

oh be absolutely is the cheepist in terms of subsidy considering it receives the lowest subsidy in europe including capital investment, yet we have the amount of services we have for such a small island.

XsApollo wrote: »

Shut it down, let them all go they won't be long regretting it.

not shut it down and let them all go as it would cost too much and the disruption could last too long. even if your non-suggestion was to happen they won't have anything to regret as with their experience they will be re-employed quickly.

mugsymugsy wrote: »

They will be able to get out if the routes are designated as PSO routes and private companies are allowed to tender them.

I think one thing we have to be realistic is that the state can not be expected to provide a bus service /PSO route to every single village in the country

not for a very long time will they be able to get out. the state doesn't provide a bus service to every village in the country and never has.

Blackjack wrote: »

Idiotic?. Really?. You don't read much, seemingly.

Maybe check with Dermot at the NBRU?. Maybe check with any of the NBRU member strikers on the 18th of July 2003?
http://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-bus-dispute-2912209-Aug2016/

Maybe check with some Australian folks who also drive buses?
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/sa-government-calls-for-bus-drivers-and-employer-to-settle-pay-dispute-and-avoid-clipsal-500-strike/news-story/b1660d259e76e831850a73d928b605e8

Or better again, look up the bit referred to as, and I quote "Industrial relations history" from the NBRU itself:

http://www.nbru.ie/UnionHist.pdf

So - if the concern is really there for the customer, the worker that relies on the service to get to their place of work, or the person who has that hospital appointment, why not run the service on a no fares basis?.

not legally possible. it is against company rules to refuse to collect fares.

Graham wrote: »

I can't believe you keep forgetting about the free busses after you've been reminded of them so many times.

i included them, they come under capital investment.

Graham wrote: »

For once I agree with you, hopefully some of them will take over the BE services if everything collapses.

they are currently operating the routes, they are called bus eireann and dublin bus.

end of the road wrote: »

not legally possible. it is against company rules to refuse to collect fares

Oh right. Got any proof of that?

eeguy wrote: »

Essentially this.
Now would be a great time for a full reform of BE along best practices from other EU countries, esp. Switzerland and Germany.

I paid a bus fare in Salzburg in cash last October. I'd say tourists all paying in cash. Driver did ask though about return at the time so he was saving the return driver collecting.

In Portugal the driver collects in cash (though all the locals have cards) except if you start the journey at a bus station, where you must buy a ticket at the office.

I would not expect a driver to have change of €50, and I have seen passengers tendering this amount for reasonably short journeys. Equally I expect drivers to have reasonable change i.e. €20 tendered for a €14.50 journey is not unreasonable to expect change.

As for busses arriving early: An Post were experiencing this too with collecting mail from post boxes, some postmen were emptying the box before the time on the box. So they put a bar code inside each box and the postman/woman has to scan the box now when it's being collected.

(I don't work for An Post, while I was in Galway I saw a postman doing this and out of curiosity I asked him why and he said early collections were not allowed and this was An Posts way of checking them)

joeysoap wrote: »

I paid a bus fare in Salzburg in cash last October. I'd say tourists all paying in cash. Driver did ask though about return at the time so he was saving the return driver collecting.

I would not expect a driver to have change of €50, and I have seen passengers tendering this amount for reasonably short journeys. Equally I expect drivers to have reasonable change i.e. €20 tendered for a €14.50 journey is not unreasonable to expect change.

As for busses arriving early:

In the 80's when I drove buses it was ALL cash, but 90% of passengers took the trouble to have the right change. No one hardly does that now

When I started bus driving it was drilled into me that I could be as late as I liked but if I was to be even one minute early, there would be consequences.

end of the road wrote: »

not legally possible. it is against company rules to refuse to collect fares.

Any form of industrial action/strike is a breach of contract, so if there is such a rule it would be irrelevant.

BE (and IE and DB) have previously refused to collect fares, they did it on 18th July 2003 and cost the companies €1.2m in lost revenue.

punisher5112 wrote: »

Better argument and time spent questioning why around 19 billion is spent on welfare in a tiny little country like here....

Because Ireland has highest percentage of low paid workers in OECD, after US.
And has the worst level of social security in Europe, occupational pension coverage is the worst in developed world. The social security tax is already less than half the European Union average and the lowest rate in the EU28 with the exception of Denmark which covers its social budget from general taxation.
It actually needs to be increased (e.g. via increased PRSI). You suggest lowering social spending further? Or are you talking benefits only?

http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1028718.shtml

Note the high compensation of the Irish politicians mentioned in the above article. Double than Sweden with double population and top in several business and non-businesses country indicators. Ireland is top maybe in corporate tax avoidance per head and GDP per capita grossly inflated as result of that!

melloa wrote: »

joeysoap wrote: »

I paid a bus fare in Salzburg in cash last October. I'd say tourists all paying in cash. Driver did ask though about return at the time so he was saving the return driver collecting.

In Portugal the driver collects in cash (though all the locals have cards) except if you start the journey at a bus station, where you must buy a ticket at the office.

I would not expect a driver to have change of €50, and I have seen passengers tendering this amount for reasonably short journeys. Equally I expect drivers to have reasonable change i.e. €20 tendered for a €14.50 journey is not unreasonable to expect change.

As for busses arriving early: An Post were experiencing this too with collecting mail from post boxes, some postmen were emptying the box before the time on the box. So they put a bar code inside each box and the postman/woman has to scan the box now when it's being collected.

(I don't work for An Post, while I was in Galway I saw a postman doing this and out of curiosity I asked him why and he said early collections were not allowed and this was An Posts way of checking them)

this is false and impossible

What's so impossible about scanning a barcode? It's a relatively simple process.

I can't get over the attitude of some people on this thread, going absolutely beserk because they couldn't get a bus within the Dublin area on Friday but saying in the same breath they hope BE goes to the wall which basically means they couldn't give a **** about the people relying in that service eg like the young man on here earlier who travels from Bandon to Cork for college evey day. People crazed with anger because their own lives were interfeered with but whose dearest hope is that BE folds and to heck with the consequences for real people out there who will then be stranded for weeks or months or maybe will never have a bus service back in their particular area. Promising these country people that this and that will happen quickly when BE is gone when you actually have no clue what will happen and let's face it do you really care so long as your precious bus turns up. Shame on you.