By Fergal Maddock
Thousands of Swords commuters will continue to endure rush-hour misery after the Department of Transport rejected an application from Dublin Bus to run its 41x express through the Port Tunnel.

The decision, which has taken almost a year to make, will see frustrated workers and students continue to be caught up in severe traffic congestion in the city centre.

Dublin Bus first applied last March to run some of its 41x services via the Port Tunnel but a decision was delayed pending the outcome of an application from a private operator. That proposal was given the all-clear in October and the Swords Express is now up and running.

Now four months later, the department has rejected the Dublin Bus plan, on the grounds that it would ?give rise to competition with the existing licensed service?.

Swords Community Council (SCC) described the decision as ?deeply disappointing?, adding that there was sufficient room for competition to be warranted and welcome.Competition has as its aim the benefit of consumers who in this case are the large number of Swords residents dependent on public transportation, be it publicly or privately owned, to access Dublin city via the Port Tunnel speedily each morning.?

SCC PRO James Lawless said: ?The people of Swords are frustrated by this failure to realise the potential for greater choice and increased transport services which would have accrued from greater usage of the Port Tunnel.?

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport stated that Dublin Bus had been advised that should it wish to pursue a service to compete with the private operator it would have to make a request for ministerial consent.

Deputy Joan Burton, TD for Dublin West, which now includes the River Valley area of Swords, said: ?Thousands of Swords-based commuters are suffering unnecessarily long commuting times, whether because buses have to travel all the way into and out of the airport on the way to the city centre or because they can?t use the Port Tunnel. People living in and around River Valley, for example, are faced with either persisting with a bus that takes up to half an hour longer because it can?t take the most direct route or hiking 20 minutes to Airside to take a private bus.?