Some 14 Bus Eireann local and commuter routes face being privatised under plans being announced today by the National Transport Authority.
More than 20 Dublin Bus routes will also be opened up to competition from 2015.
Most of the contracts put out to tender will be for local routes in Waterford city and commuter services between Dublin and towns in County Kildare.
Fianna Fáil's Transport Spokesperson Timmy Dooley has been criticising the Labour Party for the proposed changes.
"I think the first thing that's very clear is that Fine Gael have outwitted the Labour Party in relation to the privatisation of bus services," he said.
"This has been something that the Labour Party have prided themselves [on] for quite some time that they would ensure that there wouldn't be a privatisation regime of the public transport service - they've obviously lost that battle."