There has been an angry reaction in Cork to the news that 20% of the fleet reduction will be from Capwell which is to loose 30 buses (at least the space issue will be sorted) and no word on job losses as yet however SIPTU believes this could be as many as 60 of Capwells 560 staff , this will mean that Capwell will suffer the company's biggest cuts.
This basically means that we will now not get the extra 30 buses promised under T21 and will instead have 30 buses taken away (total loss of 60 buses post T21).
The reduction is to be complete by the end of Febuary , there is also mounting speculation that the hiring in of private sector coaches will end in Cork thereby creating the potential for further job losses locally.
On the other hand the last few days have seen a frenzy of enquires to the motor trade which despite starting the year down has had its busiest few days since the start of 2000 , the driving test centers has also been swamped with applications for licences in recent days and the private transport sector has also had a surge in enquires in recent days (in a traditionally quiet month) as it seems Bus Eireanns customer base is prepared to abandon it en-masse in the face of an already pathetic service getting even worse.