Public transport competition delayed

Public transport services will not be opened to full competition under a new regulatory regime until next year because of the time taken to process complex legislation, The Irish Times has learned.

The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, will tell the Cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure tomorrow that the new regime cannot be brought into being until the 1932 Transport Act is replaced and CIE's subsidiaries become free-standing entities.

She has also decided to set up a new public transport division in her Department, headed by Mr Pat Mangan, assistant secretary and former chairman of the Dublin Transportation Initiative, to oversee the break-up of CIE and the post-CIE regime.

In what one source described as a "huge document", Ms O'Rourke is expected to flesh out for the committee her plans to introduce regulated competition by the private sector in the provision of bus services, particularly in the Greater Dublin area.

It is known that she has proposed a Greater Dublin Authority with responsibility for regulating transport services in the capital.

In view of the long time-frame to process new legislation, one option being considered is to establish a "shadow" regulatory authority in the interim while Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann are stripped out of CIE.

Because all their employees were given rights by the 1986 Transport Act, under which the three companies were established, to revert to being employed by the parent group, it may be necessary to retain CIE as a "shell" rather than abolish it altogether.

The Minister has appointed Mr John Lynch, executive chairman of FAS, as a full-time "chairman for change" of CIE from next month. Mr Lynch, who will be based at Connolly Station, is already chairing CIE on a parttime basis. ail Labour coalition headed by Mr Albert Reynolds, Ms O'Rourke she worked closely with Mr Lynch and knows him well. He can therefore be trusted to implement Government policy in breaking up CIE.

Two events played into Ms O'Rourke's hands in dealing with the State transport monopoly. One was the surprise resignation of its previous chairman, Mr Brian Joyce, and the other was the series of strikes by Dublin Bus drivers. Although the Minister believes that the wider public favours competition in the transport sector, she wants to " bring people with me on this, particularly the workers".

Ultimately, Ms O'Rourke would like to see a single Department of Transport having responsibility for roads and public transport, though this would involve taking over the roads division of the Department of the Environment and the National Roads Authority.

Whether the proposed Greater Dublin Authority would be given responsibility for strategic land use planning as well as regulating public transport in the capital is still under discussion, along with the precise geographical extent of its remit for the commuter belt.

These issues will be resolved prior to producing a final document, probably in late summer. In the meantime, Ms O'Rourke's Department has five pieces of legislation to get through the Oireachtas dealing with Aer Lingus, Bord Gais Eireann, rail safety and other issues.

Before a new regulatory regime is introduced, the Minister envisages that franchises might be offered to private operators to open up new bus routes - for example, along the M50 - to cater for significant changes in commuting patterns in the Dublin area.

The growth of "criss-cross" commuting from suburb to suburb rather than suburb to city centre is recognised in the draft final report of consultants who carried out a strategic review of bus services in the capital, jointly commissioned by CIE and Dublin Bus.

This review is believed to have identified the need for further orbital routes and additional radial routes to take account of travel demand in areas with exploding populations. One of its conclusions is that many existing bus routes are "going to the wrong places".

It is also likely that the Cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure, chaired by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will recommend proceeding with some version of an ambitious u E £8 billion investment programme outlined to it last month by the Dublin Transportation Office.

Though the DTO plan, which includes underground lines in the city centre and new rail links to Dublin Airport and Navan, would take years to implement, the political commitment to proceed with it will be a major plank of Fianna Fail's next election manifesto.