A Bus Éireann hybrid bus
The National Transport Authority (NTA) last year imposed cumulative financial penalties of €17m on transport operators here with Bus Éireann accounting for €5.5m, or 32pc of the total.
According to the NTA Public Service Obligation (PSO) Contracts Annual Performance Report for 2024 the cumulative €17m was withheld from contractual payments due to public transport companies as a result of their failure to meet minimum performance standards. The €17m is down slightly on the €17.4m that was withheld in 2023.
Bus Éireann sustained the cumulative €5.5m in performance-related deductions with its Bus Éireann (Direct Award) contract accounting for €4.98m of the deductions. Dublin Bus faces €4.67m in performance-related deductions while Iarnród Éireann was deducted €3.38m and Luas deducted €2.1m.
In the report, then interim-CEO of the NTA, Hugh Creegan, said: “Though much improved in 2024, reliability and punctuality of PSO bus services – primarily caused by resource availability and traffic congestion particularly in our urban areas – continued to cause some issues.”
“That said, the NTA in consultation with the operators, worked tirelessly to resolve the issues. Operators made great strides in 2024 recruiting additional drivers with their focus now turning to recruiting additional vehicle mechanics of which there is a significant shortage in the State at present.”
In the 2024 Bus Éireann annual report, chairperson Miriam Hughes outlined the challenges when seeking to reduce NTA penalties.
“The implementation of punctuality improvements proved to be our greatest service quality challenge, hampered by resource constraint for much of the year and the speed at which we could hire and train new drivers and mechanics throughout the year,” she said.
“While our recruitment drives for mechanics and drivers did deliver, it took time and came towards the end of the year when it was difficult to implement the changes faster to match our operating environment, that would help us to avoid deductions under our contract.”
Then Bus Éireann CEO Stephen Kent also addressed the NTA penalties in the 2024 annual report when he said the significant penalties effectively offset the reasonable profit Bus Éireann could make on the Direct Award Contract.
Mr Kent was succeeded in the post by Jean O’Sullivan on November 1.