Mr. Gerry Madden:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for their invitation to attend to discuss a vision for transport for the greater Dublin area as it relates to Luas and Transdev.

Firstly, I wish to give the committee an overview of Luas and Transdev's involvement in Luas since its launch in 2004. Luas is a light rail tram system operating in Dublin with two main lines serving the south and west of Dublin city, namely, the red line and the green line. It is a key part of the city’s transport infrastructure that is easily accessible to all passengers. The red line is 20 km in length and has 32 stops. It runs from Tallaght-Saggart to The Point-Connolly. The green line is 16.5 km in length and has 22 stops. It runs from Brides Glen to St. Stephen's Green through Sandyford. Transdev operates Luas under contract to the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. The current contract will expire in the fourth quarter of 2019. Transdev revenue is through the Luas operating contract only and is, for the most part, fixed. It is a performance-based contract according to which the failure to meet or exceed minimum levels of service results in financial penalties. Transport Infrastructure Ireland retains the Luas fare box revenue. It is a privilege for Transdev, along with Luas maintenance contractors, to operate a safe, reliable form of public transport carrying almost 90,000 passengers on average per day. Transdev has 290 staff including tram drivers, revenue protection staff, traffic supervisors and administration staff who are extremely dedicated, hardworking and passionate about delivering a safe and reliable customer service. Transdev has been operating Luas since commencement of services in June 2004 and successfully renewed the operating contract in 2014. In its first full year of operation, 2005, Luas carried approximately 22 million passengers. In 2015, Luas carried 34.6 million passengers, the increase emphasising the remarkable success the light rail system has had in the greater Dublin area. Since 2004, Luas has opened three extensions, and Transdev is in mobilisation for Luas Cross City, which is scheduled to open in late 2017. Luas Cross City will integrate north-west Dublin city into the Luas network, connecting areas such as Cabra and Phibsborough to the south and west of Dublin city. Luas Cross City is projected to add an additional 10 million passenger journeys per year on the newly extended network. In addition to the Luas Cross City works, new trams are scheduled for delivery commencing in 2017, along with an extension of the existing green line trams.

Transdev is a worldwide expert in the operation of transport systems including light rail, buses, shuttles and taxis. It is our view that any vision for transport for the greater Dublin area would include a number of key objectives, which I will now outline. The streets of Dublin should be decongested of road vehicular traffic. Getting people out of their cars and using alternative transport is one of the key challenges. Achieving this will bring significant benefits across all stakeholders in the Dublin area. There should be a simple but robust multimodal public transport model including the necessary infrastructure. Encouraging people to use public transport is only the beginning of the process. Once a new passenger uses public transport, delivering a solution that is safe, easy to access, repeatable and delivers a high quality customer experience is key to convincing the passenger that public transport is a better option than the car. There should be effective management of sustainable solutions to deliver the above. The adoption of the New York Agreement on sustainable development goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change, both in 2015, provide ambitious, legally binding frameworks for global action on sustainability and climate change. In addition, Ireland has taken a national policy position that commits us to reducing 1990 levels of carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050 across the electricity generation, built environment and transport sectors. The vision for transport in Dublin can positively affect Ireland's goals in achieving these targets. Transdev strongly believes that in order for Dublin to be seen as a world-class transport provider, this requires all stakeholders to work collaboratively and to share best practice and key learnings. We are delighted to be members of the transport integration group set up and run by the National Transport Authority and we already see the benefits of having key transport providers sitting at the same table exploring ideas, sharing potential solutions to common challenges and challenging each other's thinking in a mature and collaborative manner. We are keen to extend into the new areas we are entering with Luas Cross City, building on established partnerships through working in the communities and in particular supporting local initiatives, schools, charities, etc. We continue to work with other key stakeholders to help us manage major events in Dublin - for example, the Garda, the Dublin Fire Brigade and local communities.

Moving on to 2017, despite the negative publicity we received in the first half of 2016, we have great people working for us. Everyone here is well aware of the very difficult year 2016 has been for all the team at Transdev. We were fortunate to have had the leadership of the State industrial relations services to help us reach an agreement signed up to by management and the trade union. This agreement provides us with a great platform to move forward together. We acknowledge that some relationships got strained in the heat of the dispute. However, mending these has been, and will continue to be, a key priority for me and my leadership team working in partnership with the trade union and all our people. Luas Cross City going live in 2017 is the perfect opportunity for all involved in Luas to show we are a world leader in public transport services, and with great people on board we will be very proud to launch passenger services in late 2017, bringing an additional 10 million journeys to public transport.

I thank the committee and I am happy to take questions as they arise.