THE ANNUAL REPORT released by the Irish transport authority CIÉ has found that Irish people were taking a lot more trips in 2014 than previously.
Last year there was an additional 10 million journeys taken across services offered by the group, which includes Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and Iárnród Éireann.
In total, the number of journeys taken went up by 4% from from 227.9 million in 2013 to 237.5 million last year.
Increases across the board
These boosts in passenger numbers have led to an increase in revenue and commercial income of €52.2 million to €817.1 million for the transport authority.
A big change for the group was recording a surplus of €9.8 million in 2014 compared with a deficit of €11.6 million in 2013. This was the result of additional funding for repairs to rail fleet and networks as well as maintenance to Bus Éireann PSO service fleet.
Payroll savings were also achieved across bus and rail services. This came after agreements made on this matter in both bus companies in 2013 and Iarnród Éireann in 2014.
Last year, the transport authority’s rail company Iárnród Éireann reported an increase in passenger numbers as well as improved punctuality across its services.
Bus services
The statistics for Dublin Bus showed a healthy performance for the service in 2014.
There was an increase of 4.2 million passengers, bringing the total figure up to 118.6 million. It also recruited 160 new drivers as part of its first recruitment drive in seven years.
Bus Éireann also saw passenger numbers increase in the number of people using its service as well as an increase in its financial surplus from €0.4 million to €5.1 million.
This comes despite unhappiness among workers from both services over potential privatisation of services that has seen strike action causing major disruption already this year.
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