Bus Éireann

But it doesn't hit rural Ireland yet.

Equally, there was there had there has been and still is a programme with Bus Erin.

And it's around, I suppose, travel training for people with intellectual disabilities.

But as far as I'm aware, it's still only in the big city.

Um, buses.

"I'm a bus driver with Bus Eireann, and if a dog goes to the toilet on the bus, I would be pulling the bus in, and everyone will have to leave the bus, as the bus will be taken out of service to be cleaned." "Regarding dogs in restaurants, Neil, on the one hand, if you purchase a 99 during the summer, the person serving you has to wash their hands, put on gloves, and wrap paper around the cone before giving it to you because of hygiene.

So having dogs where people eat is kinda like double standards." Yeah, why would staff go through all of the hygiene protocol if you have dogs in around food? "I'm all for dogs in restaurants.

I'm all for dogs on public transport.

A reduced fares policy was introduced in 2022, but Taoiseach Micheál Martin says network expansion can't come without higher prices.

They'll go up in January, affecting Dublin Bus, Bus Erin, Irish Rail, Lewis, Go Ahead Ireland and TFI Local Link services.

I asked our public policy correspondent, Martin Wall, if higher fares mean better services.

Well, I think what the government are saying is services are going to be expanded further and that the revenue that will be raised from these new price increases and fare increases is going to be used to both expand services and to fix, as they say, problems that are actually being experienced at the moment.

I would shudder to think, Dermot, and I'm surprised we can't have a local audit just for Cork.

Well, well, PJ, again, the politicians that make all the noise, and again, I'm not criticizing for that, but they, they, they do make a lot of noise, and they're good at criticizing, uh, Bus Eireann, for example, in Cork in relation to services.

If they spent more of their time, uh, you know, looking at the, the consequences of anti- antisocial behavior and put pressure, we've done our job in terms of putting pressure on the government, uh, to the point, to the point where there's a line in problem for government.

That wasn't achieved, uh, by political parties.

And they said that, you know, earlier this year it would have cost €500.

for a diesel fill for a coach for a school bus that's up to 740 euro now so you know i think there's an acknowledgement as you said you're going in blind tendering so i mean over the years you could be tendering and diesel would fall so you you know you'd be in the money so to speak but it's the lack of transparency over what these payments are covering what the rates are And one of the contractors I spoke to said, you know, back in the day, and he said it wasn't that long ago, you could go into the Bus Erin regional office and have a discussion and, you know, reach an agreement.

Whereas now it's all online, it's procurement processes.

His actual quote was, you'd need training from NASA to get through it.

They're small businesses in rural Ireland and they're struggling.

And as you said, they don't have that collective voice that the hauliers have.

They're having to go through Bus Erin, who will say they're operating the scheme on behalf of the Department of Education, who got the funding from the Department of Transport.

So it's layer upon layer upon layer, you know, and it just it's causing an awful lot of stress out there.

Um, and you'll certainly see them.

You'll see them on Dublin Bus, on, on, uh, other, on commuter trains and Bus Éireann.

So that was a really great, uh, advance for public transport, but it's now outdated technology, and because of the, um, the step to standardize the chargers, the USB is now the, the, the standard bearer, and it is there to stay.

So for people who have a modern charger, a modern, a new phone, even in the last year, they're going to need the USB type C or, or the, the, the, um, the USB-C, and they are generally not available.

So they are now looking for all sorts of, of solutions.

And I know multiple people, including myself, have been on to Bus Éireann.

They're, you know, they have their own service there, and we are told that there may be a s- situation or a circumstance whereby, you know, the bus could be leaving, uh, the Bush at around three fifty.

I think the Bush school timetable goes to about three forty-two, three forty-three, which doesn't allow a, a lot of time.