CIE's investment in bus and rail service meant "some level of fare increase" was called for, its spokesman said yesterday.

As the group revealed its State subvention rose by £45.2 million (#57.39 million) last year to £160.7 million, he said the rate of increase would be for the Government to decide.

Additional State support of £132.99 million was included as credits to tangible fixed assets and deferred income. The group was also re-imbursed with £56 million for expenditure on the LUAS light rail project.

The transport group's subvention rose despite a fall in the number of passengers carried by Iarnrod Eireann and Dublin Bus. This was attributed to strikes.

CIE claimed gridlock in the State's major cities was costing it £40 million, the first time it put a price on traffic congestion.

It said the additional State funding last year was necessary to provide more loss-making and peak services at rates agreed with the Department of Public Enterprise. This was required to counter gridlock, because it meant less services could be provided with existing fleets.

The group's spokesman did not expect the subvention to rise at a similar rate this year.

Unlike other large State-owned groups, CIE management held no press conference or briefing when its latest annual report was published.

Asked why this was so when the group received such a large degree of State support, the spokesman said: "The figures have been in the public domain for some time and it was felt unnecessary to hold a press conference."

Excluding State grants, CIE's revenues rose by £20.8 million to £386 million. Its total costs were £538.4 million, including a payroll bill of £281.57 million.

When the subvention was accounted for, the group reported a "surplus" of £18.3 million. Its surplus in 1999 was £17.1 million.

Iarnrod Eireann carried 31.7 million passengers in 2000, down from 32.8 million in 1999.

It said this was largely due to the 10-week stoppage last summer by train drivers in the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association (ILDA), which cost Iarnrod Eireann £15 million. Up to 1.5 million passenger journeys were cancelled and "considerable volumes" of freight carriage was lost to competitors.

Iarnrod Eireann received £105 million for maintenance of its network and to provide non-commercial services, up from £94 million a year earlier. In addition, it received £120.9 million for a rail safety programme.

Thus £115.9 million was allocated to the company's profit and loss account and £110 million was allocated to capital and deferred income.

The number of passengers carried by Dublin Bus fell to 187.7 million last year from 193 million in 1999.

The company attributed this to isolated stoppages over pay which "severely disrupted" services early in the year.

CIE said Dublin Bus received 225 new buses during the year, which enabled it to phase out 100 old Bombardier buses.

On gridlock, it said: "The average speed of buses across the whole service network is 8 miles per hour, with some buses at peak periods operating at walking speed.

"During the past year a large number of routes have had additional running time of between 10 and 20 minutes per trip added in order to enable them to operate to a more realistic schedule.

"Additional vehicles are, therefore, provided to plug gaps in order to achieve reliability but add considerably to the cost of the operation."

Bus Eireann carried 84.3 million passengers, up from 83.8 million a year earlier. It purchased 208 new vehicles.