Look at all the buses now that want exact change, exact change. I figure if I give them exact change, they should take me exactly where I want to go. – George Wallace
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has announced that CIE will make a deficit of €39m this year, compared with just under €1.5m in 2007.
With that announcement you would expect to see Minister Cullen spring into action and declare that the public transport industry needs an overhaul and that changes have to be made, but that’s not the way of this government.
So what was the great solution? Yes, you’ve guessed it put up fares. If any company had lost that amount of money, they would immediately make wholesale changes, streamline and cost cut, but instead they decide to make the public suffer by charging more for the same very poor service.
Why is it that the major cities in European can boast good transport services and yet Ireland, Dublin in particular, shows it’s tourists and citizens that it is only important if you follow the government’s rules.
The fact is that it not just this government that is primarily responsible, this has been going on for years. They have given unions so much power that when even the slightest confrontation appears, strike action is brought up. Sometimes they do not even need to give notice, just simply turn up at the depot and cause chaos for the public.
Why should Ireland have to put up with third rate services? Why should the government feel that they do not need t justify themselves when it comes to running this? Why do Dublin Bus believe that they should not have to deal with any competition?
More importantly why do we put up with it?
In any other job Martin Cullen would not be allowed to continue to blindly make costly mistakes, €50 million and counting for the electronic voting machines which sit gathering expensive dust. So why is he allowed to mastermind this debacle?
We need to be proud to show off our cities and towns and provide people with decent quality transport that can take people where they want to go. With all the fuss about traffic, when will this government wake up and realise that if you have a reliable transport service, people will use it?
Monday, December 22nd, 2008 and is filed under Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.
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