The GWU said this afternoon that it agreed with the bus service reform in principle, but said that the reform should not impose new financial burdens on users.

In a statement after a meeting of its national council, the union said it understood the need for reform so that the people could be better served, but the reform should not impose new financial burdens, and it should safeguard the interests of workers in this sector.

The union observed that as proposed, the impact of the pricing structure would depend on the frequency of use. While this could be positive, one should also not ignore social needs.

It said that as proposed, the day ticket would cost €1.40, an average increase of €0.46 every day on two trips for those who used the buses before 8 a.m.

When one considered that the cheapest ticket which could be bought for a day was €1.30, this would mean an average increase of €0.83 per trip for those who used the buses after 8 a.m. and who did not use their ticket within two hours of purchase.

This meant that workers who used the buses after 8 a,m.would see fares rise by €1.66.

The union said that one of the purposes of the reform was to encourage more people to use the buses. A decrease in fares would be felt by those who bought block tickets, with the 90-day packet having a discount of €0.94 per day. A 30-day packet would have a discount of €0.88 per day while a seven-day packet would have a discount of €0.12 per day. However in all cases, fares would be higher than the present when more than two trips per day were made.

The union said the concept of the one-way ticket should be retained so that infrequent use of the buses would not be disadvantaged. Furthermore, the block tickets should not be limited to a number of days.