Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2004
276 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Transport the details of the circumstances surrounding the issue of bus services to Citywest; if, further to the Taoiseach’s comments of 15 June 2004, he will provide all details of contacts with Dublin Bus and of the occasion on which it is alleged to have refused to provide services; when the private bus company applied for licences to operate these routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21186/04]
View answerOn 18 September 2003 my Department received two applications from a private bus operator for designated bus services into the Citywest business campus. The applications were for limited morning and evening services between the business campus and Sydney Parade DART station on the one hand, and between the business campus and Westmoreland Street on the other.
My Department is required under section 11(3)(a) of the 1932 Act to apply a public interest test to applications for licences. It must consider whether the service proposed is in the public interest having regard to the passenger road services and other forms of passenger transport available to the public on or in the neighbourhood of the route of the proposed service. It concluded following a thorough examination, that it was in the "public interest" to grant the applications. The critical considerations which led to this decision were: Citywest business campus has over 100 companies employing several thousand people; Citywest management confirmed to my Department that it had approached Dublin Bus about the provision of dedicated bus services for workers in the business campus, but Dublin Bus did not take up the request; Citywest management then approached the private operator in question to provide the services concerned to cater for commuting workers employed in the business campus; the Department had no other prior proposal for a bus service to the Citywest business campus service.
In the light of the foregoing, my Department concluded that it would be in the public interest to grant the applications from the private operator concerned and on 2 June 2004 the Department proceeded with the issue of two licences to the private operator to operate the proposed services. Both licences are for the carriage of passengers to and from the business campus only and provide for a limited number of services, namely, two morning services from Westmoreland Street with three return services in the evening; one morning service from Sydney Parade DART station with two return services in the evening. My Department operates due process and fair procedure in the administration of the bus licensing and authorisation system. Dublin Bus effectively remains the monopoly provider of bus services in the Dublin metropolitan area. The company has the same opportunity as private operators to propose the introduction of additional or new services to meet specific or growing customer demand. In this case, Dublin Bus did not take up the request from the business campus and the private operator was duly awarded licences following due consideration by my Department.
