A chara, – The current situation at Bus Éireann is a major inconvenience for the rural travelling public and it is most certainly a major cause for concern for the workers and their families.
However, if one were to look for silver linings in the industrial relations cloud, there are perhaps a couple.
First, Shane Ross as Minister for Transport has demonstrated that he is not up to the task of serving the interests of all the people of Ireland.
The second thing to take from this shambles is that it demonstrates quite clearly that private transport operators are not capable of running the network, certainly not on their own. While I’m quite certain that many profit-obsessed bus operators will be only too happy to meet the extra capacity on profitable routes around the country, rural towns and routes around the country that don’t appeal to the money men behind the private operators will be left behind, unless of course they can find a way to squeeze some profit from a route.
Public transport should be run for the benefit of people all over the country, not for profit-driven stakeholders, and Shane Ross is not qualified to oversee such a service. – Is mise,
SIMON O’CONNOR,
Crumlin,
Dublin 12.