Ms Anne Graham:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to attend. I understand the committee wishes to focus on traffic management and congestion in Galway. To assist me in dealing with their subsequent questions, I am joined by Hugh Creegan, deputy CEO with the authority.

Before dealing with the specific areas of focus, I would like to set the context by providing a brief overview of the remit of the authority in this provision and regulation of public transport services.

The remit of the NTA is to regulate and develop the provision of integrated public transport services - bus, rail, light rail and taxi - by public and private operators in the State, to secure the development and implementation of an integrated accessible transport system within the greater Dublin area, and to contribute to the effective integration of transport and land use planning across the State. In addition to its statutory responsibilities, the authority has various arrangements with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to discharge functions on its behalf.

The authority is limited in terms of producing a statutory transport strategy to the greater Dublin area. Any transport strategy produced by the NTA in any other area is on a non-statutory basis.

On the current transport trends in Galway city, the following shows the number of journeys to work and education recorded by the 2016 census for census day, and compares that data to the 2011 census data on which the Galway transport strategy was based.

In terms of the different modes, between 2011 and 2016, the walking mode increased from 11,000 to 12,000 journeys. The cycling mode grew from 2,331 to 2,987. People used cycling as their means of access to work and education. The bus mode grew by almost 25%. Between 4,000 to just over 5,000 people used buses to access work and education. Rail went from 167 down to 120 in 2016. The car mode went from 27,461 to 27,914, representing a small increase between 2011 and 2016.

As can be seen from this data, there has been an increase in the number of people walking, cycling and using buses in the five years between the censuses. That is a very positive trend in the right direction and reflects how walkable the city is in terms of its size and the investment by the NTA, Bus Éireann and City Direct in improving the bus services in the city. However, significant challenges remain to movement within the city, which prompted the NTA to develop a transport strategy with Galway City and County Councils.

Regarding the Galway transport strategy, to safeguard the future development and growth of Galway city and its role as the economic centre of the west of Ireland, it was considered important to develop a long-term transportation strategy that would complement and support the Galway City Development Plan. The Galway transport strategy was developed on a joint basis by the NTA and Galway City and County Councils as an integrated transport plan, the primary purpose of which was to co-ordinate and consolidate the planning and implementation of transport proposals in Galway.