Dempsey calls for resolution of bus cutback row

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has renewed his call for unions and management at Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to resolve the dispute over cutbacks in order to avoid planned strikes.

However Mr Dempsey has cautioned that the company cannot continue to lose money.

Dublin Bus is planning to cut the number of jobs by 290, including 160 drivers, and intends to reduce its fleet by 120 buses. Bus Éireann is planning 322 redundancies, including 110 drivers and a fleet reduction of 150 vehicles.

NBRU-represented drivers are to hold a national one-day strike at the end of the month, followed by a two-day stoppage in March, in protest at proposed cutbacks. Sitpu drivers at Dublin Bus said tonight they would begin an all-out strike from midnight on March 1st.

Speaking at an Oireachtas transport committee this morning Mr Dempsey said he had "very positive meetings" with bus workers' unions this week in relation to implementing the recommendations of the Deloitte report on the cost and efficiency of bus services.

He said he expected to receive Dublin Bus management's plan for executing those recommendations this week.

Bus strikes must be avoided at all costs he said. "I would urge both sides to sit together around the table. I don't think strikes solve anything."

The recently published Deloitte report recommended that the network be radically reformed to simplify it and make it easier to use.

The report also called for timetable changes, additional direct routes for the city and the elimination of out-of-service buses and routes that end at depots.

It noted that while demand patterns have changed dramatically as the city has expanded, the bus network has not been restructured to meet such changes.

Despite getting Government funding of €313 million this year CIE, and particularly Dublin Bus, was losing passengers at a "dramatic rate", Mr Dempsey said, and reform was essential to avoid the loss €100 million by CIE this year.