This weekend's two-day Dublin Bus strike could cost city businesses as much as £14 million, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce has warned.
A drop in sales of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent was recorded during last month's one-day stoppage. If such a fall-off were repeated it would represent a £4 million loss in sales, the chamber said.
An additional loss in productivity, of up to £10 million, could occur through people being late for work or not turning up, it added. Severe traffic disruption is expected tomorrow if the stoppage goes ahead.
The Garda is likely to allow motorists to use bus lanes, as with last month's strike. However, it will not make an announcement on such a move before morning rush-hour tomorrow.
The AA's public affairs manager, Mr Conor Faughnan, said "a protracted strike would be a disaster for the city. The longer it goes on the worse it will get".
He urged people to car-pool if possible "or, if you normally get the bus, see if you can get a lift from a neighbour who usually drives rather than taking your own car out of the driveway".
The Fine Gael spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Ivan Yates, appealed to Dublin Bus drivers "to try and find some system of arbitration and not discommode up to 200,000 people who depend on bus journeys.
"This will affect students who have no other means of transport and the elderly who will be trying to make appointments at hospitals. Bus drivers will not get public sympathy or advance their case by striking."
Mr Yates added that part of the long-term solution was the introduction of greater competition in bus transport. Mr David Manley, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce's newly elected president, agreed, saying greater competition in other sectors had delivered cheaper fares, improved service, and better choice.
He said "the role of the private sector in this growing urban and suburban market will have to be given greater emphasis" given that the Dublin Transportation Office had predicted a need for a four-fold increase in public transport services by 2016. "The existing arrangement appears to lend itself more to the protection of a monopoly than to facilitate new entrants to the market."
