C I E cash problems

dereko1969 said:

If there was money to be made from a Cork to Waterford service do you not think a private operator would be doing it?

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If other parts of the country are anything to go by, there is probably a legal impediment against private operators operating on that route.

dereko1969 said:

If there isn't money to be made then it's an extra subvention for very few passengers, how many people do you think want to go from Cork to Waterford early in the day?

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There may not be enough demand for a Bus Eireann 50-seater coach service. But there may well be sufficient demand to justify a minibus service. Bus Eireann don't bother with minibuses, even on quiet routes. It's as if Pat the Baker does local bread deliveries in juggernauts.

dereko1969 said:

Prices are too high? Is that for Cork City services or general public transport services? Go to London and see the prices there - £4 for a couple of stops on the tube (if you don't have an oyster card).

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In general, Irish public transport costs compare well to the UK. But only mugs pay £4 on the tube - the high fare is an incentive to use an Oyster card.

T McGibney said:

If other parts of the country are anything to go by, there is probably a legal impediment against private operators operating on that route.




In general, Irish public transport costs compare well to the UK. But only mugs pay £4 on the tube - the high fare is an incentive to use an Oyster card.

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There's no legal impediment if there's no publicly funded bus service already operating which is the case on the Cork-Waterford route.

There is a complete lack of competition in the market.

Without competition - Bus Eireann have no incentive to improve their service.

cork said:

There is a complete lack of competition in the market.

Without competition - Bus Eireann have no incentive to improve their service.

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So you've never gone from Cork to Dublin or Galway to Dublin or Dublin to Belfast? Plenty of competition on those routes. Have you ever sat down and actually thought about why perhaps there isn't competition on some routes? Could it possibly be that the experienced bus operators feel that there isn't a market for more than 1 service?

You want to force competition and also want Bus Éireann to provide an early morning bus service from Cork to Waterford that there is patently no demand for.

I'd love to hear a reasoned argument rather than just bald statements.

dereko1969 said:

So you've never gone from Cork to Dublin or Galway to Dublin or Dublin to Belfast? Plenty of competition on those routes. Have you ever sat down and actually thought about why perhaps there isn't competition on some routes? Could it possibly be that the experienced bus operators feel that there isn't a market for more than 1 service?

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There's no competition on the Cavan-Dublin route, not because there isn't a market, but for the reasons I outlined above.

dereko1969 said:

So you've never gone from Cork to Dublin or Galway to Dublin or Dublin to Belfast? Plenty of competition on those routes. .

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Many of these services provided by private bus companies are express - they do nothing for people living out side the cities. The regulator is quiet happy to provide bus licences for this. Competition has not been achieved where buses don't bother to stop.


Bus Eireann get massive subvention & can't even provide early morning services bewteen our cities.

They are some towns which have very poor bus services.

The one that springs to mind is the Trall/Castleisland one.

Buses every Tuesday and Thursday.


With a daily service - you'd encourage people to leave the car at home.

Dsspite major subvention -Bus Eireann have not delivered to many towns.

Another gripe is the Bus Eireann online system.

It doesn't even cover all of the bus Eireanns stops.

Another gripe is that bus Eireann ticket price structure is unfair - when you look at it at a per mile basis.


Say Cork to Mallow v's Cork to Limerick.

cork said:

The one that springs to mind is the Trall/Castleisland one. ...With a daily service - you'd encourage people to leave the car at home.

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How many people make that journey everyday? How many of those would be happy to ditch the door to door convenience of a car? Not enough to make it viable I'd wager. My route to work is served by a bus, no way I'd choose to spend longer getting to and from work.

cork said:

Another gripe is that bus Eireann ticket price structure is unfair - when you look at it at a per mile basis.

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Costs aren't directly related to mileage, why should the fare be? How is it unfair?