Bus Eireann has confirmed it is to withdraw a number of its expressway routes from the end of May following a review of the service.
But it said there would be no impact on jobs at the transport company as a result of dropping the services.
Bus Eireann said it would discontinue route 4 between Waterford and Dublin/Dublin Airport, route 52 between Ballina and Galway, and the route 40 segment between Rosslare/Wexford – Waterford.
The Expressway services are run on a fully commercial basis by the company and do not receive financial support from the exchequer. In many cases, such services face competition on the routes from private-sector rivals.
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The routes will be withdrawn from May 24th, Bus Eireann said. Customers who have booked journeys on the impacted services will be refunded.
“Given the scale of our operations, there will be no impact on jobs given our current recruitment needs,” Bus Eireann said in a statement.
Last year The Irish Times reported the State-owned transport company was undertaking a review of the viability of Expressway routes it operated. Although all the Expressway routes were part of the review, there were five under specific focus: Dublin to Wexford, Dublin to Waterford, Limerick to Tralee and Killarney, Rosslare to Waterford and Tralee, as well as Galway to Ballina.
Analysis of Expressway routes carried out by consultants Grant Thornton for the company found that if these services continued unchanged, there would be a negative impact of €20.58 million on its five-year combined Ebitda [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation] on the Routes under specific examination are from Dublin to Wexford, Dublin to Waterford, Limerick to Tralee and Killarney, Rosslare to Waterford and Tralee, as well as Galway to Ballina.
Bus Eireann has previously discontinued Expressway services, with routes between Dublin and Cork, Galway and Limerick cut in September 2020, arguing these routes were loss-making.
