Congestion costs Bus Eireann €50m in three years

TRAFFIC congestion has cost Bus Éireann €50 million over the last three years, according to a report submitted to Transport Minister Seamus Brennan.

Last year alone the company lost €19.2m because of gridlock on inter-city and urban routes nationwide. The bulk of the money went on extra fuel, overtime for drivers and hiring private buses to compensate for schedule delays.

The report, compiled by consultants BDO Simpson Xavier for Bus Éireann and submitted to Mr Brennan’s department in the past few days, warned congestion will get worse because of continuing road works.

“Bus Éireann continues to operate in some of the most congestive areas in Europe,” the report stated.

“With a number of major infrastructural improvements ongoing or planned, the general consensus is, that on many routes and services, the situation is likely to get worse before there are any obvious improvements.”

The report examiner congestion in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway and Dublin and found the average bus speed was well below other European cities.

Worst hit was Cork, with speeds averaging just 11.8 km per hour. This compares to 13.7kmph in Galway, 14.4kmph in Limerick, 14.5kmph in Waterford and 13.5kmph in Dublin.

The average speed in cities like Bonn, Nice, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Geneva is 23.1kmph.

The Labour Party yesterday said Mr Brennan should consider a congestion charge, similar to that introduced in London, to tackling the growing problem.

“Why should we privatise the bus services when the problem is congestion. The minister needs to free up access routes running into cities. Also, there is no control of digging up roads and legislation initiated four years ago to give local authorities power to do this, has been shelved,” said Transport spokesperson Roisín Shortall.

Mr Brennan said he has made funds available to the local authorities in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford to provide priority measures for buses, including a number of successful quality bus corridors, QBCs, in Dublin and Cork.

Bus Éireann, which employs 2,700 people, made a surplus of €1.5m in 2003 thanks to an increase in customers and the addition of extra services. The company lost €9.4m in 2002.