Dublin Bus - Proposed 5 Year Deal Retaining All Routes from 2019

In keeping with these objectives, the following requirements will be included in future PSO funded bus contracts, whether tendered or directly awarded.

The Authority may also wish to provide passenger information on board buses to its specification. To assist customers in viewing the Dublin bus network as a single integrated entity, this information will need to continue to be presented in a common format and style regardless of bus operator.

It is important from a bus customer point of view to view all PSO services as an integrated package, irrespective of operator. A unifying brand is required to achieve this.

The experience of the recent tender process highlights that there is significant effort and cost required to maintain the integration of services in a multi-operator environment.

Early in the lifetime of the new contract, and once the final Bus Connects route network is confirmed, the Authority will need to work with Dublin Bus to amend or revise these routes and service levels to agree with those in the final Bus Connects network. This will require the Authority to negotiate a series of contract service variations with Dublin Bus.

In negotiating these contractual variations the Authority will need to be cognisant of two aspects in particular (1) the variation price Dublin Bus proposes to charge for the change, and whether the required variation can be implemented by Dublin Bus in a manner that provides good value for money to the Authority, (2) the ability of Dublin Bus to commit to the performance requirements for the service, including reliability, punctuality, regularity and customer service quality, and (3) the timescale for implementation of the variation, and whether it can be delivered by Dublin Bus in a manner that fits in with the overall Bus Connects network implementation programme.

If in the opinion of the Authority either route or service level variation costs or implementation timescales proposed by Dublin Bus appear to be excessive, the Authority reserves the right to competitively tender the services in question, in order to expedite the delivery of the Bus Connects service network in a timely and cost effective manner.

The scale of the changes to bus services anticipated in the Bus Connects network, including the introduction of entirely new bus routes in some areas, means that the Authority will need to consider further whether those routes will be added to the Direct Award contract with Dublin Bus or be competitively tendered.