Passengers are being let down by private operators of public transport, according to Paul Murphy TD. Following a week of complaints from constituents about cancelled and no-show buses on the S4, S6 and S8 routes operated by the private company Go-Ahead, the TD for Dublin South West has blamed the ‘privatisation experiment’ and called for public transport to be run on a public, not-for-profit basis.
“I have been inundated with complaints in the last few days of buses being cancelled or simply not showing up. We are not just talking about a ghost bus here or there, but in some cases half the buses appear to have been cancelled, leaving people late for work. This has been an ongoing issue with these privately operated routes, but it has gotten ridiculous now.“
The TD pointed to data from noshowbus.ie which showed that the Go-Ahead route S6 has the highest rate of reported ‘ghost buses’, where a scheduled bus simply does not show up at the bus stop as promised. Between October 16th and December 3rd public transport users reported 48 ‘ghost buses’ on the S6 route alone. In a statement, Go-Ahead acknowledged the S6 and other routes “have recently experienced service frequency issues” citing “a combination of factors” including a shortage of mechanics.
However the People Before Profit TD said this excuse is simply not good enough.
“Public transport must be frequent and reliable, we cannot have people standing in the cold, watching the countdown for the arrival of a promised bus only for it to never show up and they have no way of knowing if the next one will be the same. It’s not just GoAhead, I have also heard multiple complaints about the Dublin Coach intercity services, with buses not showing up or breaking down with increasing regularity, and no customer service available to contact out of hours. This is simply not good enough.
He also criticised TransDev, the private operator of the Luas, for “dragging their feet” on proposals for increased capacity on the Luas. In 2023 the National Transport Authority reported it was working to try “increase service frequencies on both luas lines”. The initial proposals to increase frequency in the morning and evening rush and on weekends were not accepted by TransDev, resulting in a lower frequency compromise which is due to come into place later this year. For instance, the initial proposal had been for 5 extra services on the Red Line at weekday morning peak times, but after negotiations only 2 extra are being put on.
“While I welcome the increased frequency, the truth is it is not enough to actually address the overcrowding we see on the Luas. I agree with the initial proposals as an immediate step, in fact I’d like to see even greater increases in frequency, and it is very disappointing to see these proposals watered down.”
He has also raised concerns about the Dublin Coach inter-city services, saying he has heard of numerous complaints of ghost buses and breakdowns on this service as well. The socialist TD said that he would be pushing for increased frequency and reliability on public transport routes, and argued that public ownership of public transport would make that easier.
“Public transport should be a public service. Having a whole slew of for-profit middle men, squeezing profits out of commuters and the state is unnecessary and in fact it is holding back the service. Instead we need to have a truly integrated, truly public, frequent, fast and free public transport service that people can really rely on.”
