Marie Spriggs Campion says she has become used to waiting around for the bus in Tramore. The civil servant has been using the No 360 route to go to her office in Waterford for the past 15 years but has found it to be a “disaster” over the past two years.
“It’s become a regular thing that it just does not turn up and I’m then late for work,” says the Kilkenny woman.
“I can’t drive and while my husband can, he works too so can’t be always coming to collect me when the bus doesn’t show. It’s gotten to be a joke now.”
Her coworker, Ian Kennedy, has faced the same problem. “It’s that it’s no longer reliable. It’s not a terrible service by any means but when you’re relying on a bus to get into work, it’s a serious problem. I’ve been getting it for about seven years and I don’t know if I can ever remember it not turning up until more recently.”
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Other passengers, who asked not to be named, said they had faced “embarrassing and uncomfortable” situations with their employers over the regular delays. When passengers contact Bus Éireann about their missing bus, they’re regularly told the issue is a lack of drivers, and at times, because of a Covid-related absence.
‘I’m now asking myself, will I buy the tax saver ticket for 2023 when it’s an unreliable service? Why would I continue?’
“I feel for the drivers because they’re doing their best and are just doing their day’s work,” says Mr Kennedy. He says he purchases an annual ticket for his use of the service. “It’s a very good scheme but the service has gotten worse, so I’m now asking myself, will I buy the tax saver ticket for 2023 when it’s an unreliable service? Why would I continue?”
A number of passengers pointed to how the chief executive of Bus Éireann, Stephen Kent, is from Waterford. One person said they “occasionally text him to let him know another bus has gone missing” to see if anything can be done.
Green Party TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh said “people need to have confidence in public transport” given Ireland’s climate targets, which requires at least 500,000 additional daily active travel and public transport journeys by 2030, alongside a 10 per cent reduction in the number of kilometres driven by fossil-fuelled cars. “The company needs to step up to the mark here and they need to use their resources to do this and get the drivers they need,” he said.
‘Service-delivery issues’
At present, according to Marie Spriggs Campion, “some people are being forced towards using a car” to get around. “But the price of a taxi isn’t affordable to be doing regularly either,” she says.
Asked about the issues raised, Bus Éireann apologised to customers and accepted it has “experienced service-delivery issues” with the Waterford-Tramore route, which it said was “largely due to the non-availability of sufficient driver resources on the day”.
It said it was working to address the “current headcount issue” in what it described as a very constrained recruitment environment for all bus companies nationally.
A spokeswoman added: “We are actively recruiting for both a small number of full-time and part-time driver positions for our Waterford depot. We expect we will reach the required driver numbers in the next few weeks, with candidates progressing through the process as quickly as possible.
“Bus Éireann is fully committed to delivering high-quality public transport services and continuing to fully support national policy and objectives to substantially increase public transport usage in Ireland. Up to August, Bus Éireann delivered 98 per cent of scheduled services since the start of the year and together with the fare reduction, this helped us deliver significant weekly passenger growth on the 360 service ranging from 125 per cent up to 182 per cent of pre-Covid levels during June to August.”