The fines were issued by the National Transport Authority for poor services on a number of routes.
A report by the
Independent reveals that the following penalties were issued to various Dublin public transport operators due to delayed or cancelled services:
- Dublin Bus - almost €1.5m in fines
- Go-Ahead - over €850,000 in fines
- Luas - €2.67m in fines
The fines have been issued following multiple reports from commuters of poor services, with many saying they're unable to rely on the operators to get to work, school or college on time.
An NTA spokesperson told the Independent that as is the way with many industries post-pandemic, public transport operators have been experiencing "
significant challenges" with recruiting qualified staff.
Meanwhile, Go-Ahead Ireland said it “
sincerely apologises to any customers impacted by this disruption” and stressed that they are working to avoid a repeat of such occurrences.
"Go-Ahead Ireland has recently launched its largest ever recruitment campaign for drivers and staff across our business. We have had an excellent response and currently have new drivers undertaking training in our driver school and being deployed across our network to enhance our service and the experience of our passengers", they said.
One service in particular that came under fire was the Go-Ahead 175 route from Citywest to UCD, with stranded students being forced to either get two other buses, or share taxis to the college as a result of the bus showing up either late or not at all.
Header image via Shutterstock
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