Madam, – Seán Barrett’s demand to “open up the bus market” (Opinion, October 29th) is a highly entertaining essay. Unfortunately, such ritualistic demands for “more competition” for Dublin Bus are at best irrelevant to the creation of a better public transport system for the capital.
Bus passengers are not simply consumers, they are citizens using a public service. Such a service cannot be simply run on commercial grounds. After more than 20 years of regulatory change across Europe, it is now clear that simply opening urban bus markets to competition fragments the bus network and leads to an overall decline in services.
Dublin needs a strong regulatory authority, responsible not just for overseeing competition between operators, but for ensuring an adequate service for the city. – Yours, etc,