Traffic congestion and a major increase in LUAS-related works are now costing Dublin Bus an estimated €49 million a year, according to its annual report. Emmet Oliver reports.

Despite the cost of congestion, the company managed a trading surplus in 2003 of €7.3 million, up from €3.4 million in the year before. Turnover was up 8.5 per cent over 2002 to €173 million. The company said a 2.3 per cent growth in passenger numbers was the main driver of the figures. The company received a State subvention of €53 million.

The company's annual report states that the growth of quality bus corridors and pre-paid tickets were also serious factors in profit growth. Sales of the "rambler"range of pre-paid tickets rose by 13.3 per cent, for example.

The report states: "We have shown that as a company we can rise to the challenge of delivering a quality product to the customer not only on the day-to-day bus service provision, but also at one-off large special events such as major concerts."

However, traffic congestion continues to cause the company serious financial problems. "Traffic congestion continues to be a major challenge for Dublin Bus. Consultants have identified the cost of congestion at €49.4 million per annum. Everyone involved in operating these services through such difficult environmental circumstances continues to do a good job. Once these works are completed we should see an improvement of bus services through the city,"says the report.

It discloses that road works for the development of lines A and B of Luas will continue into 2004, and says the company has incurred additional expenditure of €600,000 for extra drivers, inspectors and buses.

A spokeswoman explained why the congestion problem was proving so costly. "It has meant to stick to the schedule and timetable we have had to buy extra buses, drivers to drive them and inspectors to monitor the system just so we can compensate for losing time. We plug more buses into the system than ever before. For example, if a timetable says that there is a bus every 10 minutes, we may actually run it every seven minutes with extra buses to overcome LUAS works and congestion".