Why The 2009 CIE Fare Hikes Are a Slap In The Face To Irish People

CIE Train

Well, it’s another new year, another set of fare hikes for CIE. Everything’s going up, as usual: Bus, train and Luas users are all going to have to cough up that little bit extra for the luxury of these public services. Of course, this is nothing new – it’s been happening every single new year for at least the last decade. It’s as regular as the services themselves are not.

During the Celtic Tiger years, the excuse used by CIE for putting up prices was rising fuel costs, the added pressure on services to cater for immigrant commuter workers to the country, etc etc. Well, we can see now that those excuses were a load of rubbish – the workers are leaving Ireland in droves, fuel costs are at their lowest in years, and yet the fares still make their annual leap. Not only that, but many routes are going to have their services reduced, and some will be cut altogether.

This time, the explanation is that the CIE have made massive operating losses in the last year, due to a drop in demand for services.

So, let’s be clear: This company’s reaction to making operating losses is to increase fares. Now, I’m no business acolyte, but I am familiar with the concept of common sense. And there is no common sense in CIE’s explanation. It goes against even the most basic rules of commercial interaction. You attract customers by lowering the cost to them, right? But no, this insular, state-mollycoddled service can keep putting up  fares while issuing statements that defy logic outright. Why? Because they have a monopoly. Because so many people have no choice but to use them. (And like all good monopolies, CIE hate criticism. A few years back, I wrote an article for a college magazine that lambasted their quality of service. CIE promptly contacted the college’s students union and informed them that if they continued publishing this type of disparagement, measures would have to be taken. Legal action was not directly threatened, but the state of affairs was made very clear.)

CIE Logo

It’s actually cheaper now to run a small car on a week to week basis than it is to use the bus regularly. Certainly, for longer trips, there is no comparison. The fact is that in a world suffering an environmental crisis, where almost every other first-world nation is actively encouraging its citizens to get out of the car and use public transport, Ireland is swimming furiously against the tide. Increased fares, less routes and no improvement on what is, let’s be honest, a shite service…. what are they playing at? Our Government seems determined to put more people on the already-congested roads.

Also, despite CIE’s claims that they are hemorrhaging customers, we still see comments and headlines like these:

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/cie-fare-hikes-cant-be-justified-1595255.html

or

http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2008/sep/28/irish-rail-enough-empty-trains-to-get-to-the-moon/

in which we see a glimpse of the astonishingly wasteful practices of the company. When you read reports that say “…almost 20% of the empty mileage is attributable to Iarnród Éireann’s refusal to decentralise drivers to commuter centres…”, it’s difficult to feel sympathy for the huge losses that they manage to incur. These people have no idea how to run a streamlined business, and have no incentive to learn, either. Why should they? They know that no matter how much they run the company into debt (and the national transport infrastructure into the ground) that they will be bailed out in the new year. The commuter will pay the price, simply because they have to. No heads will roll, no individual will be held accountable, and no competition will be allowed to show them up for the shambles they are.

And all of this is occurring in the most difficult economic climate the country has seen in decades, where people are struggling to even find work to pay off their debts, and in which Fianna Fail responded to a national financial crisis by rolling out a Sheriff-Of-Nottingham budget that specifically targeted the middle classes, students and the elderly – the people least likely to fight back. But these would-be-victims surprised the whole country by organising their collective anger and making a difference. Specifically, the ageing population of the country took to the streets in their droves because of the withdrawal of free medical cards. Rarely have I felt more proud to be Irish than when I read reports of government ministers being shouted down by OAPs who had had enough and were not going to take it anymore. Fianna Fail got very scared and made budget backtracks faster than anyone had anticipated.

OAP Protests

But that was a rare high point in a situation that has seen Fianna Fail try to claw money back from the most vulnerable; the very money that the government wasted in the first place and continues to waste. Instead of blatant theft, the government has simply adopted a strategy of “testing the waters”. They see how far they can go before people freak out and protest. And yes, the OAPs and students put up a fight, but look at what wasn’t protested or repealed: A new ‘levy’ of between 1 and 2% on all incomes. Increased air travel tax, now a huge 10 Euros per flight (over 300km).  Alcohol tax is up there with the highest in Europe, and general VAT rates went up. So, when huge crowds of Irish shoppers crossed the border to the North to do their shopping with the much fairer UK rates, they were rebuked by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who said:

“When you shop in Northern Ireland, you’re paying Her Majesty’s taxes, you’re not paying taxes to the state that you live in.”

That’s right, folks – it’s your patriotic duty to get robbed. Forget about the myriad bank executives who receive little more than a slap on the wrist for deeply irresponsible – and often, illegal – financial activities. Forget the black hole of public funding that is the Health Service Executive. Forget the fact that Hoffa-esque unions have held this country to ransom for decades, and that noone in government has the guts to do a thing about it. Forget all that, because once you cross the border to actually get value for your money, you become a veritable dissident.

Funnily enough, “patriotic duty” was also the weak reasoning behind Fianna Fail’s campaign to get the Lisbon Treaty passed. Rather than present any cogent arguments, they told the country that it was our civic obligation to (a) not ask questions and (b) tick the ‘yes’ box. This “just shut up and do it” attitude extended to the point where Cowen admitted that he had not read the entire text of the Treaty.

And yet, in this catalogue of monumentally selfish and cavalier actions, the worst still seems to me the CIE price hike. Why? Because it targets the people who have no choice. Because CIE can’t come up with a single good excuse for their actions. Because every other country in Europe has a transport system that is at least somewhat affordable and dependable. Because, as someone told me the other day, the ticket machine in Cork Bus Station does not accept 50 Euro notes – and often, neither do the drivers. Because it’s an insult those of us who do our bit for the environment. Because it exemplifies the quagmire of bureaucracy and non-responsibility that has helped send this country into a recession. Because this shambles of a company, this paradigm of wastefulness and arrogance, continues to exist only because it exploits the people who have no choice but to use it. Worst, because it seems the most like a  slap in the face.

How can a government expect the citizens of a country to do anything for them in the name of ‘Patriotic Duty’ when there is so little patriotism being shown by the government themselves?

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How To End The Carnage On Irish Roads

The Irish media has been inundated over the last few days with debate about how to deal with the dangerous driving on our country’s roads.

This has been prompted by a weekend of utter carnage in which eight people lost their lives; five men, one woman and two children. And though this is a particularly high statistic for a single weekend, it is by no means surprising; we have become accustomed to hearing about horrendous crashes and loss of life on an almost daily basis. From time to time we may wonder just how this could happen as consistently as it does. But to anyone who actually drives on these roads, the only shocking thing about the statistics is that they are not higher.

A few weeks ago I drove from Cork to Dublin to see a gig. The 3 1/2 hour drive was a horribly stressful experience. As is acknowledged daily on the national media, Irish motoring is treacherous at best. I use my car pretty much every day, and I regularly drive from Cork to Kerry. But it takes a good long journey to Dublin to really demonstrate just how bad things really are. So, I’ve decided to share with you some observations based on that trip and other experiences in the last few months.

1) The speed limits are a gentle suggestion, rather than a law. Nobody takes heed of them. If you drive at the speed limit, you will be overtaken by almost every car behind you. Fact. Not only that, but you will be invariably tailgated for miles while intolerant drivers wait for that window of opportunity to tear past you.

2) There are scumbags all over the roads driving tin missiles at ridiculous speeds. Paint me pink bigoted polka dots, but I am sick and tired of being p.c. when it comes to this issue. I am all for an inclusive society, but let’s not keep out minds so open that our brains fall out. To me, some scobe in a Honda Civic crashing at 140 kmph into an oncoming car is the same as some scobe murdering an innocent passerby with a screwdriver. These people don’t care about the consequences of their actions, how easily what they are doing can end in the wanton destruction of human life. They don’t care because it hasn’t been taught to them – and even if they do mow down some innocent pedestrian, they know perfectly well that it will be treated as a motor “accident” rather than manslaughter or murder in a court. A fine, then jail for a few months, maybe a few years. So what?

3) Just to provide an example of the above: On the way to Dublin, we stopped at the house of an acquaintance. While there, an unknown friend of that friend arrived into the house and announced, proudly, that he had just been racing a new car. “That was fastest I ever drove”, he said, “150 mph”. Just to reiterate, folks: that’s One Hundred and Fifty Miles per hour. On the main Cork to Dublin road. Now, why would this idiot walk into a room and say something like that? Simply, because he knows that he can. And that’s the typical Irish attitude; if you can get away with it, then it’s acceptable. It’s a little anecdote to share with others, even people you’ve just met.

4) Irish motorists take the stupidest risks on a regular basis. Aside from the aforementioned tailgating, the most common is overtaking at totally inappropriate places, not to mention speeds. Driving home to Kerry from Cork yesterday, my sister and I both saw, within five minutes of each other, two near-collisions on the main Cork-Mallow road. Both were approaching bends in the road, and both doing at least the speed limit. The first one, in particular actually had to swerve at the last second to avoid ploughing into oncoming traffic. And you know what? Noone blew their horns, everyone carried on as normal. Why? Because this reckless behaviour IS normal on Irish roads. This happens all the time. It is common knowledge that if you drive certain routes, you are guaranteed to see people driving like maniacs.

There is a very simple solution to all of this. And it bypasses the whole debate over whose fault it is – the RSA’s, the drivers themselves etc. Because at this point, all that is moot. The simple solution is this.

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Ready? Here we go.

UNMARKED CARS.

Let me explain with another example. On that same stretch of road I just mentioned (Cork – Mallow), there actually was a garda presence yesterday. And it was this: A big white Garda car parked on the side of the road, barely hidden, and blatantly visible at least about 5-10 seconds before actually passing it. The SUV that had just passed me out, doing about 130 kmph, slowed down to the speed limit as it passed. About 30 seconds later it had accelerated to its original speed and soon vanished from view. That Garda car being there was totally useless. And even if he gets three penalty points and a fine, so bloody what? He can still get back in his SUV and drive away, safe in the knowledge that the odds of actually being caught again are miniscule.

If the Gardai stopped driving around in stripy white cars with the word GARDAI emblazoned across the front of it, maybe – just maybe – they’d have more chance of actually catching people breaking the law, don’t you think? Because, let’s face it, the methods they are using at the moment are all but useless.

Why, for the love of God, don’t they just go out in unmarked cars? This simple move, implemented on a wide enough basis, would have a massive impact on drivers’ behaviour. At the moment, if you speed all the way through your road trip and don’t encounter one of those big white cars, you know you’re grand. There are no repercussions whatsoever for your behaviour, and you will do it again. It becomes habit, as does all the aggression and impatience that you’ll feel when stuck behind someone actually obeying the limit.

But if that car you just overtook at 140kmph suddenly hits sirens and flashing lights, pulls you over and spits out a pair of pissed-off cops who have caught you red-handed in the act of endangering the lives of other motorists (or even if you saw this happening to someone else) – you would seriously think twice about doing it again. If there’s even the vaguest possibility that the guy in front of you doing the limit is a cop, you might at the very least wait for a safe place to overtake.

The debates raging in the media about rolling out speed cameras, making drink driving laws more strict, enforcing provisional licences etc are all basically, distractions. And Fianna Fail badly needs these distractions at the moment, because the entire transport infrastructure in this country is a complete joke. In this country, if you have to get from A to B within a certain time, then you drive. The buses are totally unreliable, expensive and the drivers are often petty little Hitlers who could care less for the people they are transporting. The train service is even worse; they are prohibitively expensive, you are not guaranteed a seat, and the service has known to actually take longer to reach their destination than buses on the same route. That’s defying the laws of physics.

These services only survive because they are government-subsidised and have a total monopoly on the industry. They go on strike whenever they want, at the drop of a hat. Hey, they even decided to pull one over the weekend! From The Belfast Telegraph:

“Iarnrod Eireann has had to cancel more services this afternoon due to unofficial industrial action by some train drivers. Ten commuter trains operating on lines through Connolly Station have been cancelled due to the action, which relates to a dispute over rosters. This morning’s 6.30am Portlaoise to Dublin train and this evening’s 5.30pm service from Dublin to Carlow had already been scrapped as a result of the row.”

“A dispute over rosters“. I think that almost every person I know who has ever worked in shift jobs has experienced disputes over rosters. But they didn’t deal with it by going on strike, because the irresponsibility of doing so would have lost them their jobs. “Unofficial industrial action” basically means that these guys can do whatever they want, whenever they want. And the government allows them to do so with impunity. There is no responsibility, no regulation, no accountability for anyone. For Christ’s sake, is it even possible for one of these guys to get fired?

I don’t mean to seem facetious. Indeed, all of this would be funny if it weren’t so intimately connected to the carnage on our roads. People are avoiding using public transport, with good cause, and this means more and more cars on our streets, roads and motorways. And the total lack of effective motor law enforcement means that the CIE credo of “no responsibility, no regulation, no accountability” swells to embrace the dangerous drivers who know that nobody will police their actions.

Because without actual physical Garda presence on the roads, in a capacity that actually puts the fear of getting caught into people, nothing will change – absolutely nothing. It is the attitudes of motorists that need to be addressed. Graphic advertisements don’t work. News reports don’t work. The Gardai have to do their jobs as protectors of the peace and get out there and start catching dangerous drivers in the act.

And if using subterfuge is the most effective way to achieve that, then so be it.