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Results of tender for Waterford city bus routes due

Results of tender for Waterford city bus routes due

The National Transport Authority will reveal this afternoon who will operate bus services in Waterford City.

A tender process was announced earlier this year for the routes currently operated by Bus Éireann.

Bus Éireann was entitled to tender for the Waterford routes, but if a private operator wins out, it will face issues relating to surplus staff, buses and depots in the area.

It is part of a Government commitment to open 10% of bus routes to those in the private sector.

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Waterford City bus driver Darren Ryan said the Tramore route would be kept, but the routes affected are the 601, 602, 603, 604 and 605 services.

He said a private operator might do a good job, "but we don't know what they're going to do, at least with Bus Eireann you know exactly what you have and we're going to accept your passes and our fares are always reasonable, but with a private company profit will always be first in their minds".

Waterford is the first of such tenders for commuter services with another round of tenders expected early next year for commuter services between Dublin and Kildare.

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