State to overhaul bus service contracts

PERFORMANCE based contracts for all bus operators who avail of state funding are to be introduced for the first time.

Yesterday, the Government travelled further down the road towards what it termed a level playing field for all bus operators, both public and private, in the provision of bus services.

Under the old system neither Bus Éireann nor Dublin Bus services were subject to any legally binding performance based and transparent contracts in exchange for the granting of state funds.

New “robust contracts” will be in place by December 1 next aimed at making both companies more accountable for public funding.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said the main focus of the new Public Transport Regulation Bill 2009 was “to place the bus passenger at the centre of a new, transformed national bus licensing regime and to replace the current outmoded and inadequate regime that has applied to the authorisation of bus routes for some 77 years”.

The publication of this new bill yesterday, following the Dublin Transport Authority Act last year, completes the final phase in our national bus licensing transformation programme, the minister said.

“The legislative regime that had applied up to now in respect of the authorisation of bus routes has long been recognised as inadequate and in need of major reform. In the case of private operators, the legislation dates back to 1932 and is clearly not fit for purpose in supporting the provision of a modern bus service that places consumer needs at its core,” he added.

All bus operators will for the first time be licensed to operate services under the same rules and there will be a role for the Competition Authority in approving guidelines for the issuing of licences.

“Bus passengers deserve the best possible bus service and that is what this new regime is designed to deliver. The current situation whereby the authorisation of services by the state bus companies is pursued under separate arrangements than those which apply to the private sector is being brought to an end,” Mr Dempsey said.

This new bill sees responsibility for the administration and issuance of bus licences transfer from the Department of Transport to the Dublin Transport Authority (DTA). The DTA will be renamed as the National Transport Authority and will be in place before the end of the year.