Is the increase in private buses due to ideology or demand?

Private bus operators have been licensed to run services in Ireland as far back as the 1930s.

But the question now being raised is whether too many licences have been issued for commercial services and whether this will lead to “a race to the bottom” in terms of the pay and conditions for workers and ultimately a deterioration of services.

State-owned Bus Éireann has blamed growing competition for large losses incurred by its Expressway inter-regional service.

In a highly controversial move it has proposed separating Expressway from the rest of the company and introducing inferior terms and conditions for staff.

The move seems likely to lead to further strikes in the transport sector.

The National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) sees the growing presence of private operators in the bus market as the consequence of a wider policy in the Department of Transport to break the hold of the CIÉ group over public transport provision.

Behind the scenes

NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said “the Department of Transport was “very much involved behind the scenes in dismantling Bus Éireann”.

Unions point to the Government decision as far back as 2004 to take the Luas tram system away from the ambit of CIÉ and have it run by a private operator.

Unions also point to the controversial move by the National Transport Authority (NTA), acting as part of Government policy, to open up to tender 10 per cent of the routes operated by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

However, it is the inter-regional bus routes that have seen the greatest proliferation of competition.

Whether this growth in private sector involvement stems from an ideological drive by transport chiefs or is simply reflective of a growing demand for cheaper travel options, at a time when the motorway network had significantly reduced journey times, is a matter of differing opinion between the various interests.

The NTA said it had issued only five new licences for inter-regional bus services over recent years.

It argued that recent years had seen significant growth in intercity passenger numbers despite the economic downturn.

Licences

Unions argued it was not necessarily the number of licences issued but rather the number of services operated on a route, under a licence, that should be considered.

The NBRU, for example, maintained that in 2011 there were 52 daily services on the Dublin-Limerick route, while now there were 84.

“Ireland is a small country, we can’t sustain that level of activity,” it said.