Go-Ahead awarded Outer Dublin Metropolitan Area bus contract

The Go-Ahead Group has been chosen by Ireland’s National Transport Authority (NTA) to operate bus services in the Outer Dublin area.

The contract, which is the first open tender process run by the NTA, comprises 24 routes, 125 buses and around 350 drivers.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to work in partnership with the National Transport Authority to deliver a vital service to people living and working in and around Dublin,” said Go-Ahead Chief Executive, David Brown. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to work in partnership with the National Transport Authority to deliver a vital service to people living and working in and around Dublin. Ireland’s economic growth and planned public transport investments offer an exciting opportunity for us as we execute our strategy of targeted expansion into new markets.

“Drawing on expertise in employee engagement and customer experience gained in cities like London and Singapore, we will provide a service that links communities and takes care of people’s journeys.”

Go-Ahead was selected as preferred bidder under a competitive public procurement process. Under this process the Most Economically Advantageous Tender is identified through detailed assessment which includes a weighted score for price and quality.

The weighting ratio between quality considerations and price considerations was 35:65. This was considered by the NTA as the best fit for this competition.

“This is ultimately about improving bus services for Dublin and NTA is confident that passengers will benefit from this decision,” added Chief Executive of the National Transport Authority Anne Graham. “We believe that a new operator in the market will bring a fresh dimension to the way that services are offered. Introducing new providers encourages everybody to focus on their customers’ needs and it encourages innovation and improvements to service quality.

“Under the provisions of the tender, not only will service levels on the routes in question be maintained, they will actually be increased by about 35%. So passengers in areas served by these routes have absolutely no reason to worry about this change. Matters such as fares, frequency and scheduling for the service will all be set by the NTA, and not the operator.

“The contracting model that we are putting in place is the same as the arrangement that we have had in place for years for Luas. Luas is owned by the state and run by Transdev. These routes will be owned by the state and run by Go-Ahead.

“It is also important to note that there is no threat to the Dublin Bus company, or to its workers arising from this decision. There will be no redundancies in Dublin Bus associated with the result of this tender competition.

“As Go-Ahead begins to operate these routes and as Dublin Bus withdraws, the NTA will be building on the frequency of the remaining Dublin Bus routes, something that is needed to meet growing demand. The details, timing and sequencing of these improvements will be a matter for discussion between Dublin Bus and NTA, but there’s absolutely no reason why these changes could not take place in parallel with the transfer of routes to Go-Ahead.”

The contract will run for five years, from late 2018, with a possible two-year extension.