Re: €1.00 bus fare
maybe because dublin bus have no real competition they structure their charges accordingly. a few years ago there was a private bus operator on the Dundalk/Dublin route. something like £6 daily return. pick up on main street in Dundalk. Bus Eireann commenced pulling their coaches up behind him to compete with him. fair enough. eventually packs up and departs scene. BE now inform customers they can no longer pick up bus on main street and fares revert to normal ie around double the old prices. M1 is opened between Dublin and Dundalk. Do Bus Eireann use it? not on your nelly. along comes a new private bus operator. €5 single to dublin and €10 return. using motorway not old N1. Who suddenly decides that the fares to Dublin should be €5 single and who now use the motorway? no prizes for the answer. and just to add to the turnaround I phoned BE around 2 years ago and enquired as to why they weren't using the motorway.Reply: because we have a public service obligation. ''fair enough but could you not run every second bus on the motorway ( difference in time journeys -1 hour opposed to 3 hours) and every second bus through Castlebellingham, Dunleer, Gormanstown, Balbriggan, Swords etc'' . answer: ''No way''. That was before the new operator however and now happily BE do use the motorway and offer a very good service and for a very reasonable fare. would they have moved so fast without competition? who knows but I doubt it. To prove how frequent services and cheap fares attract custom - the private bus operator runs about 22 return services to dublin daily and BE around the same. cheap fares and frequent,reliable fast services attract customers.
the €1 journey ticket for any journey on dublin bus is probably very feasable,volume alone would increase to the point that it would probably be utilised to the max all day.