People Before Profit Councillor, Conor Reddy said 'In my own area, multiple buses have been cancelled at peak times on the N6 (Finglas-Kilbarrack via Ballymun) and N2 (Clontarf Rd to Heuston Station) routes for the past three weeks. Many other routes are facing similar failures. This is causing huge difficulties and stress for people trying to get to work, college and school - many of whom have no other option but the bus.'
People Before Profit TD for Dublin South-West, Paul Murphy said 'I have been inundated with complaints in the last week of buses being cancelled or simply not showing up across Dublin South-West. In some cases half the buses appear to have been cancelled, leaving people late for work. This has been an ongoing issue with these privately operated routes, but it has got much worse recently.'
The Go-Ahead route S6 between Tallaght and Blackrock has the highest rate of reported ‘ghost buses’, where a scheduled bus simply does not show up. Between October 16 and December 3 public transport users reported 48 ‘ghost buses’ on the S6 route alone.
Councillor Reddy said 'The Go-Ahead service has been poor for a long time. In 2023 it was fined €3 million by the National Transport Authority for poor performance. Go-Ahead blamed their poor service on staff shortages and claimed it was undertaking a significant driver recruitment campaign to address the issues.'
But more than a year later and the Go Ahead service has got much worse. But they are still blaming staff shortages and promising rapid recruitment.
More of the same excuses are not acceptable. It’s clear that Go-Ahead can’t recruit or retain workers, particularly drivers and mechanics, because of poor pay and conditions.
Creeping privatisation of bus services in recent years has put the profit of bus operators ahead of the needs of commuters. Now working people who use public transport are suffering the consequences.