[Article] FF/PD split widens over new bus fleet

monument

T21 fan, do you not have any reply?

aliveandkicking wrote:

D'Peoples Voice - thats the side of CIE that the CIE fanboys on this forum such as Red Alert, monument and shltter etc. pretend doesnt exist and tries to pull the wool over our eyes by telling us Dublin Bus and Irish Rail provide us with a good service.

I don’t remember saying, implying, or inferring, DB and/or IR provide us with a “good service”.

aliveandkicking wrote:

my views are based on my lifes experience travelling on Dublin Bus and Irish Rail and lately the Luas

That’s handy for your argument – look at the two new Luas tram lines, then look at a wide range of the state’s other public transport offering (and why not ignore the underinvestment for starters)

aliveandkicking wrote:

my views are based on... as well as seeing how things work in other countries.

Like the UK???

aliveandkicking wrote:

I believe CIE and its group of companies are perhaps one of the most incompetent transport organisations as regards service delivery and customer service in the western world.

That award was taken by NTR (like CIE also with help of government).

Transport21 Fan

Victor wrote:

Transport21 Fan, Monument - get a room.

Who me? I have been very well behaved on this thread.

Transport21 Fan

aliveandkicking wrote:

D'Peoples Voice - thats the side of CIE that the CIE fanboys on this forum such as Red Alert, monument and shltter etc. pretend doesnt exist and tries to pull the wool over our eyes by telling us Dublin Bus and Irish Rail provide us with a good service.

I think most passengers were flabbergasted hearing an announcement like this as everyone is so used to many (note not all) CIE heads treating passengers as an inconvenience that should be avoided.

What you are hearing from the CIE heads on this board defending that abomination is nothing more than the screams of a dying semi-state dinosaur.

In their hearts they know the game is up for CIE and likewise they know how terrible CIE is as a public transport provider.

Luas with each passing day enlightens more and more Irish people as to just how much of an disaster CIE is at providing public rail and bus transport and what an incredible rip-off to the taxpayers it is. The cat is out of the bag and there is no going back now.

Nineteenth century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said the following about truth:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

Similarly, Gandhi said this:
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."

CIE is finished.

monument

Yeah, he has been good, his post are just full with his normal rhetoric. I would say he’s avoiding answering questions, but I look to be on his ignore list on boards or just as a mental note.

Asking “why?” around here and all you get is ignored or more rhetorical posts with no direct answers.

shltter

monument wrote:

Yeah, he has been good, his post are just full with his normal rhetoric. I would say he’s avoiding answering questions, but I look to be on his ignore list on boards or just as a mental note.

Asking “why?” around here and all you get is ignored or more rhetorical posts with no direct answers.

Thats because he cant answer all he has is rhetoric

He knows absolutely nothing about CIE or any of the CIE companies or the unions or how public transport works in this country. He is a self appointed expert it is akin to a regular milk drinker considering himself to be an expert in dairy farming.

It is easy to criticise and ridicule but none of these guys can answer simple questions about what alternative they suggest or how they would get it to work. They are so biased against CIE they would blindly follow the UK and never stop to think about the consequences because they can just change their username again and bitch and moan about the new mess they would gladly have helped to create.

Slice

T21Fan; I just want to point out that it's competition for the market and not competition in the market.

Who's to say that anyone else can do a better job than Dublin Bus? What incentive would there be for a private operator to lower prices on the route they've won a license for if there is no competition on that route? Or that frequency would be any better? A subsidy would still apply and then there will also be the additional cost of regulating the market to ensure that private operators are complying with the terms of their license.

D'Peoples Voice

Slice wrote:

T21Fan; I just want to point out that it's competition for the market and not competition in the market.

Who's to say that anyone else can do a better job than Dublin Bus?

Aircoach doing the Leopardstown - Airport run! Even charging a far higher price they are still in business after several years!
For many people it's because in the main Aircoach are dependable, they don't leave you standing for ages at a bus stop because they have got on strike over some trivial issue.
I've nothing against CIE per se, but I don't agree with monopolies because they allow workers treat their customers like dirt knowing they have little or no alternative.
thats all I demand from public transport, realiability, no strikes, however as Dublin Bus's sister company Irish Rail has showed, workers will strike over any change. that is not good enough in a transport system that badly needs changing. don't get me started on unofficial strikes in Bus Eireann!

Slice

I don't think the issue with Dublin Bus has anything to do with strikes - in fact I can't remember the last time there was a bus strike. I also don't think you'd get the same number of people on the 46A or any other DB route for that matter if it was run by Aircoach and charged at Aircoach prices. If you wanted to make comparisons with Aircoach then maybe it would be more appropriate to compare it with the 747 Airlink that's run by DB which in my opinion is equally reliable and actually cheaper than Aircoach.

shltter

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Aircoach doing the Leopardstown - Airport run! Even charging a far higher price they are still in business after several years!
For many people it's because in the main Aircoach are dependable, they don't leave you standing for ages at a bus stop because they have got on strike over some trivial issue.
I've nothing against CIE per se, but I don't agree with monopolies because they allow workers treat their customers like dirt knowing they have little or no alternative.
thats all I demand from public transport, realiability, no strikes, however as Dublin Bus's sister company Irish Rail has showed, workers will strike over any change. that is not good enough in a transport system that badly needs changing. don't get me started on unofficial strikes in Bus Eireann!

Aircoach from Leopardstown have a monopoly on that route.

And when Aircoach in the past have decided to end services because they were not profitable they left people standing at bus stops for example the IFSC to the airport run.

Also privatisation in the UK has not led to any reduction in strikes in many cases it has made it worse

People who treat their customers badly do so because they believe they can get away with it. It is more to do with poor management than anything else.
The Fire Brigade have an monopoly on putting out fires they dont treat people badly as far as Iam aware and people dont seem to believe that we need a private fire Brigade to keep them on their toes.

And using Dart and Train drivers as an excuse to privatise Bus drivers jobs makes no sense

Victor

Slice wrote:

I don't think the issue with Dublin Bus has anything to do with strikes - in fact I can't remember the last time there was a bus strike.

1999 or 2000?

Or the last times there was an international football match.

D'Peoples Voice

Slice wrote:

in fact I can't remember the last time there was a bus strike.

September 2004

Dublin Bus has described this morning's wildcat strike, which stranded thousands of commuters, as a flagrant breach of company procedures.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0928/dublinbus.html

shltter wrote:

And using Dart and Train drivers as an excuse to privatise Bus drivers jobs makes no sense

I was referring to those bus drivers that share the same union NBRU as the rail drivers!

the PDs know that whether it is perception or reality, the public feel that workers in Dublin Bus will not be willing enough to change without the Government being held to ransom over wage claims. Short and simple. Time will tell and hopefully I'm wrong, Dublin bus drivers will embrace change and not hold the government to ransom over unjustified wage claims.

Slice

Thanks for refreshing my memory but it doesn't prove your point about Aircoach and the benefits of privatisation in the city bus market.

Aircoach's success has alot to do with it's reliability but so does the success of the 46A bus route. I agree that unions can be unreasonable but that doesn't mean bus services in the city can not be improved with the existence of a public monopoly.

Free market competition in the bus market is not on the table and that's because it just won't work. Competition for the bus market where private companies compete for the awarding of routes which is what's proposed will still require subsidies on non profitable routes to make them attractive to private operators - what's more it will also require heavy regulation to ensure these private operators are meeting minimum service levels - regulation that will be paid for by the taxpayer. Altogether it will still amount to a monopoly on the route in question by the particular operator that has been awarded that particular route.

But yea I'm with you D'Peoples Voice - in the main unions suck

Chris_533976

Aircoach will do well because of the name.

Uneducated people see the word "Aircoach" and obviously say "That bus goes to the airport".

People see "Dublin Bus 46A", or whatever it is (I dont know the number), and say "well aircoach goes to the airport".

Its silly, but thats how most people think.

MarkoP11

Locals take the 746/747/748 or even the regular bus since it actually links with other transport, Aircoach doesn't, its cheaper too, I have tried aircoach out and while it is plush it doesn't offer me any time advantage, Dublin Bus are more frequent and faster to load/unload

Aircoach was designed as a niche product to carry tourists and business people from airport to hotel, classic private sector operation to attract cash rich punters from taxi to bus

Transport21 Fan

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

September 2004

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0928/dublinbus.html

I was referring to those bus drivers that share the same union NBRU as the rail drivers!

the PDs know that whether it is perception or reality, the public feel that workers in Dublin Bus will not be willing enough to change without the Government being held to ransom over wage claims. Short and simple. Time will tell and hopefully I'm wrong, Dublin bus drivers will embrace change and not hold the government to ransom over unjustified wage claims.

To go slightly off topic here, but still dealing with CIE unions, if you think the public perception of the NBRU is bad you should see how the business community regards CIE. One company I dealth with has a large office in Cork and there is constant movement of staff between Dublin and Cork. They either all drove or flew. Irish Rail is less that muck to them based on the travel experiences of the past.

So IE introduce new trains on the Cork-Dublin route. I have used them they are beautiful, but what happens in and around their introduction...the usual NBRU circus of the absurd, a family crises in Mallow station...so the momentum to start a whole fresh new image of Dublin to Cork 21st century inter-city rail travel is destroyed by the usual CIE union psychosis, and the business travellers whom these new trains were designed to woo back to the railway - only end up having their phobias about CIE and its unions 100% justified.

I actually felt sorry for the management at IE considering how the Cork drivers along with Pops and Sonny Boy at Mallow ruined their good intentions to launch a super new product. Tragic, but was to be expected.

Now compare this to the Luas, despite the incredible anti-luas bashing in the media prior to the opening of the system, it opened and did precisely what they promised from day one - above and beyond. Unlke the CIE unions, the Luas staff did not have the same instinctive desire to ruin the good name of their company and its product in the same way the CIE unions seems pathologically obliged to do without fail and have done for the last 60 or so years.

How long now before Spencer Dock station is set to open?

monument

Still refusing to answer direct questions? Still ignoring any suggestions backed with fact that deregulation was “a failed experiment” in the UK?

Some people’s memory is indeed very short. Some taxi drives are acting the same as the public sector unions (right or wrong), and the private road haulage industry has equally shown that they also can through their rattle out of their trucks (again, right or wrong).

Transport21 Fan wrote:

despite the incredible anti-luas bashing in the media prior to the opening of the system,

I can only guess you’re referring to articles which covered things like massive cost overruns, massive delays, disruptions to business*, loads of little surprises like roads collapsing that nobody would every expect in a old city (ffs) etc, etc, etc.

(* this was where prolonged construction actually effected business where they had no other options, the story around this was far more substantial then “One company I dealth (sic) with”)

Metrobest

It always amuses me that people come on to this forum and demand more subsidies and buses for Dublin Bus.

Ireland's Left (eg. Irish Times, Labour Party, Trade Unions, contibutors to this forum) casts Dublin Bus as a victim. If we give Dublin Bus more subsidies, more buses, they argue, Dublin Bus would improve beyond recognition and the public would suddenly be leaving its cars at home every day.

Wishful thinking.

Dublin Bus as a company has proven time and time again that it is only good at one thing: failure. Bankrupt of ideas and innovation, Dublin Bus has been stuck with the same outdated route model, the same inflexible ticket options, unreliable service, culture of failure. Only Dublin Bus would choose to buy a fleet of buses without rear doors, or charge you twice for the pleasure of a round-the-world detour into the city centre so you can take a bus from suburb to suburb.

Giving Dublin Bus more buses just extends the failure, wastes more of taxpayers money. That's fine by the Irish Left because without failure and money to waste, the Left would have no reason to exist.

Ireland's economic success has occurred despite - not because of - the Irish Left.

Operated by a private company, Luas has given Irish people a taste of a proper customer-focused transport company. So has Aircoach - despite what some people on this thread would have us believe, Aircoach is a far superior product than its Dublin Bus 747 poor cousin.

Just one example of why Aircoach is better is this. It's possible to step on an Aircoach in Dawson Street and buy a through ticket to Belfast. With the 747, it's not even possible to buy a through ticket to Ballsbridge!

Lots of things have failed in the UK but succeeded in Ireland. We have to get over the national complex of thinking that the UK do things better than us. They don't.

Just because privatisation has not ran as smoothly as expected in the UK it is ridiculous to suggest that it will fail in Dublin. The dynamics are different. Even at its worst, nationalised transport in the UK was nothing like the appalling service one sees in CIE Ireland. Dublin is inching towards the continental Europe model and we should be looking at cities like Amsterdam and Stockholm which have population profiles closer to Dublin than, for example, London.

In cities across Europe, private operators run buses and they do a brilliant job. Veoilia, operator of Luas, runs buses in Amsterdam and Stockholm. The service is wonderful. In Stockholm, so efficient are they buses they have an exact departure time from each stop - and the drivers stick to it like glue.

Mary Harney is 100% right to make a stand on this issue. She is acting in the public interest, protecting the public purse from another mugging from CIE.

I want to see a world-class bus transport system in Dublin. The only way to achieve this is to root out the weed that's stopping growth, CIE.

markpb

I wouldn't go as far as saying DB is flawless but most of the problems you describe can be directly attributed to someone else.

the same outdated route model

DOT sits on route changes and extensions for months before usually rejecting them out of hand.

the same inflexible ticket options

DOT, in the main, set the ticketing options and won't let DB change them. Also because of the reduced level of subsidy they can't afford to introduce tickets that would lower their income.

unreliable service

Badly thought out bus lanes where they exist at all. DCC, FCC are at fault here.

or charge you twice for the pleasure of a round-the-world detour into the city centre so you can take a bus from suburb to suburb

You do have a point there but there are a number of useful and reasonably reliable orbital bus routes. The 17a and 220 are handy enough. Most of their problems are caused by inbound/outbound traffic having priority at almost all junctions. Nothing DB can do about that except lobbying the LAs for better juctions.

Just one example of why Aircoach is better is this. It's possible to step on an Aircoach in Dawson Street and buy a through ticket to Belfast. With the 747, it's not even possible to buy a through ticket to Ballsbridge!

Street-level ticket vending machines would solve a lot of those problems. Metrobus in Belfast lets you buy a 1 day ticket onboard the bus which works quite well. There are alternatives that they should be looking at.

Just because privatisation has not ran as smoothly as expected in the UK it is ridiculous to suggest that it will fail in Dublin. The dynamics are different. Even at its worst, nationalised transport in the UK was nothing like the appalling service one sees in CIE Ireland.

The original model of privatisation in England failed (partly) because of lack of regulation and enforcement and it failed miserably. It works in London now because of proper regulation, a well organised super-body and huge levels of investment none of which we'd be likely to see in Dublin.

The people at the top of TfL have said several times that there's no point trying to imitate what London did if a city isn't prepared to go to the lengths they did. In fact they said things would be worse if anyone tried half-heartedly.

Mary Harney is 100% right to make a stand on this issue. She is acting in the public interest, protecting the public purse from another mugging from CIE.

Maybe you're right but her timing is all wrong. She's blocking DB's purchase of buses without any firm commitment from any private companies that they'll enter. She has no real idea how privatising routes in Dublin will work. In the meantime Dublin ends up short of buses and DB continue to provide a mediocre service. If she wants to introduce private bus routes, she can do it. But not at the expense of every bus traveller in Dublin.

monument

As highlighted by the above post, it’s a fairytale that Dublin Bus or CIE have the real power at directing the business. The real control of CIE is at the DoT directed by government.

A prime example; The reason we don’t have integrated ticking is not because of CIE in days gone by or the RPA in recent times, it’s because there is no will at government level to bring it about.

shltter

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

September 2004

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0928/dublinbus.html

I was referring to those bus drivers that share the same union NBRU as the rail drivers!

the PDs know that whether it is perception or reality, the public feel that workers in Dublin Bus will not be willing enough to change without the Government being held to ransom over wage claims. Short and simple. Time will tell and hopefully I'm wrong, Dublin bus drivers will embrace change and not hold the government to ransom over unjustified wage claims.

2 years ago one bus depot out of 7 and it is hardly a trivial matter being urinated on

And your logic is flawed Bus drivers also share SIPTU with train drivers and about 200,000 workers in industries all over the country

And the NBRU represent bus drivers in private bus companies

lostexpectation

Metrobest wrote:

It always amuses me that people come on to this forum and demand more subsidies and buses for Dublin Bus.

Ireland's Left (eg. Irish Times, Labour Party, Trade Unions, contibutors to this forum) casts Dublin Bus as a victim. If we give Dublin Bus more subsidies, more buses, they argue, Dublin Bus would improve beyond recognition and the public would suddenly be leaving its cars at home every day.

Wishful thinking.

Dublin Bus as a company has proven time and time again that it is only good at one thing: failure. Bankrupt of ideas and innovation, Dublin Bus has been stuck with the same outdated route model, the same inflexible ticket options, unreliable service, culture of failure. Only Dublin Bus would choose to buy a fleet of buses without rear doors, or charge you twice for the pleasure of a round-the-world detour into the city centre so you can take a bus from suburb to suburb.

Giving Dublin Bus more buses just extends the failure, wastes more of taxpayers money. That's fine by the Irish Left because without failure and money to waste, the Left would have no reason to exist.

Ireland's economic success has occurred despite - not because of - the Irish Left.

but every public mass transport company has (faced) these issues... stop pretending they don't... and they will disappear through privitisation.

aliveandkicking

monument wrote:

As highlighted by the above post, it’s a fairytale that Dublin Bus or CIE have the real power at directing the business. The real control of CIE is at the DoT directed by government.

A prime example; The reason we don’t have integrated ticking is not because of CIE in days gone by or the RPA in recent times, it’s because there is no will at government level to bring it about.

Agree with a lot of that, the DoT is to blame for many things however my basic point is that regarding customer service and service provision DB and IE are woefully inadequate. Its the "I dont give a f**k about the passenger" attitude of many (not all) DB/IE employees that is a problem not caused by the DoT, it is ingrained in the culture of CIE. It is my opinion that the only way that culture will change is if DB/IE has some competition showing the way it should be done and force management to change the culture of its workforce.

Victor

Transport21 Fan wrote:

Now compare this to the Luas, despite the incredible anti-luas bashing in the media prior to the opening of the system, it opened and did precisely what they promised from day one - above and beyond.

Five minute frequency was promised from the start of 2003, it was delivered in late 2004. Thats about day 650.

shltter wrote:

2 years ago one bus depot out of 7 and it is hardly a trivial matter being urinated on

But hardly cause for a strike.

And the NBRU represent bus drivers in private bus companies

Since when?

Metrobest wrote:

It always amuses me that people come on to this forum and demand more subsidies and buses for Dublin Bus.

Actually the demand is for more busses (Dublin Bus have even said, just order the busses for now, decide who runs them later). The suggestion is that privatisation may cost more for less results.

Mary Harney is 100% right to make a stand on this issue. She is acting in the public interest, protecting the public purse from another mugging from CIE.

Realise the true cost is not the subsidy, but the current failure of government to get workers to their place of work in atimely fashion.

shltter

Victor wrote:

..But hardly cause for a strike.

The dispute was about the treatment of the driver afterwards

Could it have been avoided absolutely but it is hardly an example of unions calling strikes for trivial matters since a it was not a trivial matter and B the unions did not call the strike and in fact worked to end it .

Victor wrote:

Since when.

For years one of the private companies doing city tours has NBRU members for example

Victor

shltter wrote:

For years one of the private companies doing city tours has NBRU members for example

This may come as a surprise to the union leadership.

Metrobest

Victor wrote:

Actually the demand is for more busses (sic) Dublin Bus have even said, just order the busses for now, decide who runs them later).

The suggestion is that privatisation may cost more for less results.

Realise the true cost is not the subsidy, but the current failure of government to get workers to their place of work in atimely fashion.

No doubt Dublin Bus wants to order the same set of useless buses it did last year - buses with no rear doors. :rolleyes: A private operator would have more foresight.

More buses = more subsidies for Dublin Bus, or am I missing something here?

I'm not suggesting that privatisation cost more for less results, nor is Mary Harney. Mary and I both believe that it will cost less. . It is generally said to be true that private enterprise operates more efficiently than state-subsidised monopolies.

"realise that the true cost is not the subsidy?" - I think that's a dangerous example of the thinking of the Irish Left that I mentioned in my post previous. We can't keep upping the subsidies and getting the same mediocre results for a service that's doomed to failure. It's time to franchise out 25% of these routes now.

We live in a full employment economy but what happens in a depression when nobody's working anymore (in the private sector) and Dublin Bus is overstaffed with jobsforlifers and buses going nowhere?

A private operator could run buses in Dublin more cheaply, more efficiently and more effectively than Dublin Bus. That means the Irish taxpayer saves money. And that's a true saving.

markpb

Metrobest wrote:

It is generally said to be true that private enterprise operates more efficiently than state-subsidised monopolies.

And one of the reasons why that's true is private companies rarely enter unprofitable markets. Semi-state companies exist for a reason, they can be forced to serve those unprofitable markets because its in the public interest. No private company is going to tender for the 103 bus route or would cover the vast swathes of west dublin that have no bus lanes, low density housing and terrible traffic.

We can't keep upping the subsidies and getting the same mediocre results for a service that's doomed to failure. It's time to franchise out 25% of these routes now.

If the government (including city councils) really wanted to improve the service of Dublin Bus, there's lots they could do that would be vastly more effective than privatising routes. Closing some roads to private traffic and actually enforcing it (O'Connell street southbound?), building proper QBCs, implementing bus priority junctions, having a transport police force to enforce those rules andto protect passengers.... the list is endless. None of those problems could be overcome by a private company either.

We live in a full employment economy but what happens in a depression when nobody's working anymore (in the private sector) and Dublin Bus is overstaffed with jobsforlifers and buses going nowhere?

And what happens when the same thing happens and a chunk of our bus service is operate privately? Either the operators will pull out because its not profitable or the subsidy levels for those companies will rise.

A private operator could run buses in Dublin more cheaply, more efficiently and more effectively than Dublin Bus. That means the Irish taxpayer saves money. And that's a true saving.

London, a really good example (now) of how privatised bus routes should work is hidiously expensive to operate. Subsidies to operators cost a fortune. Regulation and oversight bodies are expensive to run. Yes it works but it's not cheap.

Metrobest

markpb wrote:

I wouldn't go as far as saying DB is flawless but most of the problems you describe can be directly attributed to someone else.....

No, Mark, that absolves Dublin Bus of all responsibility for its failures. For all this talk about Dublin Bus "needing" more buses, let's not forget that Dublin Bus is carrying no more passengers now than it was ten years ago, bus passenger counts over the canal cordon are down over 10% and fare prices have risen so quickly you'd think it was Harare Bus, Zimbabwe!

You must know in your heart and soul that Dublin Bus just doesn't have the wherewithal to deliver the kind of quality bus service that Dubliners need and deserve in 21st century Ireland.

markpb wrote:

Maybe you're right but her timing is all wrong. She's blocking DB's purchase of buses without any firm commitment from any private companies that they'll enter. She has no real idea how privatising routes in Dublin will work. In the meantime Dublin ends up short of buses and DB continue to provide a mediocre service. If she wants to introduce private bus routes, she can do it. But not at the expense of every bus traveller in Dublin.

I don't think Mary Harnery's talking about a London-style scenario. What she's saying is, let's franchise out 25% or new and existing routes to a private operator because

1) It will be cheaper
2) The public will get a better bus service
3) The competition will make Dublin Bus leaner and more efficient.

(Note that the best of the CIE trio is Bus Eireann and that's because it has so much competition on its routes. Competition works, and the dogs on the street know it.)

Dublin Bus and its unions are against Mary Harney because

1) They fear the public will realise just how bad they existing service is
2) They will be forced to up their game
3) They know she's right

markpb

Metrobest wrote:

No, Mark, that absolves Dublin Bus of all responsibility for its failures.

I should have put my standard disclaimer in there. I don't think DB are a great company, they have lots of problems and there are lots of things they could do better but I think their worst failings can be blamed on the government and LAs in Dublin.

I don't think Mary Harnery's talking about a London-style scenario. What she's saying is, let's franchise out 25% or new and existing routes to a private operator because

If I thought this government could privatise bus routes successfully, I'd be all for it. Their record on regulation (without which, this project will fail) is atrocious. Comreg are almost afraid to ask eircom to actually implement any of the rules they enforced.

A badly regulation and subsidised bus network will be much worse than what we have now. Companies won't tender for poor routes and won't operate a proper service outside of rush hour.

fly_agaric

Metrobest wrote:

let's not forget that Dublin Bus is carrying no more passengers now than it was ten years ago

Really?

Metrobest wrote:

What she's saying is, let's franchise out 25% or new and existing routes to a private operator

The best 25 % of existing routes I would presume. The ones that run reasonably well and make some money. So Dublin Bus should become worse than it is now. Then the PeeDees will have more ammo against it. Everyone's a winner in their eyes I suppose - even if service actually doesn't improve!
I mean, who uses busses anyway? Certainly not our voters!