Attempts to introduce integrated ticketing for Dublin was a bigger fiasco than electronic voting, general secretary of the National Bus and Railworkers' Union (NBRU) Liam Tobin said last night.
Speaking at the opening of the union's national conference in Donegal, he said in 1999 former minister for transport Mary O'Rourke announced that a smart card for integrated ticketing would be introduced. Seven years later the smart card was only valid for Luas and a couple of private bus operators.
He said traffic gridlock in Dublin was costing CIÉ €80 million a year.
NBRU assistant general secretary Michael Faherty said investment on new school buses was a priority. On yesterday's school bus accident in Co Westmeath, he said: "This is yet another warning to the Government that the school bus fleet and rural services generally are in urgent need of renewal."