RyanAir has 16% of Aer Lingus

GerardKeating

And has launched a take over bid...

Ste.phen

any confirmation of this?

comphreak

Yeh here.... http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/1005/ryanair.html

Victor

Interesting publicity stunt ....

loyatemu

would it make sense for them though?
aer lingus has valuable landing slots and routes to the US - if Ryanair are interested in expanding into long-distance routes this could be a quick way of doing it.

on the other hand it would lead to all out war with the aer lingus unions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5408780.stm

danindublin

But this could hardly be good for competition as the two currently dominate the Irish market! Gives Ryanair a huge chunk of dublin airport and of all ireland to uk flights! This was kind of inevitably though, given the relatively low price that aer lingus was sold for ???

BuffyBot

Very interesting move on Ryanair's part - and I have to say, unexpected!

Victor

danindublin wrote:

But this could hardly be good for competition as the two currently dominate the Irish market! Gives Ryanair a huge chunk of dublin airport and of all ireland to uk flights! This was kind of inevitably though, given the relatively low price that aer lingus was sold for ???

MOL is claiming the two will still compete with each other ... I can't see the Competition Authority accepting that though.

Noelie

Aer lingus shares are up 11% today, to 2.81, probably because of this

Kashkai

Course it makes sense for Ryanair to take over Aer Lingus - it eliminates their primary competitor at Irish airports. The Aer Lingus slots would be used by Ryanair or sold as needed.

Aer Lingus itself would be subsumed into Ryanair and the staff would be told to like it or lump it. The Aer Lingus Unions would no doubt fight this tooth and nail but they'll lose as Ryanair will simply threaten to wind up AerLingus and thus they will be out of a job anyway. They've done it before with other airlines they've bought out and no doubt they'll do it again.

A short term fare war would then be initiated by Ryanair to remove the remaining airlines serving Ireland and then the fares will shoot up - for those who disagree, I would cite "G0" as an example. Remember their introduction of a €9.99 fare to Edinburgh a few years back. Ryanair slashed their fares to 99 cent until GO pulled out of the Irish market and then Ryanair's fares shot back up.

As for the fare paying passengers, we would be forced to use Ryanair's flying cattle trucks with their non existant service. I for one believe in having a choice - a Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus would eliminate choice in air travel out of Ireland as there would be no alternative to Ryanair's lousy service.

And yes, I hate Ryanair for the rude staff, the charge to the plane to get a seat, the non-existant in flight service and being left at an airport miles away from your destination - Beauvais/Charlerois etc.

gandalf

BuffyBot wrote:

Very interesting move on Ryanair's part - and I have to say, unexpected!

Unexpected is how the union leaders took it this morning. I could have sworn that they were about to break out into tears at any moment and stamp their feet and say it wasn't fair

Personally I would avoid flying with Aer Lingus if Ryanair took them over.

Occidental

I'd be interested to see what kind of a percentage you need to get a seat on the board. Ryanair mightn't have any intention of taking over, but a big enough shareholding could be enough to stifle progress and cause chaos from within.

Interesting times.

BuffyBot

(Should it all be cleared in potential-future land) it would be interesting to see them together, and whether or not they would indeed be run as seperate entities. It's a bit of a dilution of Ryanair's core business though, I wonder how it's shareholders would react to such an eventuality.

Occidental

gandalf wrote:

Unexpected is how the union leaders took it this morning. I could have sworn that they were about to break out into tears at any moment and stamp their feet and say it wasn't fair

A fly on the wall would have a hard time choosing between Liberty Hall and Leinster House this morning.

PhoenixRising

This is just a another PR stunt, like how he was threatening to sue the UK government over their security measures imposed after the terrorist plot last month. Where did that all end up?

MOL knows that this will never happen, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want it to happen. He has said several times in the past that he would not take Aer Lingus as a present. It's just another big PR stunt and an oppprotunity to flex it's muscles in front of the Government and the newly floated Aer Lingus.

This won't happen for several reasons. One, the government and staff share holding is around 40% combined, making it difficult to get the controlling share holding, but not impossible. Two, the competition authority would block it anyway, as it would mean around 90% of the airline market in Ireland would be controlled by Ryanair. Thirdly, he'll have to deal with the strongly intrenched unions in Aer Lingus, which will no doubt strongly oppose a Ryanair takeover, and we all know how much MOL enjoys dealing with trade unions.

When this all falls flat on it's face MOL will be able to jump up and down, playing the same old role of the people's champion cut down by the nasty government and trade unions etc.., which is probably all MOL wants from this.

Prosperous Dave

Prosperous Dave wrote:

The Aer Lingus slots would be used by Ryanair or sold as needed.

They cant be as afaik,the government made them staying put a condition of sale.

empirix

O'Leary said they will continue to operste seperately and he will try and expand the Aer Lingus trans atlantic service as well as cutting prices on european routes.

Either way i'm screwed, looks like i have to take to the water to get to England and then get a flight - i just don't like being on Ryanair flights!

okidoki987

Heathrow slots will not be sold as long as the Government still holds 25-28%.
If MOL holds a 16% stake then it will very hard for the Government to do anything without his say so.
He will get great PR out of this "stunt".
He will probably stick an add in the papers "Government sell off AL too cheaply" or something like that
Gas man :rolleyes:

Idleater

Prosperous Dave wrote:

And yes, I hate Ryanair for the rude staff, the charge to the plane to get a seat, the non-existant in flight service and being left at an airport miles away from your destination - Beauvais/Charlerois etc.

Not a valid point. It is only valid if Brussels was your chosen destination and you were dropped in Charleroi.

Personally, Charleroi is far easier to get out of than Brussels, and the same goes for quite a large proportion of Ryanair destinations. Beauvais is an exception with no transport links.

Besides, if you don't like Ryanair "service" why choose to fly with them? It is fairly obvious at this stage that when you choose to fly with ryanair, you know exactly what you get and what you dont get and what you have to pay for.

I do not agree with "choice" purely for the sake of choice - ie, there is no point in keeping aerlingus and ryanair "in competition" if they are clearly the one entity, because it gives a false impression of the state of the market.

L.

Mad Finn

The competition authority won't wear it.

One would hope.

Ryanair having a monopoly of air traffic out of Ireland would be just too miserable for words.

The business community wouldn't wear its inflexibility and bull**** either.

They would have to introduce some level of flexibility and quality of service at the business end of the market but that means introducing COST and Ryanair is just pathologically opposed to anything that doesn't make their system hum like a production line.

You're right. It's a stunt.

PhoenixRising

BuffyBot wrote:

It's a bit of a dilution of Ryanair's core business though, I wonder how it's shareholders would react to such an eventuality.

You've hit the nail on the head there. Ryanair's share price has dropped following this announcement.

Gurgle

Prosperous Dave wrote:

As for the fare paying passengers, we would be forced to use Ryanair's flying cattle trucks

Or newsest fleet in europe, depending on your pre-conceptions.

Prosperous Dave wrote:

with their non existant service.

You can pay for food if you want it (decent food btw). The alternative is to take Aer Lingus and pay for muck whether you want it or not. No brainer for me.

Prosperous Dave wrote:

there would be no alternative to Ryanair's lousy service.

Dozens of airlines fly in and out of Dublin. Its not just Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

Prosperous Dave wrote:

And yes, I hate Ryanair for the rude staff, the charge to the plane to get a seat, the non-existant in flight service and being left at an airport miles away from your destination - Beauvais/Charlerois etc.

I love Ryanair for the fact that I can go to Paris for a weekend for less than it costs to take a train to Cork. I don't give a flying feck about in-flight service on short hops and as for being miles away from the city - Beauvais is about an hour 20 minutes on the bus, Stanstead is no further from London than Heathrow, Dublin airport is Dublin airport.
How long do you take to get from Charles DeGaul to the city?

Ryanair single-handedly built the entire european industry of flying busses at bus fare prices. Previously it cost at least £300 to even get on a plane. For that money you get the privilige of being served inedible muck by a pretty stewardess 'free':rolleyes:. I always preferred to pay a fraction the price to fly and find a nice restaurant to spend the difference in.

So go buy your own bloody plane if money is no object. Some of us appreciate the fact that we would have seen a lot less of the continent if it wasn't for budget airlines.

TheFredJ

this is worth a read, to remember what was promised only a few months back: http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20060607.xml&Dail=29&Ex=All&Page=2

Kashkai

nereid wrote:

Not a valid point. It is only valid if Brussels was your chosen destination and you were dropped in Charleroi.

Personally, Charleroi is far easier to get out of than Brussels, and the same goes for quite a large proportion of Ryanair destinations. Beauvais is an exception with no transport links.

Besides, if you don't like Ryanair "service" why choose to fly with them? It is fairly obvious at this stage that when you choose to fly with ryanair, you know exactly what you get and what you dont get and what you have to pay for.

I do not agree with "choice" purely for the sake of choice - ie, there is no point in keeping aerlingus and ryanair "in competition" if they are clearly the one entity, because it gives a false impression of the state of the market.

L.

I flew with them years ago back in the 90's and have avoided them like the plague ever since. The only reason I fly to Europe is for weekend "city" breaks and thus I want to go to the city, i.e. Brussels or Paris. Charlrois and Beauvais are in the middle of nowhere. In fact, when I flew to Beauvais in 1997, it was being marketed by Ryanair as Paris-Beauvais. They subsequently had to stop naming this airport as such as it was deemed to be false advertising.

The following year when I went to Brussels via Charlrois, on the return trip, the coach bringing us to Charlrois broke down and we missed our flight. We then had to pay for the next flight 12 hours later as Ryanair wouldn't accept any kind of responsibility for the coach failure, even though they were selling the tickets for the return coach trip to Brussels.

You don't agree with choice? So we should all put up with motor mouth O'Leary and be forced to pack our kids under our arms as we leg it to the plane in the hope of actually sitting together a-la Ryanair?

Aer Lingus has its faults but its a far superior airline in every respect.

Kashkai

So go buy your own bloody plane if money is no object. Some of us appreciate the fact that we would have seen a lot less of the continent if it wasn't for budget airlines.[/QUOTE]

Tetchy aren't we???

Do you have kids to bring along on your weekend getaways???? Mind telling me how you get your kids out to the plane without them getting killed in the rush???

Hope you don't need a wheelchair either as they refused to supply one for my mate's mother and she had to suffer the indignity of being carried out to the plane.

Or are you a Me Feiner who doesn't give a sh1t as long as he gets what he wants:rolleyes:

Gurgle

Prosperous Dave wrote:

You don't agree with choice? So we should all put up with motor mouth O'Leary and be forced to pack our kids under our arms as we leg it to the plane in the hope of actually sitting together a-la Ryanair?

Go with Air France.
They fly Dublin-Paris direct, and I'm sure they're far superior to Ryanair in every way.

€500 each will get you there and back

So thats €2,000 for 2 adults and 2 children for a total of 4 hours on a plane

Or you could go with Ryanair.

Total is €448

To me thats €1,500 towards a nice hotel and entertainment over the weekend. To you evidently the money would be better spent on an airline that will give you a complimentary beer or 2.

penexpers

Prosperous Dave wrote:

I flew with them years ago back in the 90's and have avoided them like the plague ever since. The only reason I fly to Europe is for weekend "city" breaks and thus I want to go to the city, i.e. Brussels or Paris. Charlrois and Beauvais are in the middle of nowhere. In fact, when I flew to Beauvais in 1997, it was being marketed by Ryanair as Paris-Beauvais. They subsequently had to stop naming this airport as such as it was deemed to be false advertising.

Actually, they still market it as Paris-Beauvais. Anyway Beauvais is a grand compact airport unlike the hell hole that is CDG. CDG invovles lots of walking and lots of time to get from the plane to the RER, in Beauvais, the transit time through the terminal is usually in the order of 15 minutes, compared to up to an hour in CDG (in my experience) and even then it's 45 minutes or upwards for the RER. Beauvais now has better transport links too, since they introduced a bus service between the airport and the train station.

penexpers

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Hope you don't need a wheelchair either as they refused to supply one for my mate's mother and she had to suffer the indignity of being carried out to the plane.

The EU have said that it's the responsibility of the airport to provide the wheelchair, not the responsibility of the airline.

therecklessone

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Do you have kids to bring along on your weekend getaways???? Mind telling me how you get your kids out to the plane without them getting killed in the rush???

Its obvious you haven't flown with them in a while.

Ryanair operate a priorty boarding sytem now, boarding web check-in passenegrs first, then passengers with children/passengers who need assisstance, then the remaining passengers in two groups depending on the sequence number on their boarding pass. In my recent experience (at least 7 flights in the last 6 weeks) the system is efficient and orderly, allowing sufficient time for all passenegers with special requirements to board the plane without being rushed.

Of course, security delays at airports which are outside their control may mean a passenger arriving after boarding has commenced, but that can hardly be the fault of the airline now, can it?

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Hope you don't need a wheelchair either as they refused to supply one for my mate's mother and she had to suffer the indignity of being carried out to the plane.

Since a case taken in the European courts, Ryanair are required to provide a wheelchair service free of charge to wheelchair-bound passengers. They argue this should be done by the airport operators, and charge a levy on all tickets to offset the cost to themselves (the rights/wrongs of that can be argued)

Noelie

Yeah i can't get over people who still complain about Ryanair, there was something in the Indo a few days ago about a guy who bought Ryanair's 1cent flights and he ended up paying about 70Euro. I think he was flying to Germany
how does this ****e still make it into the papers, everyone should know it by now, sure it costs 50 to cork on the train.

Gurgle

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Tetchy aren't we???

Yes, sick of hearing people whine about not getting the same service for a quarter of the money.

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Do you have kids to bring along on your weekend getaways???? Mind telling me how you get your kids out to the plane without them getting killed in the rush???

Yes, two.
I get the kids out to the plane when they call 'anyone with small children please board the plane now'. I get them off the plane by sitting in our seats and waiting the 5 minutes until the stampede is over and we can walk quietly off the plane.

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Hope you don't need a wheelchair either as they refused to supply one for my mate's mother and she had to suffer the indignity of being carried out to the plane.

Nope, I don't need a wheelchair and I would feel terribly sorry for anyone who had to take that kind of indignity.

I do wonder how they manage it on the Aer-lingus flights that are boarded by the moving-stairs thing?

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Or are you a Me Feiner who doesn't give a sh1t as long as he gets what he wants:rolleyes:

I'm a consumer that appreciates having the option to travel all over europe at a reasonable cost.

As I keep saying, you have choices. If your priority is getting away for a weekend break without it costing an arm and a leg, go Ryanair. If your priority is to have a relaxed comfortable flight with pretty girls giving you free drinks and you don't care what it costs - more power to you, have fun.

With my old job I've been over quite a chunk of the world. I also like to travel as much as I can on holidays. I've flown with Ryanair, Aerlingus, Brittish Midlands, Brittish Airways, JAL, Lufthansa, Lotus-air, and that spanish crowd that Budget travel use.

Ryanair come out top for flying on time - they take full advantage of the fact that they more-or-less own the little airports miles from the cities. Also, as I mentioned above - If you want food you can buy it. Its actually nice too. They are a bit unflexible though. You have to make sure you've plenty of time to make your connecting flights. Went to Rome via stanstead with them once and got into stanstead early on the way back. We had time to catch the flight before the one we were booked on, but they wanted €200 each to switch the flight. Went for a couple of drinks & early dinner in stanstead instead.

Aerlingus used to give the best 'free' food, though delayed by at least 30 minutes every time I've gone with them. tbh I've flown with them more in the last few years since they followed Ryanair's lead and switched over to being a low-fares carrier. Missed a flight to Duesseldorf once, last flight there of the day, and they let me take the next one to Amsterdam instead for a €25 rebooking fee. Train-fare cost more, €40 iirc.

JAL have little TVs in the back of all the seats. Nice touch on a 12 hour flight. I nearly gagged when I opened the food-tray though.

Lotus-air let you smoke on the plane (several years ago, maybe not now), but kept us for 2 hours in an un-airconditioned lobby (at 45°C) in Luxor while they flew a plane down from Cairo because the one we were meant to go on got a flat tyre.

The budget-travel crowd were delayed 3 hours on the return flight. That was not fun in a crowded airport with 2 small kids.

BM and BA - Nothing special. Nothing edible.

CK.1

therecklessone wrote:

Its obvious you haven't flown with them in a while.

Ryanair operate a priorty boarding sytem now, boarding web check-in passenegrs first, then passengers with children/passengers who need assisstance, then the remaining passengers in two groups depending on the sequence number on their boarding pass.

Load of bollíx to be honest, the system doesn't work, you have people queueing 30 mins before they are allowed board, then people just show up and skip the whole queue, they let you on the flight no matter what your priority number is. I much prefer the system other airlines have where you are allocated your seat number. Aer Lingus is the best where you choose your own seat online when you book.

I fly to London at least once a month and it is a myth that Ryanair are cheaper. I almost always get a cheaper flight with Aer Lingus or BMI. And their planes are nicer than Ryanairs (yes even their newest 737-800's) with more space between the seats, cleaner planes, staff not pissing you off trying to sell food, drinks, scratch cards, etc etc. And when you land in Stansted with Ryanair you still have to pay £25 for a train to London. The tube from Heathrow is only £5.

El Stuntman

Given my recent travails with AL, I think this is (a) absolutely hilarious and also (b) a Good Thing

Go Mick!! SIPTU bosses must be kakking themselves right now

btw, this is absolutely NOT a publicity stunt - anyone who says this has no idea how capital markets work

Lennoxschips

one would hope that ryanair won't be allowed to buy aer lingus

El Stuntman

Lennoxschips wrote:

one would hope that ryanair won't be allowed to buy aer lingus

why?

AL = public company traded on the ISEQ
Ryanair = public company (with sh!tloads of spare cash sitting in the bank that the the shareholders have every right to expect be put to better use)

why can't one bid for the other? Would you also be opposed to say, Kerry, taking over Glanbia?

or is this some kind of emotional "I don't like Ryanair" kneejerk reaction?

Gurgle

Lennoxschips wrote:

one would hope that ryanair won't be allowed to buy aer lingus

one would, because one enjoys the competition and has taken advantage of it over the last several years by using both competitors

Funny thing btw - I shop around every time I go anywhere. Sometimes Aerlingus are the cheapest, sometimes Ryanair.

Its never anyone else.

therecklessone

CK.1 wrote:

Load of bollíx to be honest, the system doesn't work, you have people queueing 30 mins before they are allowed board, then people just show up and skip the whole queue, they let you on the flight no matter what your priority number is.

I see you missed a relevant part of my last post. Here it is again:

therecklessone wrote:

In my recent experience (at least 7 flights in the last 6 weeks) the system is efficient and orderly

My word against your own of course, but on at least three of those seven occasions, I have seen passengers sent back to join the correct queue after trying to board at the wrong time.

It didn't work too well before the Summer, but now that the web check-in service is in full swing it is in their interest to make it work now.

Mad Finn

Noelie wrote:

how does this ****e still make it into the papers, everyone should know it by now, sure it costs 50 to cork on the train.

Only those people who would want to go to Cork. Which is a long way short of 'everybody.'

Actually I found over the summer that it was actually a few quid cheaper to fly ONE WAY from Kerry to Dublin than it was to get the train. And it meant that instead of hiking back to Dublin at 6pm on a Sunday, I could spend the extra evening in Kerry, get the early morning flight back and still be at my desk by 9:am Monday. Where would you be going?

Of course this only applies to a one-way flight because airlines (in this case Aer Arann) tend to price each leg of the journey separately. iarnrod eireann just assumes every train journey is a return one so the price of a return fare is the same as a one way.

Back on topic. This takeover MUST NOT BE ALLOWED. We need competition on this route. Not just price competition but service competition.

Even if it becomes a European issue, I don't think the EU will allow one operator to acquire such a dominant position on Europe's most widely travelled internal air route, ie London-Dublin.

At least I think it is. Since the Channel Tunnel was built, I believe the amount of traffic on London-Dublin has superseded that of London Paris. Maybe it's an urban myth but it's still a hell of a well travelled route.

Lennoxschips

it is in the interest of the consumer to have choice in the market place

if o'leary is running the entire show in and out of ireland he can blackmail the irish consumer.

i was against aer lingus being floated in the first place, this is one of the reasons why

therecklessone

Gurgle wrote:

Its never anyone else.

BMI routinely get me to and from London on a Sunday for less than Ryanair.

Factoring in the relative cost of travel to the city (£20+ on Stansted Express vs £5 on the tube from LHR) the price differential narrows dramatically.

CK.1

therecklessone wrote:

I see you missed a relevant part of my last post. Here it is again:



My word against your own of course, but on at least three of those seven occasions, I have seen passengers sent back to join the correct queue after trying to board at the wrong time.

It didn't work too well before the Summer, but now that the web check-in service is in full swing it is in their interest to make it work now.

OK, fair enough.

What about the part where you have to queue for 30 mins standing up in order to get a seat together (if you're with friends) on RYR? I prefer to have my seat allocated and sit down and relax until the mad rush is over, then just stroll onto the plane.

BTW, you can't online check in if you have luggage.

El Stuntman

Lennoxschips wrote:

it is in the interest of the consumer to have choice in the market place

if o'leary is running the entire show in and out of ireland he can blackmail the irish consumer.

i was against aer lingus being floated in the first place, this is one of the reasons why

it may have escaped your notice but lots of other airlines besides AL and Ryanair fly in and out of Ireland....

on being against the floatation...hmmm...too late for regrets or ideological nostalgia now!! It's out there, it's for sale and anyone who wants it can buy it (assuming the Govt don't block it with their 25%)

personally I think Minister Cowen would be delighted to lob an extra €500m into his budget calculations/pre-election giveaway for free right now and he should grab Ryanair's offer with both hands.

CK.1

therecklessone wrote:

BMI routinely get me to and from London on a Sunday for less than Ryanair.

Factoring in the relative cost of travel to the city (£20+ on Stansted Express vs £5 on the tube from LHR) the price differential narrows dramatically.

I second that. BMI are usually cheaper than both Ryanair & Aer Lingus for me.I fly to London Friday evening and return Sunday evening.

Gurgle

therecklessone wrote:

BMI routinely get me to and from London on a Sunday for less than Ryanair.

Fair enough.
Only been to London once, went with Aerlingus.

Lennoxschips

El Stuntman wrote:

it may have escaped your notice but lots of other airlines besides AL and Ryanair fly in and out of Ireland....

i fly from amsterdam to cork

therecklessone

CK.1 wrote:

What about the part where you have to queue for 30 mins standing up in order to get a seat together (if you're with friends) on RYR?

Granted, but then its rare that I've failed to get two spare seats together as long as I'm in the first 90 with ordinary boarding cards (though at certain airports they seem to have an odd way of splitting the boarding cards between the check in desks, I've often been first to check in and got #100+). Personally, I'll settle for sitting on my own for the hour or so of my flight if it means I'm saving enough €.

CK.1 wrote:

I prefer to have my seat allocated and sit down and relax until the mad rush is over, then just stroll onto the plane.

That's the wonderful world of choice for you.

CK.1 wrote:

BTW, you can't online check in if you have luggage.

Can with hand luggage. Which is all I ever have for an overnight.

CK.1

El Stuntman wrote:

it may have escaped your notice but lots of other airlines besides AL and Ryanair fly in and out of Ireland....

Erm, no I don't think so. The majority of flights in and out of Ireland are operated by either Ryanair or Aer Lingus. Take a look at the live flight into on www.dublinairport.com.

CK.1

therecklessone wrote:

Granted, but then its rare that I've failed to get two spare seats together as long as I'm in the first 90 with ordinary boarding cards (though at certain airports they seem to have an odd way of splitting the boarding cards between the check in desks, I've often been first to check in and got #100+). Personally, I'll settle for sitting on my own for the hour or so of my flight if it means I'm saving enough €.



That's the wonderful world of choice for you.



Can with hand luggage. Which is all I ever have for an overnight.

Right, whatever. Anyway my argument is not which airline is better, but that people should be able to have a choice other than Ryanair. It will be a disaster if Ryanair are allowed to go ahead with this buyout and it doubt customers will benefit in the long term.

Solair

It's anticompeditive and we'd end up with a crappy low fare's monopoly.

Aer Lingus' fleet doesn't even merge with Ryanair's i.e. Aer Lingus has an all-airbus fleet. Part of Ryanair's success is their standardised 737 single type of aircraft fleet.

El Stuntman

CK1

say Ryanair buy AL

then they hike fares on all routes out of Ireland

do you really think other airlines will ignore those juicy margins and won't increase competition on these routes and thus bring down fares again?

this is how the market works baby!!