BUSES BEING CANCELLED or not showing up as scheduled are causing people in Dublin to be late for work or school, politicians have warned. 

There have been multiple reports of certain buses on routes operated by Go-Ahead Ireland being cancelled with little notice, as well as so-called ‘ghost buses’ that appear to be en route – based on information on the app or bus stop signs – but never turn up.

Issues have been reported with a number of routes including the N6 (Finglas to Kilbarrack via Ballymun), N2 (Clontarf Road to Heuston Station), S6 (Tallaght to Blackrock) and S4 (Liffey Valley to UCD).

A number of issues have also been reported with routes which are part of the latest phase of the rollout of BusConnects services, which was launched on 26 January.

People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy, who represents the Ballymun-Finglas area, told The Journal ghost buses are “a city-wide problem”.

Multiple people have contacted him about ghost buses and cancelled services, saying they have been late to work or college as a result.

“It’s having a real impact. I had calls yesterday from two carers who are from Ballymun but work in the Coolock and Kilbarrack areas – it meant that they couldn’t make care visits on time.

“When you’re on the clock, if you’re home-help, it can have a huge consequence for the person that you’re caring for, as well as a very limited allocation of time given over to them. So, it’s been a disaster.”

#Dáil Topical Issue 3: Paul Murphy @paulmurphy_TD - To the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine - To discuss bus services provided by Go Ahead Ireland. #SeeForYourselfhttps://t.co/TvtNmjTv4T pic.twitter.com/aRaX2GsiOF

— Houses of the Oireachtas - Tithe an Oireachtais (@OireachtasNews) February 5, 2025

People Before Profit TD for Dublin South West Paul Murphy also raised the issue in Dáil last night, saying he had been “inundated with complaints about Go-Ahead buses not showing up”. 

I’m not talking about a ghost bus here or there. In some cases, half the buses have been cancelled, leaving people late for work, for school, for college.

“Cancellations and ghost busses have been an ongoing issue with these privatised routes, but in the last few weeks it has gotten absolutely ridiculous.

“A UCD student contacted me to say he was late for lectures three days in a row because of cancellations, delays, and overloaded S6s that didn’t stop. He says, ‘Many young people like me are considering buying cars because public transport is so unreliable’.”

Lack of mechanics and illness

Go-Ahead Ireland, which operates several bus routes across the Greater Dublin Area, confirmed it is aware of the issues and apologised to passengers.

A spokesperson for the company said the service disruptions are due to staffing issues and illness.

“There is currently a shortage of mechanics impacting transport operators nationally.

This has meant that buses are taking longer to service, thus reducing the number of active vehicles on the road at certain times.

“This issue has been further aggravated by seasonal illnesses which has reduced the current number of active mechanics able to service our fleet at a given time.”

Reddy believes some of the recruitment issues are because of “poor pay and conditions”, saying it’s a consequence of privatisation of bus services.

The Go-Ahead spokesperson told The Journal the company has been running “a dedicated mechanics recruitment campaign offering a comprehensive and competitive package for candidates”. 

As well as the recruitment campaign, Go-Ahead is investing in its apprenticeship programme and “exploring alternative candidate pools outside of Ireland to fulfil our rosters as soon as possible”, they added.

This is not the first time there have been issues with bus services operated by Go-Ahead. In 2023, the National Transport Authority (NTA) imposed performance-related penalties of €1.1 million on Go-Ahead and just over €3 million in 2022.

A spokesperson for the NTA said the organisation “is monitoring the situation closely, and is receiving daily reports from Go Ahead”.

The latest reports indicate a significant improvement in the situation.

“The operator expects this to continue to improve in the coming days. The Authority has requested a remedial plan from the operator to include details of when services are expected to return to full timetable on each route.”

Speaking about the ongoing rollout of BusConnects services, Reddy said he is “in principle, fully supportive of the idea” and its goal of improving connectivity across Dublin.

However, he said that while some areas are benefitting, others have been left behind. The councillor said older people or people with disabilities in Ballymun are struggling to access services, for example.

“There are large parts of Ballymun where people have to walk 15 minutes or more to get to one of the new bus routes.

“So there was an opportunity, I think, with BusConnects that was missed – an opportunity to reconnect parts of Ballymun that had a bus service in the past with the new network, and it wasn’t taken unfortunately.”