Hooray for the C&AG.
And I think the blame game doesn't help anyone. The buck for this really has to stop with the Department of Transport and the relevant Minister: if there was a problem between the RPA and DB/IE/BE -- it was up to the DoT to step in.
What really really annoys me is that public transport already has too low a priority in politics, and wastages like this will improve nobody's appetite for continued public transport investment.
Nobody comes out looking good out of this, but Ministers O'Rourke, Brennan and Cullen deserve special mention for overseeing such a mess. Alas, I've no hope that with a change of government that things would be any better -- witness the relative silence on the opposition benches since 2002. Sure, Olivia Mitchell came out a few times and asked why wasn't it implemented yet, but nobody in her office bothered to carry out some basic research into the issue.
Despite the RPA's finger-pointing, they really do have to take a lot of blame for this issue too. The tendering process was totally fecked up, ending in everyone pulling out.
Why oh why they couldn't have
1. Agreed revenue-sharing rules between existing providers, which would also apply to new entrants
2. Tart up the existing (identical) luas and rail ticket machines to offer cross-network tickets
3. Agree specs for a smart card system, based on existing standards that multiple operators could provide
They brought out a trial on Morton's Coaches, then did a system for the Luas. Now you'd think they'd make the two compatible, right? Nope. Pointless whinging about people not playing fair when you don't have your own house in order.
Mind you, given the daily inability for Irish Rail planning staff to be customer-focused, it wouldn't at all surprise me if at least some of the foot-dragging accusations against IE were true.
I have a bit of sympathy for both the CIE companies and the RPA however, in the sense that they both have had muppets for bosses for a very long time.
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