A FINE GAEL Senator says that discrepancies between the cost of bus fares from Dublin to Navan and Dublin to Dundalk make no sense and has accused Bus Éireann of leading commuters “up the garden path”.
Catherine Noone says that the fare from Dublin to Navan works out at 22 cent per kilometre compared to a journey as far as Letterkenny in Co Donegal which costs just 8 cent per kilometre.
Bus Éireann says its fares represent “very good value for money”, are in line with European standards and in general bus industry practice.
“While I understand that the popularity and frequency of routes may have an impact on prices, I don’t think such large differences can be justified,” Noone says.
“Bus Eireann runs 36 buses to and from Navan each day, and yet customers are being penalised with the highest price per kilometre. Other locations, close to the city, are also being hit by relatively high prices.
“The service to Newbridge works out at 20 cent a kilometre, whereas commuters travelling to Monaghan are charged just half this rate.”
Bus Éireann says its fare structure is based on a graduated scale that relates to the fare paid to the distance of the journey travelled – the norm throughout Britain and Northern Ireland it says.
It pointed out that a commuter who travels the Dublin to Navan route by bus as opposed to car would save €1,500 per annum on fuel cost alone.
“For longer inter-city journeys such as Dublin-Donegal customers are charged a lower rate per kilometre than commuter journeys, which reflects the economies of scale inherent in all forms of long distance travel ie longer journeys on planes, trains and bus are generally always proportionally cheaper than shorter journeys,” a statements adds.
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