NI Railways squandering £70,000 pa on staff taxis
02 January 2012
TUV Leader Jim Allister has expressed amazement that NIR, with its own rail network, is paying out £70,000 per year on taxis for staff! The startling revelation is contained in an Assembly Answer by DRD Minister, Dannt Kennedy, in response to a question from the North Antrim MLA.
In a statement Mr Allister said:-
“Recently I have been pressing NIR as to why they are cutting back on staff on the north-west route from Belfast through Ballymena to Londonderry and downgrading other staff. Part of their explanation was that they had to make £2m of efficiency savings, yet, I now find that NIR has no qualms about squandering £70,000 per annum on taxi fares (over £1300 per week). Frankly, it beggars belief that a public utility – which runs a rail network - prefers to cut back on necessary staff, while being spendthrift on taxi fares so that some staff don’t have to travel by train.
“I note NIR tries to claim the expenditure arises from moving staff at inconvenient times. However, this is not my information. I asked this question because I became aware from within NIR of the abuse of taxi use and of the fact that staff were being moved by taxi even though there was often an available train service to transport them. So, I do not accept NIR’s excuse as accounting for most of this waste of public money.
“It is noticeable that in contrast Ulsterbus has very modest taxi expenditure. Patently, their staff are treated very differently.
“If NIR needs to make £2m savings, then, I believe a proper start would be to cut out this squander on taxis, in preference to reducing platform staff in Ballymena and Londonderry.
“I will, of course, be taking this matter up with the DRD Minister, Mr Kennedy.”
Question:
To ask the Minister for Regional Development how much Translink has spent on taxi fares for staff transport in each of the last five years; and why their own rail services are not used when appropriate.
Answer:
Translink informed me that the tables below details how much has been spent on taxi fares for staff transport in each of the last five years:
NI Railways
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11
Total £37,519 £43,605 £52,848 £53,312 £69,597
BUS
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11
Total £603 £293 £545 £366 £297
In relation to railways taxis are sometimes required to move train crews between depots (inter-depot working). Inter-depot working allows for major depots to cover smaller country depot staff requirements without the requirement for localised overtime. Employee taxi hire arises on occasions when train crews are required to be transferred from one location to another. Some of the staff involved may not drive or have access to a car. Likewise, there may not be appropriate public transport links at the time of day they require to travel, i.e. early starts/late finishes. Some depots/sign-on points are not located on public transport routes.
Equally, taxis are also used during service disruptions, such as security alerts, line closures, train failures and accidents, when there is a requirement to reinstate services promptly and ensure reliability of the timetable as far as is possible in order to minimise the impact of disruption on customers. In such instances, train crews often need to be re-positioned following completion of their shifts.
Costs relating to Bus are much lower due to the difference in the operational model. It is much easier to move vehicles and staff about than it is for trains and rail crews.
Translink argues that taxis are only used in bus and rail service provision when it is the most economically viable solution.
