The government should reverse the privatisation of the 18 and 76 bus routes in response to poor performances from private operators, according to David Gardiner, Workers’ Party representative in Palmerstown-Fonthill.
Gardiner said “Anybody who uses the 18 or 76 buses can tell you how the quality of service has dropped since GoAhead took over these routes. People are timing buses, leaving their houses, getting to the bus stop only to find that their trip has been cancelled or has just disappeared off of the timetable app altogether.”
“One resident, who regularly travels by bus from Palmerstown to Ballyfermot, has told me that they ignore the 18 altogether when timing a bus because chances are it won’t show up. That might be alright if you’re going somewhere that’s served by multiple routes, but if you’re going further afield and you’re relying on a certain bus to show up, it isn’t much use. Another resident, who travels from Palmerstown to Clondalkin on the 76, expressed similar frustrations.”
“Public transport should be a simple, affordable and green method of getting from one place to another, and if GoAhead cannot be relied upon to deliver a good standard of bus services, these routes must be taken back into public control.”
