Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

File photo RollingNews.ie

NTA chief says “driver shortage” in Cork is affecting Bus Éireann's performance in the city

Anne Graham also told an Oireachtas committee today that recruitment for drivers for BusConnects in Dublin is “stable” but not satisfactory.

THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the National Transport Authority has blamed a driver and mechanic shortage in Cork for Bus Éireann’s current performance in the city. 

Anne Graham also told an Oireachtas committee today that recruitment for drivers for BusConnects in Dublin is “stable” but not satisfactory.

“In terms of driver recruitment, Dublin Bus and Go Ahead are in a stable position but Bus Éireann have shortages in Cork, in particular, which is impacting their performance in the city,” she said before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications at Leinster House today.

She explained that the NTA judges performance based on a number of metrics, including ‘loss kilometres’ – which is a measure of the contracted service kilometres that were not operated – and punctuality which is measured for each stop along the route.

She said the NTA doesn’t pay for any services that don’t operate where failure wasn’t in the control of the operator. 

The lack of drivers and mechanics, she said, has resulted in the loss of services and an increase in ‘loss kilometres’. 

“Recruitment of additional drivers and mechanics for BusConnects in Dublin is steady but not at the pace that we would like to see which is delaying the phase of BusConnects in Dublin,” Graham said before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications at Leinster House today. 

Graham took questions from the committee around issues such as congestion during peak hours, as well as lack of bus frequency and facilities in rural Ireland. 

Graham informed the committee that the public transport sector has seen growth in the past six months. 

“In 2024 to date, we have seen 9% growth on bus services in Dublin, 10% growth in Luas services. Bus services operated outside Dublin by Bus Éireann grew substantially last year – at 20% higher than 2022 passenger journey numbers – but this growth has tempered to 6% so far [this year],” the NTA CEO said.

She added, “Rail services grew to 46.1 million passenger journeys in 2023, which is just back to pre-Covid levels and the growth and volume so far exceeds 2023 levels by 9%.”

After doling out the figures, Graham identified the NTA’s current challenges including the demands faced due to increase in the number of passengers. The total passenger number stood at 311 million in 2023, a 24% increase from pre-Covid times.

She said, “We are working with operators to provide additional capacity where necessary and where drivers and fleet resources allow.”

Last week, the committee met Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD to discuss the need to tackle congestion issues in Ireland and it emerged again as a topic today, with an emphasis on Dublin. 

Committee chairman Fianna Fáil Senator Gerry Horkan asked if a change in fare during peak times could improve the situation.

Graham alluded to past mistakes in her response, saying where they did alter fares previously, the desired results were not achieved.

“If we start introducing a layer of off-peak fare, that’s introducing complexity to the system that we have been trying to reduce. There had been an off-peak fare that we introduced in Luas services a number of years ago which we have now removed because it didn’t actually cause any change in behaviour.

“People are travelling at a particular time. They are travelling at that time for a particular reason, and even a substantial fare change doesn’t really make much difference in their driving patterns,” she said.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

View 26 comments
Close
26 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute great gael of Eire
    Favourite great gael of Eire
    Report
    Jun 16th 2020, 2:58 PM

    Why not get the ECB to print the money and give it to the Irish Govt to kick start the economy. Create new projects all over the country and the money should filter down to everyone in the economy. The reason the ECB tries not to print money is to prevent inflation. That’s the only reason. But we are in a crisis and we need money to get the economy going again. Central banks can do what ever they want

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Corrigan
    Favourite David Corrigan
    Report
    Jun 16th 2020, 2:38 PM

    A lot will depend on how well (if at all) the tourist industry bounces back when restrictions are fully lifted.
    I think a lot of other sectors will be ok as they were performing well before the crisis hit.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Peter Rahill
    Favourite Martin Peter Rahill
    Report
    Jun 16th 2020, 4:07 PM

    Clamping down on Tax Evasion rather than just increasing tax would be a fine chance. Nixers & other undeclared additional income cheat everyone. The “Welfare Cheats cheat us all” is a classist argument that cost a fortune to roll out – and gathered less money in enforcement actions than it cost.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Wall
    Favourite Michael Wall
    Report
    Jun 16th 2020, 5:22 PM

    The ECB have already agreed to underwrite everything at 0%, no need for a recession. We can push money into the economy, build needed infrastructure all we need is a government and an Irish central bank with vision.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Hughes
    Favourite Peter Hughes
    Report
    Jun 16th 2020, 3:19 PM

    Sure we can blame the greens for it because somehow they buried us in corrupt debt for the last 20 years….knowing the moronic Irish voter down they will somehow come to this conclusion lol.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean
    Favourite Sean
    Report
    Jun 16th 2020, 3:29 PM

    @Peter Hughes: well the green party last time they were in power introduced a regressive carbon tax which does nothing but punish people who have no choice to drive due to lack of rural public transport, can’t see them doing much better this time round

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Hughes
    Favourite Peter Hughes
    Report
    Jun 16th 2020, 4:10 PM

    @Sean: Lol nothing to do with FFG and their stellar governance….we deserve them let’s face it.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mickomacko
    Favourite Mickomacko
    Report
    Jun 17th 2020, 1:11 AM

    That building, it looks like there is still scaffolding around it

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mickomacko
    Favourite Mickomacko
    Report
    Jun 17th 2020, 1:11 AM

    That building, it looks like there is still scaffolding around it

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds