A MAJOR Irish bus service is being forced to axe journeys after a shortage of drivers is set to have huge impacts. Aircoach, a popular bus service that connects Dublin Airport to the city centre among other areas, has been forced to cancel certain journeys. They service has apologised for "service disruptions" and claimed they are experiencing a shortage of drivers across the industry.
The company has now cancelled a number of services on the 700, 701 and 702 routes which travel to north Wicklow and south Dublin. They said in a post online: "Our Dublin and Wicklow (700/701/702) routes are experiencing some short-term service cancellations. Though temporary, this situation is regrettable, and we recognise and apologise for the inconvenience caused.
" Four services on the Dublin to Wicklow routes were cancelled on Monday, while 17 are cancelled today and another 12 are set to see cancellations tomorrow. It is understood that there has been issues among drivers when it came to their new rosters last month. Siptu negotiators have been reported to have recommended taking an offer of a 4.
8 per cent pay rise from the company. Aircoach said it has now finished discussions with Siptu and said there was a positive engagement during the talks. Aircoach told Extra.
ie: "We are actively pursuing an intensive recruitment drive to restore services to normal as swiftly as possible." Despite recent cancellations, earlier this month, Aircoach increased their number of journeys this summer "in re.