{"id":363906,"date":"2026-03-02T12:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/363906\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T12:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:46:11","slug":"ghost-bus-cancellations-increase-pressure-on-obrien-as-problems-persist-on-new-routes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/363906\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ghost-bus\u2019 cancellations increase pressure on O\u2019Brien as problems persist on new routes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Transport Authority<\/a> (NTA) contracts with bus operators must be \u201ctightened up\u201d to ensure they have sufficient mechanics and drivers when the deal is signed, the Minister for Transport has warned as he came under increasing pressure over delays and \u201cghost-bus\u201d cancellations.<\/p>\n

Darragh O\u2019Brien<\/a> also said traffic congestion in Dublin has been the \u201cmost significant factor\u201d in recent months and \u201cpunctuality is being affected by rising traffic volumes in the city in particular\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien and his Ministers of State Se\u00e1n Canney and Jerry Buttimer will meet bus operators and the NTA later this month, looking at congestion in the city and the M50 to see what \u201cimmediate short-term things\u201d could be done to address delays.<\/p>\n

Government and Opposition TDs have voiced their frustration at persistent bus tardiness and problems with new BusConnect routes that came into effect last October.<\/p>\n

Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger described the 238 route from Tyrrelstown to Mulhuddart as an \u201cinfamous ghost bus\u201d and said it was \u201cabsolutely unacceptable that between 4.2 per cent and 8.2 per cent of the 238 bus journeys are cancelled every week. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Tyrrelstown are losing their jobs and losing their livelihoods. They are ending up late for work and late for school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhost\u201d or \u201cdisappearing\u201d buses are services listed by on-street screens and the Transport for Ireland phone app to arrive at a set time, only for them to vanish from the screen or app or appear as having been cancelled.<\/p>\n

Raising the issue in the D\u00e1il last week Coppinger said the 39 route, which runs from Ongar in Dublin 15, \u201cis like a coffin ship. It just keeps being added to and the journey keeps getting longer\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Minister acknowledged \u201can 8 per cent cancellation rate is unacceptable\u201d and said he would raise these routes with the NTA at their meeting.<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il TD Paul McAuliffe said delays following the roll-out of BusConnects on the F spine routes 23 and 24 have had \u201ca profound impact\u201d in his Dublin North-West constituency.<\/p>\n

The NTA told public representatives October was a difficult time to implement a new service, with increasing congestion in the run-up to Christmas and there were difficulties with recruitment, he said, adding: \u201cProviders need to have these matters in order.\u201d <\/p>\n

McAuliffe said contractors should have to abide by the conditions under which they tendered.<\/p>\n

Private operator Go-Ahead, long criticised for persistent delays, had a \u201cbig issue\u201d with mechanics, the Minister said. They then employed 10 more mechanics, who were \u201cdelayed in getting here\u201d but are now in place.<\/p>\n

Dublin Bus had an insufficient number of drivers and is recruiting 100 from South Africa.<\/p>\n

The Minister said he had told the NTA \u201cwhen an operator bids for a route and is awarded it, we must be absolutely certain the resources are there to manage it\u201d before issues arise, and not after the contract has been signed. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to tighten up on that big time between the NTA and the operators. Fines will continue,\u201d he said, pointing to the almost \u20ac1.5 million penalty imposed on Go Ahead in 2024, the latest available full-year figure. <\/p>\n

Labour transport spokesman Ciar\u00e1n Ahern said the new Dublin South-West F1 route was adding 20 to 30 minutes every morning to workers\u2019 commutes from areas such as Tallaght, Knocklyon and Firhouse to the city centre. <\/p>\n

Such issues would continue until all the infrastructure was in place and the routes \u201cperfectly link up\u201d and he called for the NTA to re-implement the previous 49 route \u201cto run alongside the F1 route in the interim while this is going on\u201d.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said bus frequency was improving but acknowledged journey times on some services \u201care longer because the route is more interconnected to take in more people\u201d. He would raise the matter with the NTA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National Transport Authority (NTA) contracts with bus operators must be \u201ctightened up\u201d to ensure they have sufficient mechanics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,13458,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,13456,5,81363,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-363906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-darragh-obrien","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-national-transport-authority","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-ruth-coppinger","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116159655699447730","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}