The National Transport Authority will this morning announce a new operator for 10 per cent of Dublin Bus routes.
It's understood that Luas operator Transdev, a number of British companies and Dublin Bus itself have applied for the franchise.
The 23 routes in question all serve suburbs in the greater Dublin area and do not go into the city centre. They include the 185 (Bray – Newtownmountkennedy), the 75 (Dún Laoghaire – Tallaght) and the 220 (Ballymun to Mulhuddart).
Some fear the move may lead to privatisation of some services, however, the NTA have denied this saying that the authority would still own the bus fleet and revenue, but would pay an external operator to run the routes.
Whoever wins the franchise will have to maintain existing bus services and no Dublin Bus employees will face redundancy.
The affected routes:
17 Rialto to Blackrock
17a Blanchardstown Centre to Kilbarrack
18 Palmerstown(Old Lucan Road)to Sandymount
33a Swords to Balbriggan
33b Swords to Portrane
45a Dún Laoghaire (Rail Station)to Ballywaltrim
59 Dún Laoghaire to Mackintosh Park
63 Dún Laoghaire to Kilternan
75 The Square Tallaght to Dún Laoghaire
76 Chapelizod to Tallaght (The Square)
76a Blanchardstown Centre to Tallaght (The Square)
102 Sutton station to Dublin Airport
04 Clontarf Road (Conquer Hill) to Santry (Shanard Road)
111 Loughlinstown Park to Dún Laoghaire
114 Ticknock to Blackrock Station
161 Dundrum Luas Station to Rockbrook
184 Bray Rail station to Newtownmountkennedy
185 Bray Railstation to Shop River (Enniskerry)
220 Ballymun (Shangan Road) to Lady's Well Road
236 Blanchardstown Centre to Damastown
238 Tyrrelstown to Lady's Well Road
239 Blanchardstown Centre to Liffey Valley Shopping Centre
270 Blanchardstown Centre to Dunboyne
