BRITISH TRANSPORT COMPANY Go-Ahead, which has signed a contract to take over 24 Dublin Bus routes, has announced the creation of 425 jobs in Ireland.

The roles will be company-wide and will include up to 350 bus drivers, along with engineers, maintenance support, mechanics, planners, operational and administrative personnel.

The company said drivers can expect to earn up to €32,000 per annum with opportunities for further earnings with overtime and a contributory pension scheme, among other benefits.

A €8.5 million investment in G0-Ahead’s operations in Ireland has also been announced. The investment will be spread across driver training, depot fit out and mobilisation.

In April, Go-Ahead signed a contract to take over 24 Dublin Bus routes.

Go-Ahead Ireland is expected to begin operating some of these routes by the middle of October 2018 and all routes by the end of January 2019. Once in full operation, Go-Ahead Dublin will be running 10% of Dublin Bus’ routes.

The company was last year selected as the preferred bidder of the National Transport Authority’s (NTA) tendering process, which it said was carried out to compare and improve Dublin’s bus services.

Ed Wills, managing director of Go-Ahead Ireland, said that the company has been building its Dublin operation in preparation for a phased rollout commencing September 2018.

“Creating these new 425 jobs and providing a financially secure and investment ready business is critical for our colleagues, our customers and our ambitious expansion plans,” Wills said.

Go-Ahead Ireland has confirmed that it will cover the cost of bus driver training and acquiring the necessary D licence required to drive a bus.

“We have taken this decision to encourage people who don’t currently have the necessary D licence, but want to drive a bus, to apply and we believe this will open up the positions to a much wider group of people who might not have considered a career in transport before,” Wills said.