I am a Dublin bus driver & have been for the last number of years, since the 2009 cost cutting plan was implemented Dublin bus has saved almost €60million. However the subventions required have been continually cut by the government & will continue to be for the next several years. The subventions for 2012 was reduced by €15million so what does that tell you??? I attended the briefing given by Dublin bus management yesterday (Friday) & had to listen as 5 senior managers 1 of whom is the CEO outlined their proposals to make the required €15 million in savings. The ironic part is that their combined salaries per annum amount to €750,000+. Their contribution to this plan is to work an extra 3 hours per week (wow), their annual leave will be temporarily capped at 23 days & their bonuses are “suspended”.
As a driver we will be forced to swallow some very unpalatable medicine but such are the times we find ourselves in. I & the majority of my driving colleagues could live with this except the sheer catalogue of waste by senior & middle management is disgraceful yet no one in authority seems to care or even want to know. Example; 14 chief inspectors, they do little of appreciable merit, they do not & will not check tickets on buses (fare evasion & anti social behaviour is relatively unchecked as a result) yet their combined basic wages (they’re not salaried) amount to just under €1.5 million per annum & they can work overtime & claim multiple allowances to boot. 2 examples of massive waste at the top but they’re not mention in this cost cutting plan.
There are to be further reduction in bus numbers so the idea that this will not affect the travelling public is pure fiction. The morning & evening peaks will be addressed during the week but outside of these hours & at weekends you will be lucky to have 3 buses an hour on high frequency routes. They will seek yet another counter productive & unwarranted fare increase & this was stated by the CEO at the briefing to the media. I am willing to take some pain but all I ask is that it is shared by the management who squandered away untold amounts of money & goodwill. Something tells me I’ll be left waiting… Just like an awful lot of my passengers will be as a result of this ‘plan’

Ahh Dublin Bus the company with the great business model ” passenger numbers drop so let’s increase the fares”

Wow, they must be pissing our money away if there is even a possibility of saving €15m…

It’s not that my colleagues & I are resigned to anything as its early days but we in Dublin bus have endured cut after cut over the last 5 & a half years, it just gets soul destroying & throwing in the towel seems easier. The last thing we want is industrial action because in the morning time we carry many people who are trying to do exactly what we are trying to do, earn a living. The “outside world” has no idea of the waste that goes on in Dublin bus. Another example of waste, an area manager is responsible for 2 garages operationally (in theory), the area manager for my depot decided the office he had wasn’t ‘up to scratch’. So he had another managers office refurbished into 2 offices, at a cost of €31,000!!! Again, colossal waste & so unnecessary! RTPI, AVL, smartphone apps & efficient use of social media should have happened years ago. These are things that have vastly improved our ability to provide a reliable service but we still face piss poor infrastructure ie incomplete bus lanes, blocked bus lanes, blocked bus stops, traffic choke points etc. unfortunately there simply aren’t enough people travelling on the buses due to unemployment, recession & emigration.

If they provided a service later in the evening they would see an increase in passenger numbers throughout the entire day. It would also make going out in Dublin less expensive and might get people going out again.

They could start by getting rid of the endless empty Expresso’s floating around town

On yer bike, it’s quicker & cheaper and keeps ya fit, I won’t pay £2.30 go on the buses in London.

Self certified sick leave???

Sure there throwing free wi-fi on the buses soon..and im no numbers man but id say that real time info on when the buses arrive cost a few quids..2 great additions for passengers but if your a bus driver that works for Dublin Bus you would be thinking whats going on

Again Fizi that goes to the heart of the problem, ticket inspectors will not go to certain areas of the city no matter what do part of this plan is for a part time revenue protection unit made up of drivers. The problem with that is they will be sent into these areas, issues a few fines, confiscate forged tickets/passes etc However what happens when they’re driving a bus & the same people they’ve fined get onboard?

Austerity strikes again!

The workers’ rights of the bus drivers under attack. The public transport system in decay. Gotta love that neo-liberal doctrine.

Ticket system is imho bad. I see almost daily people paying fare like for 4 or 5 stops whatever it is and getting off at the very end of the route. There should be just 1 price regardless where you go and they could probably make reasonable price for such 1 journey ticket when they realize and calculate how much they keep losing monthly because of the system scammers.