Mitchell 'aghast' at proposed Dublin Bus service cuts

AS UNIONS and management at Dublin Bus attempt to avert a strike, which could begin as soon as tomorrow, details of some of the cuts proposed by the company have emerged.

Following discussions with Dublin Bus management, South Dublin TD Olivia Mitchell said she was “aghast” to discover total closures and cuts of up to 50 per cent in some services.

Ms Mitchell said the scale of the cuts showed it was “imperative” that private bus operators be allowed access the routes affected.

Dublin North East TD Tommy Broughan has also named routes to be cut, which he claimed he and local area councillors had gleaned from the company.

Remarking that the proposed cuts were “even more draconian than had been originally anticipated” Ms Mitchell claimed routes 115, 117 and 49X will be cut completely. She said there would be cuts of up to 50 per cent on the 161, 118, 116, 114 routes, and cuts of up to 30 per cent on the 14, 14A, 44 and 48A routes.

She said the details had been given to her in discussions with senior Dublin Bus management who also revealed that the only major routes to escape the axe would be the 15, 16 and 46 routes.

On the northside of the city Councillor Anne Carter, and Tommy Broughan TD said proposals to withdraw or reduce services would be “ a hammer blow” to workers and commuters in Dublin northeast. They said they had learned that routes 103 and 104 are to be amalgamated, the 51A is to be withdrawn completely, and there is to be reduced frequency on route 42B.

At a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Dublin Bus personnel told chairman Frank Fahey some city centre routes, such as the 92, would be scrapped or reorganised because they duplicated services provided by the Luas.

In a statement, Dublin Bus refused to confirm or deny the reported route cuts, but said it had been in “discussions with various public representatives to give them an overview of the proposed service changes”.

The company said “alternative services will be available on the route or in the immediate vicinity. None of the proposed service changes will result in any community being disconnected from the Dublin Bus network and overall peak and off-peak services will have adequate capacity to cater for the current level of customer demand.”

The company is attempting to address a €31 million shortfall through a number of measures, including 160 redundancies and a reduction in the fleet of about 120 buses. The company has proposed rehiring the redundant drivers as part-time drivers to cover weekend work.