devnull wrote: » Statement:http://buseireann.ie/news.php?id=2248&month=Feb
Due to the perilous state of the Company’s finances and the failure to reach agreement with unions at the Workplace Relations Committee (WRC) last week, the Board of Bus Éireann considered the matter in detail at its meeting today and approved proposals for immediate cost savings to be implemented from Monday, March 6th. These measures are vital to ensure that the Company remains solvent, and can continue to trade as a going concern. The Company must deal with its challenges directly, and the Board have a duty to ensure Bus Éireann is financially sustainable and therefore must take the necessary steps to secure this. Further dialogue aimed at urgently resolving these challenges would be welcome.
road_high wrote: » I think it was inevitable once the new Motorways opened that small towns and villages would suffer. Looking at my own neck of the woods, the likes of Urlingford, Castlecomer and Thomastown etc had hourly or so services to/from Dublin courtesy of Expressway to/from bigger centres. There was no way these were going to stay on the old slow routes once the M9 or M8 motorways opened, an unintended consequence if you like.
markpb wrote: » How does ticketing work on those PSO routes? Is there any cross-acceptance of tickets between PSO operators (including Bus Eireann)? While I'm generally okay with tendering for public transport, I wonder could customers be at a disadvantage if they travel on a route which requires a connection between two PSO operators?
horseburger wrote: » I think is clear, from the response by Anne Graham to the questions by Imelda Munster and Robert Troy, that there is no guarantee that intermediate towns currently served by Bus Éireann, on different routes, will still definitely be served by any private operator, if private companies are to take over any routes that are currently served by Bus Éireann.
n97 mini wrote: » I was curious about places like Athlone where the train and bus station share the same site. If BE woorkers are picketing with IE staff stay out?
Jamie2k9 wrote: » Not been a problem before, why would it be now?
schemingbohemia wrote: » If there's no licensed service to a town and there is a public transport need, then the NTA will examine tendering for it for inclusion in PSO services. BE will be able to tender for this like any other bus company just like they were allowed tender for the previous routes that had been Expressway and changed to PSO.
horseburger wrote: » Either way, what ever one thinks of the quality of the questioning by Robert Troy, Imelda Munster, or Peter Fitzpatrick, I think is clear, from the response by Anne Graham to the questions by Imelda Munster and Robert Troy, that there is no guarantee that intermediate towns currently served by Bus Éireann, on different routes, will still definitely be served by any private operator, if private companies are to take over any routes that are currently served by Bus Éireann.
The bigger issue would be shared BE/IE locations.
schemingbohemia wrote: » I'm not sure whether it's ignorance or wilful spinning but Imelda Munster doesn't seem to know how Expressway works at all.
jimmycrackcorm wrote: » The expressway 32 service to letterkenny used to take the N2 via Slane and Collon. Now it takes a more direct route via the M1. So it would seem fair to be able to take off stops for commercial reasons where not a PSO .
joeysoap wrote: Might be mis-understanding this, but could anybody tender for a route, get the contract and then drop intermediate stops off that route within a few months? Said operator never really intending to make those stops but including them only to make the tender 'attractive' knowing they could drop them easily enough within a short timeframe. Is that possible?
Meanwhile, the National Bus and Rail Union has warned Dublin Bus not to move their buses out of depots shared with Bus Éireann in order to avoid their staff being involved in potential flashpoints if industrial action commences at Bus Éireann. Last Friday, asked whether this was a possibility, Dublin Bus said it was not planning movement of any of their services to other locations "at this time". However, it noted it always looks at contingency plans in the event of industrial action. In today's letter, NBRU General Secretary Dermot O'Leary expressed concern that Dublin Bus may "stand accused" of placing a number of its staff centre stage in the Bus Éireann dispute. He acknowledged that while Dublin Bus might seek merit in making contingency plans to facilitate its own business, there is a real danger that others, particularly those whose livelihoods are under threat at Bus Éireann, might view such actions in a completely different light. He stressed that the NBRU has advised members in Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann that it is not in official dispute with those companies, and will not condone any attempts to unlawfully impede Dublin Bus operations. However, he also warned that "... the actions of Dublin Bus may, inadvertently at least, open up a new flank to what, even prior to its commencement, may become a very nasty industrial relations dispute." He said the NBRU will not be a party to any intervention that, viewed through the prism of an impending industrial dispute, would be interpreted as a manoeuvre to frustrate Bus Éireann staff in their pursuance of a genuine trade dispute.
joeysoap wrote: » Might be mis-understanding this, but could anybody tender for a route, get the contract and then drop intermediate stops off that route within a few months? Said operator never really intending to make those stops but including them only to make the tender 'attractive' knowing they could drop them easily enough within a short timeframe. Is that possible?
devnull wrote: » A nice balanced discussion there, Imelda Munster, a Sinn Fein TD and Robert Troy a Fianna Fail TD, who are twisting what the other side says, who has no right of reply on the radio, a one sided discussion if I ever saw one. It appears that Anne Graham has had her words twisted again when she is not on a show to defend herself, no doubt if it's how the poster said it is, they will also be getting correspondence like the Irish Examiner to correct them. Robert Troy is spinning to the extreme here, there is technically no such thing as a private operator as far as the NTA are concerned as far as their regulation remit goes. and there never has been, the only ones who say there are, happen to be unions and those who would be heavily involved in the union movement .They are called commercial operators, of which Expressway is one and there is a level playing field in that an operator such as JJ Kavanagh and Expressway have to adhere to exactly the same rules as each other. This is what commercial is, they are self funded and they are run with their own money so they control themselves, but subject to regulation on routes. You cannot force a commercial company to continue running a service they don't want to. The system is much better than the old system when a private had to apply for a service, their application was passed to Bus Eireann, and if Bus Eireann, if Bus Eireann liked the service they would operate it themselves and often did so to stop a private getting a foot in the door. If BE didn't operate it, the private could, but often it took a few years to issue a license and as soon as it started BE would set up a competing service anyway. Spin again. All Commercial companies can apply to change their Interurban service to an Interurban Express service, providing there are not two Interurban Express operators on that corridor. As a commercial operator, they can modify their timetable at any time, however the new timetable has to be approved by the NTA, so whilst they can decided to change stops and apply for such services, there is no assurance that they are going to get it, simply that they can try.What I'm sure that Anne Graham said is that a commercial operator (of which Expressway is one) felt a service was no longer viable they can pull that route straight away. The trouble is that a lot of people think that commercial means private but it does not. It means any company or business unit that is self funding and run on a commercial basis. I have not heard the NTA use the word private ever in any statement or in any document issued over the years, they always refer to the operators as commercial operators. Indeed, it should be about providing a public service where the customer comes first, as for the first time we have had a regulator who has a primary responsibility in law is to the travelling public which thanks to new licences being issued, passenger numbers have increased very significantly. Between 2012 and 2015, total numbers on Cork-Dublin increased by 61 percent, and on the Limerick Dublin by 50 percent, allowing many more journeys to be undertaken on the bus network that starts earlier and finishes later making the service more attractive and people to switch from the car. When it is the case that some services are stopped at local level the NTA has an undeniable record of stepping in and providing new local services and ensuring that local demands for public transport are met. When route 5 and 7 were curtailed by Bus Eireann, and the same with route 8 and Aircoach route 704 was modified, the NTA put a number of new PSO services and localink services in places to make sure they were still served with adequate service. I know that some people are deliberately are hiding this from members of the areas that they re represent because they are trying to weaponize the old, the elderly and the sick and scare them into thinking that they will have no bus service, but personally I think that is quite abhorrent and instead of trying to do that, it's about time that they started to represent the many instead of the few in the unions and to be on the side of the vast majority of people in this state and be honest, rather than persisting with fake news.
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