The financial crisis of the Irish bus company Bus Éireann, the company serving destinations in Ireland outside Dublin, has come to a public transport debate.
Bus Éireann is in a financial crisis that needs to be solved urgently, as the company could go out of business by the end of the year as it could become insolvent within the next 18 months. The risks of insolvency of Bus Éireann could potentially create a dramatic situation that might involve not only the loss of around 2600 jobs, but also what has been called a “travel chaos” since a high percentage of taxpayers are relying on Bus Éireann services, hence the issue is crucial.
The National Bus and Rail Union has urged in the last days an intervention of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross, who committed to sit with all the stakeholders and debate the future of Bus Éireann.
Bus Éireann CEO Ray Hernan has confirmed the current situation of the company needs to be tackled urgently as the company could even go into insolvency this year, if there is no drastic measure for reducing costs. Losses for Bus Éireann for the year 2016 were just few weeks ago estimated for €6m, but have now reached the more worrying, reliable figure of €9m.
Hernan also underlined in such a scenario he would protect connectivity for passengers and that quoted fuel efficiency and maintenance to be looked at in order to cut expenses and optimise efficiency.
Particularly, he noted that 270 buses some years ago had telematics installed, but this had never been switched on and that this type of fuel efficiency equipment would help, as even a 1% reduction in fuel consumption would save the company €350,000 a year. Bus fleet maintenance is also mostly carried out during the day, when vehicles should be out delivering services.
Photo Credit: © Bus Éireann, RTÉ
