CIE fares hike hinges on progress in talks on change in transport system

THE reply to CIE's request for fare increases will depend on progress in negotiations for change in the national transport system, Transport Minister Séamus Brennan said last night.

Mr Brennan said taxpayers cannot be expected to continue giving CIE almost 5m per day, and the push to liberalise transport services must continue. He said the Government was disappointed with the losses revealed in the firm's annual report, but he also stressed the company had achieved record passenger levels and had some excellent staff.

However, the minister added that he wanted to give an added impetus to liberalising the market as well as separating the railway company, Iarnród Éireann, and giving it more autonomy. "I'm not interested in talking about fare increases unless I get some serious discussions about where we're going," Mr Brennan said. It was revealed yesterday that gridlock is costing CIE an estimated 47 million euro a year. The company made the claim as it defended its request for increased fares of up to 20%, which would help offset the cost of providing new bus crews for peak-time travel.

CIE spokesman Cyril Ferris said under the National Development Plan the company had put on 200 extra buses in Dublin to serve peak time commuters.

"The cost of operating these services and increased gridlock are the reasons we are seeking to have these losses recouped," Mr Ferris said. He made his comments after CIE published its annual report which claims the Dublin Bus fleet is grinding to a halt in traffic jams. Most buses using the capital are supposed to operate at 14.6 km per hour during peak times. However, this speed is rarely achieved and is often as low as 8 km per hour.

Mr Ferris said that more quality bus corridors were needed in Dublin to improve bus travel. Dublin Bus carried 196.8 million passengers, a 3.8% increase on the previous year. Its sister company Bus Éireann catered for 87 million passengers, up more than 300 on 2000 figures. A record number of passengers, 34.2 million, were carried by Iarnród E´ireann in 2001, an 8% increase in the previous year. DART and suburban rail services accounted for 23.4 million journeys. While revenue from freight carrying was 58 million euro, an increase of 2.7 on 2000, revenue at Rosslare port was down slightly at 9.7 million euro.