Mr. Peter Lunden-Welden:

I thank the committee for its invitation to attend today. I am delighted to be here because I have been managing director of Transdev, the Luas operator, since June 2017. I have previous history with Luas and Dublin as I had a small part in the original Luas mobilisation team, as operations manager, back in 2004. I have spent the intervening years as chief executive officer of Seoul Metro in South Korea.

For the benefit of the committee members I would like to give you a brief overview of Luas and Transdev's involvement with it since the launch in 2004. Luas is a state-of-the-art light rail transit system that provides an accessible, attractive and unique mode of public transportation in Dublin. Transdev is contracted by the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to operate the Luas. The contractual arrangement within Luas effectively requires the NTA and TII to provide the infrastructure and the trams and Transdev to deliver the operation using these assets. Transdev is a worldwide organisation with expertise in operating transport systems, including light rail, metro, buses, shuttles and taxis. I wish to stress that we consider Luas in Dublin as one of our flagship light rail operations. Transdev has been operating Luas since the commencement of services in 2004 and successfully renewed the operating contract in 2014. In 2005, the first year of full operation, Luas carried approximately 22 million passengers. In 2017 Luas carried 37.6 million.

This increase emphasises the remarkable success the light rail system has had in the Dublin area. In fact, there has been a further 16% increase in passengers from January 2017 to January 2018.

We believe that light rail is an integral part of transportation in Dublin. Transport planning is critical to achieving growth in public transportation and crucial for the medium and long-term development of Dublin city. The definitive plan, design and construction of the College Green and how it is integrated within a functional Dublin city is not within Transdev's scope or control. Luas is only one factor of this complex equation and we work in partnership with all the city stakeholders, including Dublin Bus, NTA, TII and DCC, to achieve the optimal travel times around College Green and across the red and green Luas lines.

However, crossing Dublin city centre in a tram linking north to south is a transport option to be welcomed. The challenges that are being posed require some refinement and alignment for all stakeholders to address. While there remains some issues at present, I am convinced these issues can be addressed soon.

This concludes my short statement. I also am happy to take questions from the committee.