Scott gets response on Bus Connects

I’ve written to GoAhead every day this week following a huge number of complaints about the new Bus Connects roll out.

Particularly relating to huge delays in journey time and buses disappearing from the schedule.

I received a response today, which lays the blame on a lack of mechanics and complications by seasonal illness. While I accept there will be teething problems with any new service, this lack of planning is unacceptable.

If there was a shortage of personnel available to run an efficient service, why was the service rolled out?

Here’s the response I finally got from GoAhead’s public rep…

Dear Cllr. Scott,

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the L2 route and the reports of service disruption. We appreciate that your constituents have raised their concerns with you, and it is our goal to resolve this issue in a timely manner.

Currently, services related to route L2 are being affected by a shortage in mechanics, which has a knock-on effect on maintenance and vehicle availability for service. This skills shortage is sector wide and is also impacting other transport service operators nationally. This overall issue has been further complicated by seasonal illnesses.

To address this capacity issue, we have been working with third-party agencies regarding ongoing recruitment and furthermore, are launching a refreshed recruitment campaign in the Greater Dublin Area, offering a comprehensive and competitive package for candidates. We have seen a significant increase in applications for the role of HGV Mechanics since the new year.

Disruptions to our reactive maintenance impacts service users and we want to apologise for the current circumstances. We appreciate your patience while we navigate and resolve this challenge.

The feedback from your constituents is vital to ensuring that we are able to operate the most reliable and regular services for the most people possible, and we will share these insights with our Operations Team. Above all else, we are dedicated to maintaining open channels of dialogue with elected representatives as well as with passengers, and should any additional information come to light, please share it with us on email here.

Once again, thank you for bringing this to the attention of the Go-Ahead Ireland team, and should you require any further information or assistance please contact the aforementioned email.

Kind regards,
Adam Harvey
Public Representative Team

It is incredibly disappointing as we are poorly served by public transport in Greystones. Bus Connects is an opportunity to improve this, but is falling far short at the moment.

I will continue to write to Go Ahead and encourage people to also report any issues to 0818294015.