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FOR BUS ÉIREANN services in the north-east of the country, it’s been a torrid few months.
Since mid-September services on the Navan-Cavan 109 route corridor (and many others) have been beset by issues, with buses routinely failing to turn up, services being cancelled with little or no notice, and even drivers taking incorrect routes.
The situation has caused havoc among commuters, and led to much wringing of hands on the part of politicians (Social Protection minister Regina Doherty, herself a Meath representative, went so far as to blame the missed services on ‘unsanctioned work stoppages’, a pronouncement that was scornfully dismissed by the unions).
The company, for its part, blamed the situation on the addition of new rosters and new services (on foot of last April’s Labour Court recommendation regarding the future of the insolvent company – that recommendation itself coming in the aftermath of protracted strikes in March of this year), together with “a high level of absenteeism”.
That absenteeism has been consistently cited across the board as the chief factor in the collapse of services on the Cavan route, and it’s a point the company has been able to back up (Bus Éireann says that staff absenteeism in the east of the country is 14% – more than four times the national average).
But a number of company employees have now come forward to suggest that blaming the situation on such absenteeism is to miss the point entirely.
Multiple sources within Bus Éireann’s Broadstone garage in Phibsborough, Dublin, the starting point for the vast majority of services in the north-east and midlands, have told TheJournal.ie that the problem isn’t one of absent drivers, but rather one of non-existent buses and unrealistic service demands.
And those long-term employees are less than impressed with the situation that has emerged at the company since the start of this year, to put it mildly.
Lack of buses
“Look, this is all coming from the NTA (National Transport Association),” one source said.”They contact Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus, Luas, etc, and say that Behaviour and Attitudes surveys say we need more services.”
So you get the NX (Navan Expressway, launched on 19 September) launched to great fanfare. They tell us to provide it. But the company hasn’t sat down to see whether or not we actually can provide it. Do we have the buses? Do we have the drivers? The answer is no we don’t, and it’s knocked the whole applecart in the region.
Sources within Broadstone have suggested that Bus Éireann’s north-eastern routes need at least an additional 78 buses in order to provide for the services that are currently in place, a situation that may explain the prevalence of the familiar ‘on-hire to Bus Éireann’ plates seen in the windscreen of private operator vehicles around the country at present.
“At any one time Broadstone is short 100 buses per day,” one source says. “And on a day towards the end of October there were 45 private operators in use.”
That’s why services aren’t happening. If a bus isn’t there or available at the designated time then a service can’t happen. Which leads the driver on the next service to get it in the neck from the public. If you go into Broadstone any day of the week you’ll see two or three buses parked there, and a full defect bay and workshop of about 50 buses. So what does that tell you? It means we’re short 50 buses. Of course services aren’t happening.
The focus of this article is the situation at Broadstone, but sources suggest “there’s no reason why there wouldn’t be similar issues across the board” around Ireland.
Type training
All services are currently governed by what manner of vehicle and what driver is available at the time, one of the reasons why drivers are sometimes unfamiliar with the route they’re driving.
“Let’s say there’s a 4.30 service leaving a depot, and a driver is given a new bus he hasn’t been type-trained on,” one driver says. “Under Bus Éireann rules he must be type-trained. If he isn’t, the service is cancelled. If you’re operating in a scarcity of buses, and we are, the next one free will be picked.”
We have a bus called the LC, new to the Irish market, came in at the start of 2017. Then you have drivers in various depots used to driving a predecessor bus, the LD. There might be 10 buses in a depot, but two of them are LCs. A driver comes in, that bus comes in. If he isn’t trained in the bus the service doesn’t run.
Type-training takes “only about 20 minutes”. “But the problem is you need a driver to be present in Broadstone, at the same time the trainer is, at the same time a bus of that type is.”
All claims in this article were run by Bus Éireann, with the company, for the most part declining to comment specifically.
However, a management source did make it clear that as far as the company is concerned absenteeism among staff is the key factor regarding the issues currently being seen – this, along with the implementation of new staff rosters, has consistently been one of the company’s chief explanations for the disruption in service.
It’s something that staff aren’t impressed with.
“There are people absent who shouldn’t be absent, but that’s part of a public service, you’ll see it across the board,” says one driver. “But the percentage touted in the media (regarding Bus Éireann’s north-eastern services) of 14% is very unfair.”
They’re using those on long-term sick (greater than one year) leave to bolster that figure. These people aren’t ever going to work for the company again, so it’s a bit misleading to say they’re contributing to absenteeism.
Bus Éireann did provide an answer to this claim – the company says that nine (just under 3%) of the 308 drivers currently based out of Broadstone have been absent for more than one year. This figure is a deal smaller than that suggested by drivers, but nevertheless would have some bearing on the rates being quoted.
New rosters
The bigger issue (and one of the reasons for the high levels of absenteeism being seen), they say, are the new rosters that were brought in for services in recent months.
Those rosters resulted from April’s Labour Court recommendation, which suggested (along with the need for 120 voluntary redundancies) that drivers’ shifts would have to meet 84% levels of efficiency – ie, that each driver should spend at least 84% of his or her paid time driving a bus.
This has led to a situation where a driver may be paid for just under eight hours of work, but will spend 12-13 hours with their bus – including a 2.5 hour unpaid break.
“What are you supposed to do?” says one driver. “It’s not like you can take the bus home with you on your break. The Labour Court made this recommendation but it can’t possibly have envisaged how it would be used. We were told it would be sparing, well it’s being used across the board.”
And of course it’ll lead to absenteeism – guys are exhausted. There was one accident with two buses hitting each other on Abbey Street (Dublin) recently and one of the drivers was just wrecked – he’d been working through the night. And there’ll be more. It’s an accident waiting to happen. Drivers are floating around like zombies.
The new rosters, samples of which have been seen by TheJournal.ie, suggest among other things that drivers are frequently working until the early hours of the morning, having two days off, and then recommencing work at just past midnight – which by anyone’s standards doesn’t leave very much room for recovery.
“Lads are doing 12-14 hour shifts and then being told to walk back to the depot. Fellas are starting to walk out on the job. There’s no work life balance now,” says one driver.
“The company says it wants efficiency,” says another. “Well, so do we. But it’s all very well aiming for 84% efficiency in driving. That leaves no room for efficiency in family life. There’s no work/life balance. What are the younger drivers with families supposed to do?”
Leaving the dispute to one side, both sides can agree as to the original reason why this is happening however, and what’s at stake. The company declared insolvency at the start of 2017. It needs to get back in the black to remain in existence. In 2019 many of its routes will be up for tender.
“That’s what they’re building towards. The NX, the 109A, they’ll all be up for grabs, and they’ll be packaged off. It just seems set up for privatisation,” says one source.
What has happened comes down to bad planning, and bad planning comes from bad management. We all want to do our best. None of us want to cause the public pain – we’re not masochists. But if all this comes at the expense of family life then what’s the point?
“Bus Éireann are focused on the best interests of our customers, and to raising quality standards,” a spokesperson for the company meanwhile told TheJournal.ie. “We must be more competitive and efficient – to reverse our insolvency and secure a future for the business.”
This involves eliminating outdated work practices that the business can no longer sustain, given the imminent direct award of 10% of our routes. We have high regard for the welfare and safety of our staff but must ensure that is balanced with customers receiving more value for money via efficient, quality services.
Regarding the new rosters, the company insists that all are in compliance with Ireland’s Working Time Act legislation.
“This is about the big picture,” a management source said. “The company was insolvent, that’s just fact, and optimisation is needed to fix that. We can’t afford to lose 10% of our routes in a year’s time. There was always going to be a level of resistance with the new rosters.”
“Is it solvable?” asks a driver. “It should be. We need to look at the company’s public service obligation. We need the NTA to agree on the most important social routes. And forget about Expressway (Bus Éireann’s express services commercial arm – one that consultants told the company needed to be jettisoned in order to keep the company viable last January). It doesn’t deserve the support.”
Both the company and its employees agree that the big picture is everything in this situation. Unfortunately they can’t seem to agree on what that picture is.
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It’s not working as a public service, so maybe it’s just run it’s course and no more can be done. Option 1 shut up shop start again, option 2 make redundant all staff and management that are stopping the new rosters from working and carry out a massive recruitment drive, all on new contracts (because there are plenty of people who would be willing to work for less the the current rate), option 3 privatisation, because at the moment with them not fulfilling the timetable and cancellation of buses there are fines from the NTA.
@Gavin R: option 2 and 3 are both massively expensive and 2 is against labour laws. You can’t make people redundant when you are actually firing them.
@Gavin R: The problems with the 109 & 109X routes won’t be solved until they take customers into consideration a listen to what the drivers tell them.
The new Cavan – Dublin 109X route have made things worse by using the M50 and putting busses through Finglas causing further delays. People visiting the Mater hospital now have twice as far to walk to and from the busstops at Phibsboro and on Dorset Street. Bus stops on Dorset Street are not even signposted for the 109X so how are people supposed to know which is the correct stop.
Very poor planning all around by Bus Eireaan as it still can take three hours to Cavan from Dublin.
@Gavin R: why not simply invest in the buses that are needed to provide the service. Or is investing in a Public Service against all agenda.
@Dave Doyle: Bus Eireann run a bus every hour between Cavan and Dublin, but it can still take three hours to complete the journey due to congestion on the M3/M50 and in around Dublin and Navan.
@Dave Doyle: there has been massive investment in new buses and coaches by the NTA in the last couple of years, there is a problem where the unions are preventing real change.
@Dave Doyle: Did you not hear the drivers are refusing to drive a service if the new bus is available, cause they have not had 20min with a trainer to get to know the new bus.. total joke, each driver needs to be scheduled with training & it appears that driving time is available, just needs scheduled Trainer & a new bus
@Gavin R: It’s always the drivers and unions at fault, never the management. Unreal.
Privatisation is not the answer here. These are NTA awarded contracts driving NTA owned busses on NTA approved routes and schedules. Privatising the whole thing wont change traffic problems or issues with lateness etc. What’s needed here is a complete overhaul of all services and large scale investment in infrastructure and busses. Privatisation failed drastically in cities like London – Manchester and Liverpool. Where journey prices sky rocketed as soon as public services finished. The travelling public need better interconnected services with busses meeting trains and luas stops along the way.
@DubDon: Well said, changes to routes and timetables is just a sticky plaster to an already infected wound.
Bleedin joke of a company.
If the NRA are dictating the services that Bus Eireann should run let them come in and manage the company.
In my opinion the problems with Bus Eireaan cannot be solved merely by changing routes and timetables. As more people are using the services and populations West of Dublin grow it is now becoming apparent that changes need to be made to the entire Bus Eireaan structure to enable customers reach their destinations in the shortest possible time. A commuter rapid rail network between Navan, Blanchardstown and Dublin city centre is now needed and move Busarus out of the city centre to link with a rail terminal near the M50.
@Chris Kirk: I agree however there is no investment in the rail network required to get the trains in & out of the city, the Dart drivers looked for a payrise cause the company wanted to increase the frequency of the dart 10 from 15. so driver does same job, only change is the extra staff, to drive the one in front & behind..could you image what the rail union would want for to carry extra passengers…
@Chris Kirk:
What is needed is critical road building in large cities. We have invested in an extensive motorway network making inter city travel faster by car as opposed to public/private transport services. This has caused massive congestion on routes into our cities. More orbital routes are needed linking the the larger commuter towns outside of our cities which will move people around the cities as opposed to through them. Simply privatising these bus services will not solve one single thing. Private or public will still meet with same congestion problems and travelling volume along those routes
@DubDon: You only have to look at the existing M3 to see that part of the problem buses face most mornings and evenings is that it gets clogged up before the M50. A rail network from Navan and Blanchardstown would solve these problems and they would pay for the investment instead of just adding more traffic congestion into the city centre. A railway was planned almost twenty years ago though the Transport21 plan before the fools in government shelved it.
Are they sure it’s not a rostering error :P
We are all aware of the issues with drivers and buses and sympathies to the drivers who have a dreadful working environment at the moment. But while its a complete shamble and the top dogs need to be answerable to someone, management still have a responsibility towards the passengers. COMMUNICATION would help! leaving passengers standing waiting on buses that management are aware have been cancelled? ridiculous and disgraceful. Adjust the timetable accordingly to compensate for the missing buses! Announce at the start of each day what services are being cancelled. Tell the passengers what is going on!
The 111/111x service has probably seen more cancellations than any other service and in the past week a very dangerous precedent has also set in where some drivers on the night time services get to Trim and announce they can’t complete the journey to Athboy because they are over their hours.
Its shocking whats going on and something needs to be done soon.
@Dee: Drivers should not drive beyond the limited set for safety reasons, however they should not start the service if they are not able to complete & what happens in trim do they then turn around & drive back to dublin ??
If so they should continue to Athboy & be driven back by another driver..
@Sean O’Carroll: oh yeah they know the traffic delays accident delays and amount of passengers to stop for and sell ticktets to in advance .
@Sean O’Carroll: It is not as simple as that, when a scheduled two hour journey takes three hours due to congestion, the rule should be that drivers must complete the journey. This should be in their employment contract with the company.
Hire in Private Operators, they will do the job, leave the “sick” drivers at home. The private operators are quite capable anyway.
@David Mc Nally: A private company wants passengers so looks to keep them happy so they return, Bus eireann Unions don’t care about the customers just the staff, complaining that a driver is tired because he is doing his job, Ever heard of the Driving Hours Directive. he can’t drive more that that , complaining he can’t drive a bus as not done a 20min training exercise so not able to do a days work, repeatedly. Not knowing the route, the minimum i expect from a driver is to know where he is meant to go, if not ask before he starts driving. Cancelling a service cause a bus is broken or not available is a management, Not working cause you don’t like the schedule or have not done a 20 min exercise in a 45 hr (max) week.
@David Mc Nally: A profit is only made by having customers, A service needs to be supplied not just a token one, not enough focus from unions on service to customer & too much on protecting their present pay & conditions. resistance to any change, Unions should be looking after the workers best interest, which should include the Serve to passengers & the supporting changes that make there jobs more efficient & secure. . one example i experienced ,3 buses would leave Bus Aras, within 15 minutes, the same 3 would then go through the port tunnel out to the airport, wait there, then leave there go cross country to get back on the cavan route, All stopped in cavan none was more than 1/4 full, one ended in cavan, 1 went as far as donegal town the other went on up to Letterkenny, Explain to me why 1 could not go direct to cavan, One go via the airport, resistance to change..
@Sean O’Carroll: the services you talk about are Public service obligation routes – paid for out of public money so if the bus is full or empty bus company gets paid. So it’s not a case of keeping passengers happy. And it’s been proven in the past that privatisation results in reduced services after public competition is gone – plus those 3 busses that left 15 mins apart one was PSO (that ended in cavan) one was expressway (private to Donegal) and the Letterkenny bus goes through Monaghan not cavan.
If Bus Eireann can’t clean the toilet properly in their flagship station Busaras what chance have they got to run a bus network. Poor service in the Wicklow/South East too.
It is not just number of driver and bus. It all systems. One more thing have to say. Half of the BS buses are old one. The drives does not know how to turn of the heat on the bus so most time the buses like boiler, plush they never give bus a good clean so you know what feel if setting in it. God. It is so bad,, so dirty.
Sorry that should read NTA!!!!!!!!!!!
how can they try to blame it on one man ,now thats racist
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