The new Fine Gael transport proposals announced this week would provide more frequent bus services on more routes through proper competition across metropolitan Cork, Fine Gael Cork South Central Senator, Jerry Buttimer, said today (Wednesday).
“The new Fine Gael strategy is good news for the hard pressed commuter of Cork who continually finds him/ herself stranded as a result of failed Fianna Fáil policies which maintain the status quo by refusing to open up the bus market to real competition.
“The travelling public is fed up of constantly being left on the roadside waiting for an unreliable service that invariably fails to deliver.
“Fine Gael’s proposals, to allow private and public operators to bid for bundles of bus routes on the basis of competitive tendering, would open up the possibility of new routes being provided and old routes being serviced more efficiently, with the result that people in Maryborough Hill, Garryduff, Rochestown, Douglas, Carrigaline and Passage would benefit enormously. The Fine Gael plan will simply mean more buses, on more routes, more often.”
Rejecting criticism that the plan is part privatisation of public transport, Senator Buttimer said:
“This is not deregulation or privatisation of the bus market; it is competition plain and simple. This is about making sure that the travelling public is looked after through the provision of a dependable and reliable service. By allowing operators to bid for bundles of routes we are also ensuring it’s not just the profitable routes that are taken care of. People from all corners must be catered for and given a real alternative they can rely on. Fine Gael in power will see that service delivered for people living the length and breadth of Cork.”