Nantes Line 4 Busway
Rouen: Civis Bus on TEOR Route
Dublin Bus: Minister Dempsey must choose between downward spiral and successful reform
French cities Nantes and Rouen point the way to reform
The Dublin Bus plan to take 120 buses off the road means a 10 per cent cut in its fleet.
Some 50,000 passenger journeys a day – a whopping EURO 26 million in revenue – will be lost if passenger numbers also fall ten per cent.
“How much does Dublin Bus think it’s going to save by dropping 120 buses?” That’s a key question, according to environmental groups.
Significantly, the Dublin Bus cost plan doesn’t give an estimate for lost revenue; in fact, it doesn’t even mention the loss of passengers and revenue!
But by letting 290 staff go Dublin Bus will only reduce costs by around 13 million a year.
The reality is that Dublin Bus will only increase its losses by contracting, a view borne out by the experience of operators in UK regional cities during the 1990s: the company doesn’t seem to have done its homework.
And, the State will face additional costs in jobseeker benefit, medical cards and housing allowances, coupled with loss of the income tax, PRSI and indirect taxes these workers were paying to the Revenue. The majority of the 290 staff the company plans to make redundant will end up signing on. The cost to the Department of Social Welfare in additional payments could be as high as EURO 6.6 million, with the loss of tax revenue to the Government from these redundancies up EURO 1.4 million per annum.
So, revenue losses, directly and indirectly, could hit EURO 34 million.
Minister Dempsey must get off the fence and instigate reform. Only 4% of Transport 21 investment is allocated to bus travel even though it carries the overwhelming majority of passengers. This is a ridiculous mismatch because the scale and speed of climate change means bus public transport is the only area in which a radical improvement can be delivered in the next 5 to 10 years at reasonable cost and across our urban areas.
Passenger-focused QBCs, built or enhanced to new French standards, are
what’s needed, not cutbacks. Routes that operate along Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) have seen passenger numbers increase by over a third during the last decade. The development of QBCs has improved bus journey times relative to car and radically increased the proportion travelling by bus. As the French cities of Rouen and Nantes have shown, modern bus systems see huge increases in passenger numbers and persuade people to switch from car to bus in far greater numbers.
French-standard QBCs, with ultra-smooth surfaces, universal traffic light priority, real-time passenger information and integrated ticketing are needed to boost patronage and operator revenue.
To guide the design of new QBCs we have the research showing what journeys people in Dublin make – and want to make. And we know that the current bus network is out of date, overly complex and no longer reflects the needs of customers.
At a time when employment is critical, the expertise to bring our bus routes up to the new standard is all on hand. Building modern bus systems will provide jobs in Ireland now.
Although Ireland led the way in developing QBCs, it has now fallen far behind all those countries that copied and built on our experience to create city-wide high-quality bus networks with frequent buses enhanced by features such as real time passenger information. Other measures that come with French-standard QBCs include modern ticketing and information systems.
To reduce handling costs and the amount of time commuters spend getting on the bus customers should have an incentive to transfer to prepaid smart cards, improving journey times and operator revenues. On-street ticket vending machines at busy stops are the vital first step.
Regular services are required (e.g. every 6 mins) and will boost passenger numbers. Timetables need to show when the bus arrives at the stop, not when it leaves the terminus. At a later date digital displays can be added at bus stops to show how many minutes before the next bus arrives.
The Dublin Bus attempt to shrink its way out of a fall-off in customers has no basis in research and no prospect of success.
It falls to Minister Dempsey to instigate reform so that Dublin Bus grows its way out its revenue shortfall. A more passenger-focused service will improve journey times and increase customers. Otherwise a downward spiral of falling passenger numbers and contracting revenue is inevitable.
ENDS
This press release is issued on behalf of the following 11 environmental groups:
An Taisce, Cultivate, Forest Friends, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the Irish Environment, Gluaiseacht, Irish Doctors Environment Association, Irish Natural Forestry Foundation, Sonairte: the National Ecology Centre, the Organic Centre and Zero Waste Alliance Ireland
Spokesperson – James Nix (086) 8394129, Transport and Planning Co-ordinator with the Irish Environmental Network, the umbrella group for organizations working in the sector.
Notes:
1. Since 120 buses make an average of 6.6 trips a day there will be roughly 800 bus journeys lost a day (792 to be precise). With the average bus taking 63.7 passengers, some 50,450 daily passenger journeys will be axed. The average fare paid is EURO 1.41 so the daily loss of revenue is EURO 71,135 – amounting to some EURO 25.9 million over a year. All figures are from the recent Deloitte report.
2. Currently we are not paying over the odds for urban bus services. In 2007 for example subsidy payments to Dublin Bus were equal to 29% of total revenue, low by comparison with other European cities. Amsterdam pays a 62 per cent subsidy, Brussels pays 68%, Lyon 79 per cent, and London, where network management costs are excluded, 39 per cent.
Links
A general EU website on Bus Rapid Transit
http://www.bhls.eu
A presentation on the Bus way in Nantes, France
http://www.bhls.eu/IMG/pdf/Abstract_Nantes_Busway2008.pdf
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