CIE is to sit down with the National Transport Authority (NTA) to discuss fare hikes for next year. Yesterday the company published its annual report which showed journeys across Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail fell to 229 million last year. That is down by almost 3.5 million on 2011.
CIE suffered a deficit of over €43 million which was offset by pension adjustments and a one-off subvention of over €36 million.
Spokesperson Barry Kenny says no figure for fare hikes across its services have been set but they are due to sit down with the NTA to discuss the issue.
He told Breakfast here on Newstalk the company has not made an application to the NTA seeking a fare increase, at the moment.
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Mr. Kenny said CIE did see some growth at the end of last year which they are attributing to domestic stability although he admits revenues are €3.5 million down on 2011. However he has conceded that the cost-base will be re-examined this year and redundancies or even further strike action are not out of the question.
He also argued that the public transport system in Ireland is amongst the cheapest in western Europe. He has advised commuters to avail of the Leap card and taxsaver option to avoid paying fare increases implemented last year.
