Poll on CIE

A) Yes, nothing could be worse than CIE

B) No

C)Yes

D)Yes

Maybe – Not really sure about this one as I think unified transport authorities that cover rail/ bus/ tram etc are good things. CIE is just a failure due to its make up and management ethos.

No

Yes (with reservations…. I would hate to see the UK model repeated in Ireland)

Yes

A Yes
B No
C Yes
D Yes

I too would hate the UK model introduced. I think we should have rail and bus in state hands, but better management and accountability is crucial.

I think CIE or whatever replaces it should be open to market forces and competition, if a better solution can be found than the fiasco that happened in the UK, I wouldn’t rule out privitisation.

Oh and I’d make the guy behind Platform 11 the Chairman of Irish Railways, at least he has vision and ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a – maybe
b – no
c – yes
d – yes

Yes No Yes Yes

The Unions should be ashamed of themselves! They represent workers of a public PUBLIC transport body and don’t seem to see any problem blocking moves that could very well provide a decent service to the very people who pay (and subsidise) their paycheques.

The very same thing can be seen with SIPTU and Aer Rianta – why is it that every single Chamber of Commerce related to the regional airports are ecstatic at the prospect of more autonomy, you know develop our regions and ECONOMY… yet SIPTU are chasing to hold on to their potentially diminished 15% share of a TAX PAYER owned company, their right to which is doubtful in the first place..

I wish we would’nt use the UK as a role model, we should look to the better examples throughout the free world. The UK makes a hames of a lot of things.
Bill Morris who is head of the unions in Britain is head or closely affiliated to the unions here in Ireland……hence our disasterous history of (bus) strikes etc…..too.
CIE stated in the leaflets that were issued on the day of ‘non fare colection’ that if private bus companies were to take over they would only be interested in the bus routes that were profitable, which would mean the loss of the unprofitable bus routes leaving people stranded. A fair point.
But to draw an analogy, for years Aer Lingus were complaining of mass loses etc….due to the Ryan Air factor etc….and campaigned heavily against the government relaxing the monopoly that they had ….and hey presto! look what happened ….Aer Lingus made a profit of 60 million Euro last year.
Maybe then lets break up the public transport monopoly ……Dunno what the drivers are worried about ….(it’s certainly not the welfare of the travelling Irish general public, especially with more conventional strikes they have planned in future). Anyway, it would lead to more jobs and choices for bus drivers.
We are always blinkered and blind in Ireland here to grasp new changes for the betterment of our society. Remember, contraception was only made legal back in the early 1990’s and there were campaign’s against the Lotto and a woman president etc , etc ….saying that our country would fall to pieces.
I’d say take the plunge and let’s make the change. It is only a tradition of stagnation we are breaking with.

i have to say i have always found london bus pretty good, th privatization is pretty subtle, the route numbers are fixed by the regulator and the fares are all the same. this is in contrast with anywhere else in england, its usually shocking bad. the inter-city services are particularily poor, and the coverage very bad, lots of places don’t have any service, or, if they do, it is only to a single hub.