Mr. Tim Duggan:

I am obviously not doing my job well enough because I believe an impression has built up that private operators are not engaging with and allowing the use of the free travel pass. Nothing could be further from the truth. I said in my opening statement that there are 80 private operators participating in the free travel scheme. Of those, 60 are bus companies. Of those, only three are public service obligation route operators. This means there are 57 operators running privately licensed routes around the country that are accepting the free travel pass in full. Therefore, the scheme is being supported by private operators throughout the country.