Bus Eireann

No one has a right to over time.

You get paid a salary to work X days a week.

It may take 35 hours to do the weeks work, it may take 40.

Doesn't matter.

actually they have a right to be provided with public services, and it's our job to pay for public services as we all benefit from them, and this public service benefits the economy by allowing people to access employment and education. unless you want a huge increase in the wellfare bill. but either way we are paying, so a bus service is better use of tax payers money then more wellfare.

indeed there is a " limited " right to public services . HOWEVER , and BE workers supporters miss this on time and time again. There is no requirement that such public services are delivered by a state owned company.

knipex wrote: »

To my knowledge the issue isn't with PSO routes. Its with the commercial entity which is losing money hand over fist to the competition from private operators.

Which is why the first port of call by the unions was to blame the NTA and demand that the licenses granted be revoked. Until someone pointed out that it would result in the drivers for the private operators being put out of work..

BE Unions of course yearn for the 50s

pilly wrote: »

They are the only people who get free travel. And you are attacking people on SW.

No they aren't and he specifically wasn't attacking the people on SW but the system.

pilly wrote: »

I heard this same line trotted out by a bus driver before but in his case there were 23 on the bus and 17 on free travel passes. In other words if the free travel people weren't there then there would be 6 people and definitely no need for the service.

You heard that line "trotted out" because it is true, the numbers with FT passes in Ireland are ridiculous, another regular poster has the actual figures and I can't be bothered looking it up but including spouses and companions it is around 1.5 million people with access to FT and that is only counting legitimate holders. Even senior officials in the DSP have publicly stated that they are getting a bargain for the amount the spend on the FTP and this bargain is at the expense of CIE who are not being properly renumerated for the numbers travelling and are losing fare revenue from all the passengers who would otherwise be paying fares.

Your figures are nonsense, if no FTP existed the numbers travelling wouldn't be the same as currently, far less would travel but many journeys currently being made for free would be paid for. In your example it would be the 6 fare payers plus a % of those now travelling for free. Considering how low the payment per journey is currently it wouldn't require a high % of those to make paid journeys in order for BE to see an overall net revenue increase, particularly on longer distance routes.


The amount of Free Travel Pass fraud is also huge; stolen, fake and borrowed passes are a massive issue and one that both CIE management and DSP have completely ignored. Any BE driver will tell you, the % of pensioners now presenting old style passes is very low as most have been issued new passes however the % of younger people presenting them is still very high as a large amount of them are fake or someone else's.

devnull wrote: »

http://buseireann.ie/news.php?id=2275&month=Mar

A key component of the plan, however is the achievement of cost efficiencies with employees to eliminate grossly inefficient work practices, which have been acknowledged roundly ignored by the unions during discussions at the Workplace Relations Commission.

That's nearer the truth now.

reading the BE annual report 2015 is quite illuminating

The company had implemented a voluntary wage cut , but this expired in 2014 and wages retuned to previous levels
Overall staff costs rose by 5.4% in 2015 and other costs rose by 3.7%
PSO business , largely broken even on subventions
Expressway revenue rose by 1%

approx 1 million euros in part responsible of turning the the surplus in 2014 was due to depreciation charges applied to buses that were replaced by newer ones

However the primary cause was the very severe reduction in EBITDA, down from 13million surplus to 2million surplus , this is essentially the company gross profit , this is largely attributable to BE Expressway

once you add back the 7 million in depreciation , you have a loss of 5 million, which I beleive has continued in 2016

interesting for a company of this size the net asset position is very small , at 16 million , creditors amounting to 56 million

wouldn't be difficult for the company to find itself on the wrong side of irish corporate law

clearly as the annual report said

Payroll costs remain the single biggest expenditure line item for Bus Éireann and are the subject of ongoing management review. Payroll and related costs increased by 5.4% in 2015 over 2014 levels

and

The Intercity bus market was a very competitive market place in 2015. The company noted a 1% increase in revenue and passenger numbers in this competitive environment but is targeting
a more signi cant increase in 2016. The Expressway cost base also faced additional payroll costs in line with the conclusion of the 19 month pay agreement with staff and also had to absorb a higher claims cost.

when a company is facing a business model where costs are rising faster then revenue on a service sector , the way forward is clear. extract yourself from such services and cut costs

there is no other option

devnull wrote: »

Anyone speculate on what these might be?

You would think it would have to include ways of coming up with extra money, could it involve the sale of assets or a further cutting back of Expressway and therefore selling some vehicles off to generate short term cash flow to stave off insolvency?

Be has quite a low net asset base ( 16 million in 2015) , so very unlikely , disposing of assets in fact could actually make the company insolvent


BEproblem isnt liquidity , its a fundamental problem with its P&L and balance sheets after two years of very high losses .( 2015 and 2016),

devnull wrote: »

Anyone speculate on what these might be?

You would think it would have to include ways of coming up with extra money, could it involve the sale of assets or a further cutting back of Expressway and therefore selling some vehicles off to generate short term cash flow to stave off insolvency?

I'm open to correction on this, but I don't think they own the buses, certainly not any of the newer (2012-) ones.

For what reason are SIPTU members in Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann to ballot for industrial action?

Some cheek from Dublin Bus after their stunt last year.

BoatMad wrote: »

they do own the buses and they are carried on their balance sheet ( and the old ones have to be depreciated off , and thats part of the issue ), They get capital grants from the NTA for both Expressway and PSO busses

Gotcha, I knew there was a connection with the NTA. So they own the buses, but didn't pay for them.

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Gotcha, I knew there was a connection with the NTA. So they own the buses, but didn't pay for them.

BE running accumulated losses , and even before that quite small surpluses count never actually commercially fund its fleet . in that regard its a joke balance sheet

( because the full value off the bus is carried on the balance sheet. The NTA grants are in effect treated as an " investment " in the company

TheDoctor wrote: »

For what reason are SIPTU members in Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann to ballot for industrial action?

Some cheek from Dublin Bus after their stunt last year.

Its a Disgrace. Something needs to be done about unions and their holding the country to ransom.