The National Transport Authority (NTA) has said it has no extra vehicles to facilitate "special buses" for hospital workers during the Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions.
The NTA also added that it is the responsibility of bus drivers to regulate who gets on buses.
The comments come after the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) said capacity restrictions on buses amid the coronavirus pandemic meant many hospital workers were being left at bus stops, particularly during the morning rush in Dublin, when schoolchildren also require public transport.
On Monday morning NBRU general secretary Dermot O'Leary said there had been "no relief in the capacity issues" despite a written plea to NTA chief executive Anne Graham to do something about some buses on hospital routes reaching capacity within three stops of the depot.
‘Severe restraints’
In his letter to Ms Graham, Mr O'Leary instanced routes to St James's Hospital; Crumlin and the Coombe hospitals; Tallaght Hospital, and Connolly and the Mater which he said had severe capacity restraints, resulting in frontline healthcare workers being left at bus stops.
Mr O’Leary said it was not possible for bus drivers to examine passenger identities and to reserve seating for frontline workers only. The NBRU has consistently said it was not the job of the drivers to police passengers, saying there were issues of driver safety involved in this regard.
Mr O’Leary said that since the Covid-19 restrictions began the NBRU had been seeking a meeting with the NTA to discuss how restricted capacity should be managed, but this had been rejected by the authority.
A spokesman for the NTA told The Irish Times: “It is always the case that drivers are responsible for the regulation of boarding onto buses.” Separately, Ms Graham told Newstalk radio that all available buses are currently in service and therefore it was not possible to provide special services for frontline workers.
