AN internal cost review at Dublin Bus has reported that £8 million could be saved, primarily in the company's £61 million annual pay roll bill. Unions representing the company's 2,900 employees are due to be briefed on the plan shortly, probably early next month.
Negotiations with SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union on the implementation of the plan are expected to start once the unions have had time to analyse it.
However, the unions are expected to seek significant concessions in exchange for implementing changes in work practices.
A similar round of negotiations concerning the introduction of £6 million cost cutting plan at Bus Eireann is due to get underway in mid August.
The majority of the savings proposed by the review will be achieved through the virtual elimination of overtime, which would involve the use of prime bus drivers. The plan says the possibility of contracting out some elements of the school bus service to private operators should be examined.
But the unions are expected to object strongly to a number of specific changes in working terms and conditions proposed by the review.
These include drivers on the single person operated buses giving up their 10 minute a day signing on and 15 minute a day - signing off time periods.
These times are primarily used by drivers to organise their cash and were introduced along with the implementation of single peon operated busses.
Dublin Bus is proposes to abolish them as part of the introduction of an autofare system.
Under this the drivers would not handle money. The system would cost around £2 million to introduce and the abolition of the signing on no signing off times would meet some of this company may also seek to end the bonus that drivers of single person operated buses receive.
The review has also looked at the creation of a new entry grade for drivers of single person operated buses, which would not receive this bonus.
Other proposals include the "buying out" of the compensatory allowance for the loss of Sunday work which forms part of the basic calculations.
The outcome of the negotiations will be crucial in determining whether the Minister for Transport Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, will allow Dublin Bus to increase its fares.
The minister has already indicated that any fare increase would be linked to the implementation of a public service contract that would set performance targets for the company. They would be linked to annual grant. Last year, Dublin Bus received a grant of £3.8 million land the department would want to see strong evidence of an attempt to reduce costs before allowing a fare increase.
The Dublin Bus internal review is part of a group wide review of costs ordered earlier this year by the board of CIE, the parent company of Dublin Bus, Iarnrod Eireann and Bus Eireann. The review is intended to achieve savings in excess of £30 million across the group, representing around 10 per cent of total overheads.
The Dublin Bus review commenced last April and was organised around five separate project teams that looked at quality and standards, profitability, competition, technology and a customer charter.
Dublin Bus made an operating loss of £10 million in 1995, compared to £1.2 million in 1994. However, it was reduced to £6.9 million after a grant from the State. Substantial increases in the financial provisions to cover the cost of replacing the bus fleet and third party insurance claims was he major cause of the disimprovement.
