Circle Line blames Dublin Bus for liquidation decision

A PRIVATE bus company serving Lucan in Co Dublin and Celbridge in Co Kildare has blamed its decision to go into liquidation on an alleged abuse of a dominant position by Dublin Bus.

Circle Line, which linked Lucan and Celbridge to Dublin city centre and Rathfarnham, said it will cease operating next Friday with the loss of "around 20 jobs" because of the "saturation" of its routes by Dublin Bus, which rejects the allegations.

According to Circle Line, more than 11,000 people a week used its service and 3,600 of these had annual smart cards costing €675.

The company said it will refund customers the outstanding value of these cards.

Circle Line co-owner Paul Morton said it had secured a licence from the Department of Transport to service the routes. This had since become uneconomic because Dublin Bus has "flooded it" with buses since April 2007. Mr Morton said 10 Circle Line drivers would be offered employment with Mortons Coaches, where he is managing director, and that he hoped to be able to redeploy most of the remainder in the near future. "As of today, though, they have no jobs." As a result, the exact number of job losses from the 27 staff was unclear, he said.

In the year to December 31st, the firm recorded losses of €160,000, he said. It had invested more than €3.6 million in new buses in April 2007 to increase the frequency of the service and Mr Morton said he was considering legal action to recoup this.

Dublin Bus has rejected the Circle Line allegations, saying its services in the Lucan and Celbridge area were "fully compliant with Department of Transport service authorisations".

A Dublin Bus spokeswoman said the company was facing "one legal threat" in relation to the matter but remained "fully confident that our actions are entirely lawful".

A spokeswoman for Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the Minister regretted the Circle Line decision and that he had written to Dublin Bus on numerous occasions regarding allegations of anti-competitive behaviour on some Circle Line routes.

In a statement, the Minister said the 1932 bus-licensing Act needed to be replaced to allow private bus companies "successfully operate".

"This new regime will outlaw the kind of anti-competitive practices such as those alleged to have taken place on some of the Circle Line routes," the Minister said.

The Coach Tourism and Transport Council (complained to the European Commission in 2005 that part of the state subsidies paid to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann were being abused by these companies.

The commission is investigating whether annual state payments, which include financing replacement and new buses, are compatible with state aid rules.

Separately to the Circle move, the operator of Swords Express, which provides a direct route between Swords and Dublin city centre via the Port Tunnel, has said it could go out of business as a result of Dublin Bus starting a new service on the route in recent days.

Antoin Ó Lachtain, managing director of Swords Express, said following the granting of a licence by the Department of Transport to Dublin Bus, it was now providing up to six buses on the route during peak times.

"We have been trading since we got the licence - after waiting over two years for it - since November last. In recent days Dublin Bus has started operating its first direct service on this route and we are now in danger of going out of business."

The spokeswoman for Mr Dempsey defended the decision to grant the licence, saying that it was not in "direct competition" with the Swords Express and that it provided choice for the consumer.