Dublin Bus strike squeezing capital’s businesses

Inner city businesses are feeling the pinch from the recent Dublin Bus stoppages, with some contemplating temporary closure due to plummeting custom.

Billy Ronan cuts a solitary figure behind the counter of Ronan's convenience and coffee shop on Eden Quay, visibly downbeat after another day of poor sales due to the strikes.

“Business is down about 80 per cent, it’s enormous. Anybody using this quay is looking for a bus. You have no money for wages or rent.

“I’m going to lock up in an hour, and I’m not going to bother opening up tomorrow [Saturday] and I don’t think I’ll bother opening up on the days of the bus strike next week, there’s no point,” he says.

Commerical impact

Variations on this theme are commonplace among other small retailers across the capital according to Richard Guiney, chief executive of business representative group Dublin Town, who says convenience stores are particularly susceptible to fluctuations in trade caused by the stoppages.

“We did a survey of members in terms of how badly they were impacted. And the most common figures were between 20 and 25 per cent,” he says, adding that an expected bump in sales from the Dublin Fashion Festival last Thursday and Friday was essentially wiped out by the strikes.

“They [convenience stores] are bearing the brunt of it; and they’re down around 40 per cent. Two out of five people who are coming into the city centre to spend money use the bus, so when that’s not available just less than half the people will find an alternative mode of transport and another half won’t come in,” he says.

‘Not happy’

An added complication, he says, is that many companies in the food and hospitality sector are having to pay for taxis for workers on late shifts who normally rely on Dublin Bus night services, a situation compounded by the fact that Benefit in Kind levies are payable by employers on such fares.

Ali Ausaf of Sunny's Newsagents near Christchurch says footfall has remained reasonably steady, but the ongoing dispute is posing other difficulties.

“I’m not happy. There are a lot of problems when they strike. I have to pick my cousin up because he works here or sometimes I give him my car to get in,” he says.