Time to think outside the box to resolve Bus Éireann dispute
Before privatisation, Bus Éireann was able to use the profits made from the highly-profitable routes to fund the not-profitable routes – and still make an overall profit.
Since the Government allowed the private operators into the market, they naturally only operate in the profitable areas – thus reducing the profits of Bus Éireann in these areas.
Due to that fact, Bus Éireann can no longer fund the nonprofitable routes. This is the primary cause of the serious financial situation in which it now finds itself.
Therefore, the solution is for both the private operators and Bus Éireann to pay a percentage of the profits that they each earn on the highly-profitable routes into a ‘social transportation fund’ – which Bus Éireann can then use to continue to run bus services on the non-profitable routes.
This is obviously a solution that should be implemented by the relevant Government minister.
It is time to ‘think outside the box’!
One cannot leave communities without public transportation. Imelda Ryan Co Meath