Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have said this before. The NTA does surveys and will do a satisfaction survey. People have come into my office, including even this week, about a couple of services put on almost two and a half years ago and are still experiencing dissatisfaction even this week. I hope those people will come forward as well as people in other places. It is all very well saying there are 72,000 submissions but if you ignore some of the issues people raise, they do not tell you anything. All it tells you is that there are 72,000 submissions. There are people I know who are back in their cars because public transport services were reconfigured and it does not work for them. If we do not provide a service that meets people's needs, they will not choose it - certainly if it is not reliable. For example - I know them well - there has been an improvement on the 120 and 139 in terms of reliability. The problem is that some are single-decker, there is a capacity shortfall and people cannot get on. The NTA is meeting its targets but not meeting the need. There is a single-decker bus on one route and a double-decker bus on another, which may be a Dublin Bus route, with very little use. Why is there a single-decker on one route that needs a double-decker and why is there a double-decker on another route when a single-decker would do? It does not make sense. There is an issue with no-shows in the Aircoach service. Yesterday evening, for example, on the Dublin to Kilcock route, which is 35 km, the 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. buses were cancelled; they just disappeared. There have been improvements in the service but that means people will not get it. That is causing congestion. While I acknowledge improvements, the NTA does not listen when people say the service does not meet their needs, despite the NTA saying there are 72,000 submissions.