Formal complaint over Bus Éireann school contract

PRIVATE coach operators have asked the Competition Authority to investigate the awarding of the school bus contract to Bus Éireann without tender.

The Coach Tourism and Transport Council (CTTC) lodged a formal complaint to the authority in recent days, arguing that the Department of Education’s longstanding arrangement with Bus Eireann was anti-competitive.

The CTTC, which represents 64 independent coach operators in 20 counties, said the state transport company should be made compete for the contract in an open competition with all other interested bus and coach firms.