Left Archive: Public Transport: Keep it public or lose it to private profit, Communist Party of Ireland, 2004

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Many thanks to Orla Drohan for donating this to the Archive. It is one of a number of documents donated by her, which will be appearing in future months. 

This document issued by the Communist Party of Ireland in 2004 makes a strong case for the public control of public transport in Ireland. Divided into a number of areas – including Current government policy; Global & European Experience; Franchising; Public Ownership as the Way Forward – the pamphlet also includes Appendices. 

The Introduction offers an overview:

Transport policy should seek to maximise the movement of the lasrgtest number of passengers and goods as quickly and safely as possibly. Public transport has a key role to play in this for both environmental and social reasons. It is essential that the demand for public transport services it is not left largely or entirely to market forces and that it be the subject of state regulation and provision. It is acknowledged by many experts and supported in many studies that public ownership is the best and most efficient way to run a public transport service.

The document argues for investment, not subvention and also points to the history of franchising which it considers to be a ‘disaster’. It offers examples of ‘positive examples of public ownership’, as with Zurich, Brussels and Paris. 

In the Conclusion it points to the ‘Winners’ and ‘Losers’ from privatisation – the former being ‘private bus operators, multi-national transport companies and investors and shareholders’. The latter it argues are ‘transport workers, the general travelling public and the taxpayer.’

A striking aspect of the pamphlet are a Draft Sample Letter and a very comprehensive list of contact emails for the Members of the Oireachtas, including Senators. Also included in the Appendices is the policy position of the ICTU.