Costs of Transport and Renting

[Tolka]

Anyone else has noticed that the costs of renting and the costs of transports in the Dublin Area are closely linked.
I remember last year in December Dublin Bus raised the costs of the fares by 10%. That’s when rents first started to increase.
Now again Irish Rails, Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann are raising the their fares by another 9%.
That will likely push the rents in city centre higher by another 10% or so.
Is that done on purpose ?

[Eschatologist]

CIE is raising fares because an agreement on temporarily reduced staff wages has expired and the govt won’t bail them out.

[Luan]

Approx €6 home in a taxi for the Mrs and me.

Alternatively we can take the bus for €4.70

However most days we walk

[Mantissa]

Approx €6 home in a taxi for the Mrs and me.

Alternatively we can take the bus for €4.70

However most days we walk

I would give good odds that you’ve never seen the inside of a bus!

[Luan]

Approx €6 home in a taxi for the Mrs and me.

Alternatively we can take the bus for €4.70

However most days we walk

I would give good odds that you’ve never seen the inside of a bus!

I had to google the correct bus fare.

[Second_Captain]

I don’t recall public transport fares decreasing when rents were on the down slope not so long ago. So I’d say no, no colleration, let alone causation.

[Tolka]

I don’t recall public transport fares decreasing when rents were on the down slope not so long ago. So I’d say no, no colleration, let alone causation.

Transport fares never decrease, if anything they stay flat. In any case, they say there is a property shortage in Dublin, it was in the news several times over the past few months. There is plenty of properties in the Greater Dublin area that can be used but are left empty because people prefer to stay closer to Dublin centre. Why not helping people commuting with a fairer ticket price rather building new homes and risk a new property bubble ?

[BoyRacer]

way back when.

https://i57.tinypic.com/1e6jcx.png

2003	70.00
2004	70.00
2005	75.00
2006	80.00
2007	83.00
2008	90.00
2009	95.00
2010	105.00
2011	110.00
2012	115.00
2013	125.00
2014	137.50  + €5 for new leapcard
2015	145.00  + €5 for new leapcard

[taipeir]

So almost doubled price in 8 years but no improvement in service.
Meanwhile the price has gone up 10% where I live in 8 years and they’ve added about 100 new subway stops, it costs me about a 1.50 euro return everyday with no junkies included.

[BoyRacer]

So almost doubled price in 8 years but no improvement in service.
Meanwhile the price has gone up 10% where I live in 8 years and they’ve added about 100 new subway stops, it costs me about a 1.50 euro return everyday with no junkies included.

During this period Dublin Bus has made expenditure savings, spanning all areas of the business. Payroll costs have been reduced by 19% largely through a reduction in staff numbers and a pay freeze for all staff which has been in force since 2008 and pay cuts introduced in 2013. A reconfiguration of services through Network Direct also contributed to expenditure savings. In addition the Dublin Bus fleet has been reduced by over 200 buses resulting in maintenance and fuel savings.

In 2015 Dublin Bus anticipate additional costs resulting from service level increases to meet expected demand resulting from a growing economy – this is positive for public transport but it has cost impacts.

Luas Cross-City works will be intensified in the city in 2015 with the carrying out of utility works in key areas and the commencement of the main line laying contract in the second half of the year. While the Authority has funded new buses for Dublin Bus over the past number of years there was not sufficient funding to prevent the average age of the Dublin Bus fleet getting older and thus requiring additional maintenance with attendant costs

Despite making expenditure savings, Dublin Bus has suffered annual losses for the past six years. With the expected increase in passenger numbers in 2014 and fuel price increases moderating Dublin Bus expect to make a small profit in 2014 however it will take some time for them to recover the losses made over the past six years. Despite the improving economic conditions Dublin Bus still require a fares increase in 2015 although not at the same level as the fare increases in the past few years.

source

[Tolka]

way back when.

https://i57.tinypic.com/1e6jcx.png

2003	70.00
2004	70.00
2005	75.00
2006	80.00
2007	83.00
2008	90.00
2009	95.00
2010	105.00
2011	110.00
2012	115.00
2013	125.00
2014	137.50  + €5 for new leapcard
2015	145.00  + €5 for new leapcard

That’s exactly the point. Between 2009 and 2011, rents went down yet the transport fares still went up making it a lot more convenient to live close to the city centre and creating a huge gap with the suburbs.
People renting close to city centre (especially students) are trying to avoid the commute, pushing up the rental prices.
What Dublin really needs is a cheap reliable public transport system, I am pretty sure our transport system is one of the most expensive in Europe.

[dolanbaker]

How to transport costs (& rent) took on the Guinness index over the past decade or so?
I have a suspicion that they’ll outstrip inflation.

[BoyRacer]

How to transport costs (& rent) took on the Guinness index over the past decade or so?
I have a suspicion that they’ll outstrip inflation.

data will need to be added for 2014 -> finfacts.ie/Private/bestpric … sindex.htm

[FreeFallin]

And to think, that there is no real bus service as such after 11pm and before 6.30am in the capital!

I remember being surprised on holiday in Italy a few years back in Rimini, a regional seaside town. The local bus service ran for 20 hours a day!!!

[Carson]

So almost doubled price in 8 years but no improvement in service.
Meanwhile the price has gone up 10% where I live in 8 years and they’ve added about 100 new subway stops, it costs me about a 1.50 euro return everyday with no junkies included.

Actually the service has improved quite a bit in recent years. Real Time displays have been a great addition to the network. Also, the streamlining of routes has definitely improved things. And the leap card is a nice addition generally.

Not that those things would be equivalent to a doubling in prices. I never used that Rambler service, but those that do seem to have been particularly badly hit. When I use public transport it is typically a single journey bus or luas ticket and the prices have actually dropped on those in recent years (when comparing Leap fares to the old cash fares).

[Madness_of_Crowds]

So almost doubled price in 8 years but no improvement in service.
Meanwhile the price has gone up 10% where I live in 8 years and they’ve added about 100 new subway stops, it costs me about a 1.50 euro return everyday with no junkies included.

Actually the service has improved quite a bit in recent years. Real Time displays have been a great addition to the network. Also, the streamlining of routes has definitely improved things. And the leap card is a nice addition generally.

Not that those things would be equivalent to a doubling in prices. I never used that Rambler service, but those that do seem to have been particularly badly hit. When I use public transport it is typically a single journey bus or luas ticket and the prices have actually dropped on those in recent years (when comparing Leap fares to the old cash fares).

So the price of oranges has fallen recently, when compared to apples.

The real time displays are an improvement, when present (I’d guess around 40% of stops), but anything was an improvement on a timetable that gave a single time of when the bus left the point of origin and some off-peak travel times to stages distant from your own. I’ve seen the look of amazement on visitors’ faces when I’ve explained that the time on the information post for a bus they were expecting imminently referred to a point maybe six miles away.

Anyway, DB is still slow, expensive, unreliable and next to useless for any journey that isn’t radial.

[gaius]

All the real time displays do is expose just how many ghost buses Dublin Bus are running and how poor they are at sticking to timetables. I’ve regularly been at stops waiting for a bus only to have an “out of service” bus sail by with 30 mins wait for the next bus.

The worst was a Sunday evening in Malahide where there was a full hour between buses and the timetabled bus simply disappeared off the display about 2 mins before “arrival”. There were elderly people at that bus stop and only for the fact that I was heading into town and offered them seats in my taxi, they’d have been waiting till 11pm for a bus that may or may not have turned up.

[BoyRacer]

Irish Water and CIE quangos are just tax collectors - Shane Ross -> independent.ie/opinion/colum … 10362.html

In 2011, the Authority approved fare rises of over 20pc for Dublin Bus. In 2012 the hike was a mere 18pc while last autumn they went up by over 10pc. Inflation is just a dot in the distance.
Our state monopolies happen to share something else in common: the same suspects keep popping up. Few of our long-suffering commuters will realise that Irish Water boss John Tierney was himself a recent board member of the dreaded NTA. He only left the Authority’s board when his unique talents were required by semi-state monopoly Irish Water.
His experience at the NTA makes him perfectly qualified to manage Irish Water. None of that private enterprise stuff. The customer is the bottomless source of all revenue.
The chairman of the NTA, John Fitzgerald, chaired An Post - another State monopoly - until last year.
Once upon a time Fitzgerald - just like Tierney - was Dublin City Manager, until he moved into monopoly land. He even holds the distinction of having sat on the board of that health monolith, the HSE.
With that provenance it is hard to see Fitzgerald taking a principled stand against the applications for fare increases from yet another State monopoly, CIE. He didn’t.
Nor did Tierney before he headed for Irish Water.
The board of the NTA has a shameful record of handing over consumers to be assaulted and mugged by CIE, Iarnrod Eireann, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus.

So why the need for price rises?
Ahem.
**When I eventually cornered an NTA spokeswoman she told me that there were capacity costs associated with growth! The poor transport companies cannot cope with growth. What is worse, there was a pay deal in prospect. The bearded trade union chiefs must be delighted to hear that the semi-states’ regulator has already conceded - in advance - to their demands for pay hikes.
**
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