Bus firm blames collapse on Dublin Bus

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

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

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 on 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 ten Circle Line drivers would be offered employment with Mortons Coaches, where he is managing director, and that he hoped to be able 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 over €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 refuted 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 that 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 he regretted the Circle Line decision and that he had written to Dublin Bus on numerous occasions regarding allegations of anti competitive behavior 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 (CTTC) 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.

CTTC Chief executive Cora Collins said she had no problem with the companies receiving subventions to meet public service obligations on uncommercial routes. However, private operators were finding that when they started a service, the public bus frequency on the route suddenly increased, she said.

Separately, 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 O 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 2 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 Minister Dempsey defended the decision to grant the licence saying it was not in "direct competition" with the Swords Express and that it provided choice for the consumer.