The 23 routes in question link suburbs in the greater Dublin area.

The 23 routes in question link suburbs in the greater Dublin area.

Updated 8.45am

THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT Authority (NTA) will announce the preferred bidder for 10% of bus services in Dublin this morning.

The 23 routes do not serve the city centre, and instead connect different suburbs in the greater Dublin area.

The process has been ongoing for quite some time, with the NTA first announcing that certain routes would be put out to tender in 2012.

Routes currently operated by Dublin Bus that are included are the 17 (Rialto – Blackrock), 18 (Palmerstown – Sandymount), and the 45a (Dún Laoghaire – Ballywaltrim).

While a commercial business will operate the routes, the NTA will retain the revenue earned while paying the company a fee.

Unions were originally opposed to the plan, with the NBRU and Siptu expressing concerns during the original consultation process.

At the time, Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe told unions that the 10% of routes out to tender would not amount to privatisation.

Donohoe said that Dublin Bus was not being privatised and “will not be over the lifetime of this government”.

He said that the purpose of the tendering was “to secure a better service for bus users at the same cost”.

Dublin Bus consistently has by far the highest number of passenger journeys in the country, with 128 million last year – around triple the journeys on both Bus Éireann and Irish Rail.

The routes that are on the table are: