Management at Dublin Bus will find out later today which bid the National Transport Authority has chosen in regards to the recent tendering process that seen a number of private operators battle it out for 10% of Dublin Bus routes.
The news which will be released later this morning will determine who will operate 23 routes in the Dublin suburbs’ later this year.
Although Dublin Bus have submitted a bid for the franchise operation it is understood they will face stiff competition from a number of other private companies including the current Luas operator Transdev, as well as a number of British bus companies.
It is widely expected the deal will be completed without any complications and Dublin Bus have agreed to the NTA’s proposals as long as the NTA agrees to retain control of the entire Dublin Bus fleet along with its revenue.
Meanwhile the NTA have said the deal will not lead to the service being privatised but instead it will pay private operators to manage the service for the particular routes on offer.
It is also understood unions such as SIPTU and the NBRU have agreed to the deal in principle.
The NTA confirmed that a number of non inner city routes will be managed by the private operator once the deal is complete.