Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph
CIÉ would serve the public infinitely better if its components didn't spend so much time and resources competing with each other. There is absolutely no need for a Bus Éireann service (for example) from Dublin to Cork or Limerick; the Iarnród Éireann services cover both routes admirably well. Price-sensitive customers are accommodated by the new graded pricing (€10/€20/€36 for Cork, €10/€15/€29 for Limerick). Equally, the motivation for the train service from Limerick to Waterford is questionable given Bus Éireann route 55. And then there's Dublin Bus running six routes that run parallel to the DART.
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Agree with you on the nonsense of BE routes that compete directly with rail services but questioning the Limerick Junction/Waterford line on the same basis is ridiculous. If a bus service is removed it can easily be reintroduced at zero cost but if you close a rail line its reinstatement costs are enormous - a case in point being the Midleton line which was still passed for passenger trains into the late 1980s.