Dublin Bus puts hybrid-electric vehicle into service for test period

Green machine: environmentally friendly bus goes on trial

DUBLIN BUS has launched a hybrid-electric bus which will enter service next week on the 16 route between Rathfarnham and Santry.

The vehicle will be powered by a 2.4 litre diesel engine, less than a third the size of normal bus engines, and is supplemented by a Siemens hybrid-electric drive system supported by lithium ion batteries. It has been built by the Wright Group in Ballymena.

It will be used on a trial period by Dublin Bus for three years and will be monitored to see if its performance, reliability and maintenance requirements are sufficient.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the hybrid bus was a precursor to an “enormous process of change” that will be brought to Ireland’s transport system. Proposals for public transport outlined in the Government’s sustainable travel and transport plan will be unveiled in the new year and will map out the future of public transport in Ireland for the next 15 to 20 years.

Mr Dempsey said it would offer passengers a “more realistic choice between the private car and more sustainable modes of travel”.

Mr Dempsey warned that CIÉ is in a severe financial position which will mean cutbacks and possible redundancies. The CIÉ group, which consists of Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus, is expected to face an operating loss of about €131 million next year as the company is hit by the economic downturn.

Mr Dempsey said CIÉ will get a fare increase of between 5 and 10 per cent next year and also a 1.5 per cent increase in the State subvention from €308 million to €313 million for 2009, but it will not be enough to close the gap between its revenue and its costs.

“All of the companies will be affected. There will have to be some rationalisation of services and there may be job losses but that’s something that would have to be negotiated with unions and discussed in the context of partnership,” the Minister conceded.

CIÉ chairman John Lynch said talk of redundancies across the three transport operators was “premature”.

“He is not privy to my plans. We haven’t finalised those. We’re examining it and we will not come to a decision until the third week of January,” he said.

However, Dr Lynch conceded that “all things are up for grabs” as the recession means fewer passengers. “We’ll look at the number of buses we have and decide what will meet demand and then look at our cost base and see what we can do with it, but it is far too early yet to say,” he said.

Dr Lynch said Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus have suffered a drop in demand of between 4 and 6 per cent because of a fall in the number of immigrants in Ireland who disproportionately take more public transport and also fewer people travelling.