[Article] Luas recorded €5.6m profit last year

dmeehan

The Luas light rail system in Dublin made a profit last year of €5.6m, according to the Railway Procurement Agency's annual report.

This is well up on the €200,000 surplus recorded in 2005.

The agency said the money would be reinvested in the Luas lines, which carried 26m passengers last year, up from 22m the previous year.

link: http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0713/luas.html

MarkoP11

It made a profit alright and the money is lying in a bank account, unlike DART the accounts don't show any contribution to the capital cost of the project.

It will be reinvested in Luas just not in the next 10 years

Zebra3

Any figures available for the two seperate lines?

Ham'nd'egger

MarkoP11 wrote:

It made a profit alright and the money is lying in a bank account, unlike DART the accounts don't show any contribution to the capital cost of the project.

It will be reinvested in Luas just not in the next 10 years

You would wonder, Mark, how profitable the LUAS would be if they had to pay for building it in the first instance.

MarkoP11

Or if all projects where accounted for consistently it would allow a more transparent system. Ok no public transport project should be self financing but they should all be threated equally, bare in mind the DART loan was taken out appearently since the DoF never gave CIE the cheque from the EEC

The DART in its early days made a profit until the interest payments where added to costs and remember this was the mid 1980's, it all went wrong when wage inflation and the fact the infrastructure (some of it is 174 years old) was not rebuilt fully which started to bite in the 1990's. Absolutely no expense was spared on the Luas

On a money basis Luas has one massive advantage it charges a lot more per distance than the bus and the RPA set the fares not the minister so they have much greater flexibilty, if you do the numbers 30 million journeys 5 million profit, its 16 cent a trip. That then results in the issue its public transport profit at the passengers expense which is not on

Skyhater

Sometimes I do feel sorry for IE.
I know there is so much wrong there, but the RPA are being treated as the golden boys...... Given every advantage possible.

I still think the consumer is suffering by having two bodies in charge of rail transport!!! IE should have been replaced or the issues addresses (easier said than done, i know)

Victor

MarkoP11 wrote:

Absolutely no expense was spared on the Luas

Except the shelters.

Poxyshamrock

I think I speak for other Dubliners when I say that I can't think how I could survive without the Luas. If I had to go back to Dublin Bus I think I would crack up.