Private Small Bus Operators Of Ireland

31/10/2020

Why is it so hard for our government to see that our industry needs financial help the bus and coach hire industry is financially crippled .
Some of the ways help can make a difference is ,

Proceeding with the recommendations that we put forward for €8000 for the first vehicle and €4500 for the second vehicle additional vehicles below is also the example of what was asked for ,
Allowing Vat reclaiming or Zero rated.Increasing the current fuel rebate from 7% Reduce insurance costs.Wheel chair vehicles road tax exemption.Online Cpc Courses CPC price reduction Withdrawing the Rsa €50 charge on all CVRT.Extending the bank loan breaksLower rate business loans

These are just some of the things that would help all small licensed bus operators get through these difficult times .
There are 1721 licensed operators in the republic 80 of these are controlled and represented by the CTTC this club only represents the tour operators and do not represent many small operators outside their scandalous and hideous criteria .The small operators of Ireland are the back bone of our industry and it is now that we all as a team need to be combining our strength and focusing all our efforts on getting the industry back to some form of normality.

If we come together as one unit we all may stand a chance of survival.



Most of the operators are family based and family run and employ local people.

31/10/2020

Our so call voice from the (largest???) private bus industry club is gone underground to lick their wounds .Interesting to see who will stay and who will go.Reality as raised its ugly head for them .

28/10/2020

For all you small bus and coach operators out there ,

Just a wee recap of a year we’d all like to forget. Our industry have been completely destroy by this virus and will take years to recover from this. However, the small operators of Ireland has now been left with a 2 tier system, with thanks to the CTTC.
Remember back to the early days of this pandemic, when they where encouraging all operators big and small to take part in the emailing campaign?? Remember when they held there online Zoom meeting encouraging operators not to attend the protest on July 28th?? Well here is a list of what they’ve don’t for the operators of Ireland:

•Deregistering of brand new buses and coach registered this year.

•”They claim” to have gotten the BE operators 50% pay during the school closures, while this was FOTO. https://www.lobbying.ie/return/56698/federation-of-transport-operators-foto

•NTA funding for service route providers.

•Fáilte Ireland’s €10m for coach tourism, CTTC played a huge part in the criteria which in fact is almost a carbon copy of the criteria required to join the CTTC.

It has been well documented how many honest, hard working operators within the tourism sector that will be excluded from this funding!

So I ask the small operators of Ireland, that does schools, football clubs, general private hires, concerts, hens/stags, nightclubs, what did “The Voice of Ireland’s Largest Independent Bus & Coach Companies” do for you?

What was all the information gained from “us” small guys during there surveys used for?? It looks very clear that the information gain from “us” small guys was used to strengthen the big operators, while weakening the small operators.

Remember this when they come back looking for surveys completed. What benefit did you gain from these in the past? What was your information used for? Did this information help you or your company through this pandemic?

We would like to wish all the operators who where excluded from funding all the best during these hard times. Hopefully there will be some light at the end of this dark dark tunnel soon.

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26/10/2020

This is something that is badly needed all round

The coach and private bus industry in Northern Ireland will be among beneficiaries of a 'bespoke package to provide financial assistance.'

18/10/2020

Coach funding grants

Below is the requirements put in place to fund the coach tourism industry another fine example of the CTTC looking after themselves operators need to realize that the CTTC are only looking after their members and older members at that as some of their newer members don't meet the requirements

Again this is anti competitive and creating catells as it gives the competitive edge over their competitors

And this is why they didn't want bus operators to go to protest as it would of highlighted our issue as an industry 10 millions divided by a hand full of bus operators is crazy money and infact probably would of funded them all

I also believe the wording of this was changed in the last few days for some reason there was obviously a loop hole somewhere

I think we need to be shaking some trees regarding this funding

11/10/2020

In this upcoming budget next week our government needs to help the bus and coach hire industry financially.

This can be through some of below,
Allowing Vat reclaiming or Zero rated.Increasing the current fuel rebate from 7% Reduce insurance costs.Wheel chair vehicles road tax exemption.Online Cpc Courses CPC price reduction Withdrawing the Rsa €50 charge on all CVRT.Extending the bank loan breaksLower rate business loans

These are just some of the things that would help all small licensed bus operators get through these difficult times .
There are 1721 licensed operators in the republic 80 of these are controlled and represented by the CTTC has these only represent the tour operators and do not represent any operators outside this.
The remaining operators are a mix of small to medium size businesses.



All these operators are family based and family run and employ local people.

05/10/2020

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/what-level-five-covid-19-22791892?fbclid=IwAR2_lE4qlcaJUD02I74VWM4NDMTdm08xGOMSWsYfUP2bdZPRzOfkan1mFdk

The National Public Health Emergency Team has advised the Government to move to Level Five

05/10/2020

Level 5 woold put us all back to square one again , and people would be advised to avoid public transport again just has it was back in March .
unless it is for essential work or for other "important purpose.

Will we ever get our country back to a level of certainty with covid ?

23/08/2020

How long will it take to get a response? 🤔

23/08/2020

Minister for Transport, Mr Eamon Ryan
Minister for Education, Ms Norma Foley
An Taoiseach, Mr Michéal Martin
An Tanaiste, Mr Leo Varadkar

Response: “Nphet advises Government that second level students must maintain strict social distancing while on school buses”

Dear Minister

This morning I have read an article in the Irish Independent that reads as below:

“School travel plans left in chaos after calls for distancing on buses”
“Travel planning for the new school term has been thrown into chaos after Nphet told the Government that second level students must maintain strict social distancing while on school buses.”
“For primary pupils social distancing should be maintained where possible”

As a person who is fairly knowledgeable in the field of Private School Bus Transport, I can indeed confirm that the Irish Independent are correct in stating this will cause ‘Chaos’.

Please take the time to let me explain to you, as a business in this particular industry for over 30 years, as why Social Distancing on school buses would not be feasible/ possible/ doable.

30th September 2019: Department of Education Report

559,378 Children registered for Primary school
371,445 Children registered for Post Primary School
930,823 Children attending school

Surely 930,823 parents cannot walk/ drive their children to school?
It is realistic to expect at least 50% of these pupils (465,000) will require school bus transport?


February 2020: CTTC (Coach Tourism & Travel Council) Report:

80% of Irish Fleet is owned by Private Bus Operators
1721 Private Operators – 9264 vehicles (80% of total Irish Fleet)
Public Transport - 2236 vehicles (20% of total Irish Fleet)
11,500 Buses approx In total Irish Fleet

· Even if all 11,500 buses in Ireland where used solely for school transport (which is impossible)
· Even if all 11,500 buses had a full 52 seats (which they are not all full size)
· At 50% capacity this would only give the full country 301,000 seats

2018 – Only 715 school buses were Bus Eireann Buses
Ratio of 87% private operator / 13% Bus Eireann on school Hire


Therefore if private operators conduct 87% of the service why were they not consulted directly in the planning?



Roadmap for Full return to schools

· On 27th July, the Dept Of Education “Roadmap to returning to school” as released.
· Page 33 states the following:
· Getting children to school safely has been a key part of planning for reopening schools
· In planning for normal resumption of school transport services consideration has been taken of the fact that school transport somewhat differs to public transport in that;
o School transport services are controlled environments
o Each transport service carries the same children on a daily basis to their school of attendance
o It is a restricted group of transport users which will facilitate contact tracing if required

How the above information was obtained and agreed upon without input from Nphet?
Why were private school bus operators not consulted with the planning of this particular section?


The Private Operator

· The private operator has been out of work with ZERO income since 12th March 2020
· The private operator has received ZERO state support due to being ineligible for any supports such as restart grants/ PPE gear funding
· Most private operators are now facing €10,000’s debt from 6 months of creditors invoice & loans stacking up
· Private Operators including myself have been contacting Department of Transport, Department of Education, and An Taoiseach since 30th April up until 28th July – looking for assistance and answers
· We have never once received relevant information from any of the above Departments
· When the Roadmap to return was received on 27th July, Operators then used the information in the document to start planning their return to work and in planning how to resurrect their business.

How can we now undo all the planning, cancel 50 of all the bookings, and make a living working on 50 capacity?

Working at 50% capacity – why is it not feasible:

A company has 300 students on 6 buses booked today 20.08.2020 (based on 27.07.2020 guidelines)
Changes to the 100% capacity now mean 150 can be transported on these 6 buses
What about the 50% that cannot be transported?
Do we cancel their service? Income reduced by 50%
Do we add another 6 buses & 6 drivers? Expenditure doubled?

· The private operator cannot operate at 50% capacity as they are NOT STATE FUNDED
· Having no income for the previous 6 months means there is no reserve for LOSS
· 50% capacity will NOT cover running COSTS for any operator they will operate at a loss
· Do we double the FARE for the remaining customers?
· Most operators including Bus Eireann do not have additional FLEET available to cover numbers
· There are no enough fully qualified D Licence DRIVERS, with up to date CPC, vetting to drive

Therefore if this is not a feasible option should we not, instead of scaring the nation with last minute panic & chaos, work together to ensure the very best safety for our children, support for our operators and implement a plan that allows us follow this roadmap to return to the very best of our ability in living alongside COVID19?



Minister Ryan, I really would welcome the opportunity to discuss this information with you further on behalf of each and every member of the Irish Private School Bus Operators.

Kind Regards