Bus Éireann cutting services to compete with other operators

Fewer rural communities are being serviced by busses as coach companies use the State’s motorway network to compete for customers.

Increased licencing of transport operators has meant Bus Éireann’s ability to service some secondary, bypassed areas has been “eliminated”, the Oireachtas committee on transport and communications has heard.

The company last month confirmed a number of services on its commercial Expressway network were under review.

It announced plans to change the number of stops on the Dublin to Cork route. It also intends to remove Route 5, between Dublin, New Ross and Waterford. Route 4 between Dublin and Waterford is being extended to New Ross while some public service obligation services in west Wicklow are being extended to provide connections to Dublin.

A third route between Athlone and Westport is also reportedly under threat.

Bus Éireann’s chief executive Martin Nolan told the Oireachtas committee the company earned less than €500,000 in 2014 and much work still needs to be done.

He said if changes are not made to Expressway, the service will go out of business. These changes include “hard decisions” that will result in the loss of service to some secondary areas, he said.

He added that it was up to the National Transport Authority (NTA) to find public transport alternatives for communities affected by reduced service on Bus Éireann routes.

NTA chief executive Anne Graham told the committee a replacement service for Route 5 has been found and that local representatives would be briefed on it next week. She said replacement services for Route 7 was being sought.

She said bus companies have sought and been granted amendments to their licences so they can offer services that are more attractive to “end to end” travellers.

However, this has left the authority in a position where it has to find ways to fill gaps in public services at a time when resources are tight, she added.

Rural groups had previously reacted angrily to Bus Éireann’s plans to cut services on some routes. The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association said the reductions represented “a further attack on rural Ireland”, while Active Retirement Ireland said the measures could exacerbate lonliness and isolation among elderly people.