Go-Ahead’s Irish services still at 90pc of contracted levels
BRITISH transport company Go-Ahead said the bus services it operates in Ireland have been reduced to about 90pc of contracted levels.
But it doesn’t expect the decline to have any material impact on the financial performance of its international and London divisions in its financial year ending next month.
Go-Ahead operates commuter routes in and around Dublin as well as to towns such as Portlaoise under contract from the National Transport Authority.
It began operating its first route here in September 2018, adding another 23 routes in the following five months.
Earlier this year, it took over the operation of some Bus Éireann routes.
Figures from the National Transport Authority showed that Go-Ahead carried almost 14 million passengers across 24 public service obligation routes in Dublin last year.
Total bus passenger numbers in the Dublin metropolitan area rose by 7pc last year to 151 million.
“As Covid-19 restrictions affected passenger volumes, transport authorities in London, Singapore and Ireland responded by adjusting service levels as appropriate,” Go-Ahead said in a trading update yesterday.
“In Singapore and Ireland, services have been reduced to around 80pc and 90pc of contracted levels respectively,” it said.
“However, we do not anticipate this to have a material impact on the financial performance of the division in the full year.”
Go-Ahead, whose CEO is David Brown, expects its international bus division to post an operating profit of £46m to £50m (€51.4m to €55.8m) in the financial year that ends on June 27.
“In all of our geographies, material uncertainties remain around the easing of restrictions and the implications this will have on public transport usage,” the company told investors. “The quantum and duration of government support measures, particularly in our regional bus business, also remains uncertain.”
The firm operates more than 20 routes in Ireland