Minister criticised over bus plan

Opposition parties have criticised the Government's response to public transport problems in Dublin, saying proposed reforms in the bus sector must be accompanied by greater investment.

Labour's transport spokeswoman Róisín Shortall said she had "no great hang-ups" about a Department of Transport proposal to privatise about 15 per cent of new bus routes in Dublin.

However, she said, "the case has not been proven that giving new routes to private operators is going to be more efficient."

Criticising the Government's decision to withhold new fleet funding from Dublin Bus in the absence of an overall deal for the sector, she added Dublin Bus was currently receiving a "very modest" subvention of about 25 per cent of annual costs.

"There is a fundamental point. If you want good public transport it costs money, and it has to be subvented. Throughout Europe the average subvention level is 50 per cent and we should be working towards that level."

Fine Gael's Dublin spokesman Senator Brian Hayes described as "utterly disgraceful" the Government's decision to freeze funding to Dublin Bus for additional buses pending an overall deal on the bus sector.

"While this high-wire act is being played out between the Department of Transport and Dublin Bus, helpless commuters have to stand back and watch as no new buses are provided. Commuters couldn't care less who provides the buses or operates them, once more buses are put on the road."

Calling on Minister for Transport Martin Cullen to "immediately sanction the extra resources required to get new Dublin buses on new routes," Senator Hayes added: "Whatever the future holds for bus transportation in the city, let's stop the phoney war between all sides and give Dublin Bus the tools to do the job that Dublin commuters expect of them."

Negotiations are continuing between the department, trade unions and transport companies over the privatisation plans, which would be accompanied by the appointment of a transport "tsar" to regulate the sector.

Ms Shortall said she would welcome a transport authority with "clout" that operated under the control of the director of traffic in Dublin. However, she said, it wasn't clear whether the Minister had this in mind.

"The most urgent thing is to set up an overarching authority. There are almost 30 different organisations involved in transport in Dublin. There is no co-ordination at present."

She added the Minister should also address the anomaly where licences were being handed out to private bus operators for a nominal fee. "There is no transparency in the process. We don't know the basis on which licences are given out," she said.

"I don't have a hang-up about private operators coming. But the Minister believes you can run a service more profitably and more efficiently than Dublin Bus, and I would question that. I think Dublin Bus would come out well if benchmarked against a private operator. Dublin Bus has improved services enormously on a limited income, and there has been no major industrial relations problems recently. They have tried to address gaps in the service, but they haven't been given any additional buses since 2001, despite repeated requests."

Ms Shortall added that transport statistics showed there had already been "a fair degree of privatisation by stealth", something which had implications for the proposed integration of public transport systems.

The Department of Transport said there were currently 170 private bus operators in the Republic.