Commuters may face public transport fee hikes

[Colm Moore]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1124/economy_transport.html

Commuters may face public transport fee hikes
Updated: 22:09, Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Commuters could face increased charges for public transport or reduced levels of service as well as a deterioration in road conditions as a result of measures announced in today's four-year plan.

It is proposed that public transport companies, such as Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann, will see a cut in their allocation from the Department of Transport next year.

Together with rationalisation and savings, this cut will amount to €10m.

Regional airports will also be hit with a cut of €5.5m in their allocation.

It is also likely that the country's roads will get worse with severe reductions in the budget for maintenance.

Next year the Budget will be cut by €9m with the promise of more cuts in the years ahead.

The Road Safety Authority will also be hit with a cut of €5m in its budget and a promise that if it cannot make that level of saving, it can increase fees.

Meanwhile, work on Dublin's Metro North is still scheduled to start in 2012 but the DART Interconnector has been postponed because of the cutbacks in the Government's programme.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said because the DART Underground project is still in its planning stage and is not ready to go ahead, there will be no money available to start before 2014.

Luas City Centre and Luas Broombridge lines (Line BXD), connecting the Green Line, which terminates at St Stephen's Green, to the Red Line, which runs along Abbey Street, will not go ahead during the lifetime of the present programme.

Luas extensions to Lucan and Bray are also on hold.

Mr Dempsey said there would be a further review before consideration of phase two of the Western Rail Corridor.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1124/economy_depts.html

Transport - Savings €139m

Cuts to public transport companies such as Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann will amount to €10m next year with a further €9m being cut from road maintenance. A further €5m will be cut from the budget of the Road Safety Authority and cuts of €5.5m to regional airports will be introduced to save €39m next year. A further €100m will come in by 2014 through further cuts in the road maintenance budget; increasing fees such as road tax and consolidation of agencies.

Bord Snip recommended cuts of €127.1m.