CJH may well be maturing nicely in the manner of a Grand Crù but this little nonsense piece confirms that his ghostly ethos still wanders abroad in the Corridors of Power.
In an era where Corporate Spin is required on every facet of what should be simple management stuff what we have here is merely a Fare Increase.
Now some bright young thing in the RPA reckons that Fare Increases on top of an already high fare structure are Bad Karma to announce,so hey !! lets disguise it so that NOBODY knows what it really is.
Smoke and Mirrors,Snake Oil ....same principle applies.
The RPA,coming as they do from the Civil Service stable are creatures of habit and it can safely be assumed that some dry-oul-shyte in the Dept of Transport ran a beady eye over the figures before giving the nod to publish them.
If this outfit had any bit of committment to their own "Smart(ish) Card system or to the principle of improving operational efficiency then its announcement would have been as follows.
"THE RPA WISH TO ANNOUNCE THE FOLLOWING MAJOR INCREASES IN LUAS CASH FARES FROM 8th JAN 2007 :
ALL CASH FARES WILL NOW BE €4. ADULT €2 CHILD.
HOWEVER.................THOSE PASSENGERS WISHING TO AVAIL OF DISCOUNTED LUAS TRAVEL MAY PURCHASE PRE-PAID TICKETS OR REUSABLE LUAS SMART-CARD AND ENJOY TRAVEL AT 2005 FARES.
FOR EVEN GREATER SAVINGS CHECKOUT A TAXSAVER SEASON TICKET."
Cool eh ?
Now that would get the heaving sweating masses twittering.
Staying with the Taxsaver scheme.
This particular concept has great potential to morph into a "Universal" travel card scheme IF it were to recieve some serious input from the relevant authorities.
With almost every citizen in the State in possession of a Revenue number there is huge scope for a properly run and HEAVILY discounted National Public Transport Fare structure.
Instead we remain mired down in a mish mash of infighting as the various agencies and operators attempt to promote their own schemes in the vacuum provided by Central Government.
HOWEVER....All of the above pales into insignificance when put alongside Daves list...and item 3 in particular.
Electricity Supply Difficulties....?
I hope P11 is watching this particular Bernouli Ball........Power Supply Problems....?
Was not Luas designed from its inception as an ELECTRICALLY powered system..or am I not aware of something here?
Did William Dargan leave a hidden stash of plans for a Steam Powered Luas which was found in Heuston Stn and Modified to run on the Oul Electric ?
Was the Original Luas meant to run on the Atmospheric Principle ?
Something tells me that there`s the making of a scandal lurking here.....forget that oul missing 10 metre section...if we havent enough shillings to put in the meter we can whistle dixie !!!
