Corporation favours competition in Dublin bus market

Dublin Corporation intends to become a major player, directly or indirectly, in the provision of bus services in the city, according to its director of traffic, Mr Owen Keegan.

Speaking at a meeting of the City Council's transportation and traffic strategic policy committee - which was attended by just two councillors - he said the corporation was determined to "get a slice of the action".

Mr Keegan said the corporation favoured introducing competition to the Dublin bus market because of a "sense of disappointment over the slow pace of progress in terms of providing the city with improved bus services".

This would involve breaking the monopoly enjoyed by Dublin Bus and contracting services from the private sector, so extra buses could be provided on routes where quality bus corridors (QBCs) have been installed.

The view taken by Mr Keegan's office is that Dublin Bus has been unable to provide sufficient buses on these routes for a high-frequency service. Over 100 new buses have been ordered, but many will not arrive until later this year.

It is believed that one private operator applied to the Department of Public Enterprise nine months ago for permission to run an "Airlink" service from Howth Junction DART station to Dublin Airport, but no decision has been made.

Mr Keegan said any move towards deregulating bus services would have to be accompanied by the setting of service standards so that the quality of a new bus route could be properly assessed.

Mr Paul Hodson, a senior transport official with the European Commission, said there was an increasing trend in Europe towards "controlled competition", following the model introduced in London in the mid-1980s.

Ms Anne Nolan, of the economics department at Trinity College, said the London model of competitive tendering offered the best approach to regulate bus services, rather than the "free-for-all" introduced in other British cities.

Mr John Henry, director of the Dublin Transportation Office, said he was also in favour of competitive tendering.