Mr. Ray Hernan:

I thank the committee for inviting my colleagues, Mr. Robert O'Mahony and Mr. John Sheridan, and me to discuss the topic of rural-based public transport, rural connectivity, and the role that Bus Éireann plays in providing those services. As the largest operator of public transport services, we recognise the key role we have and will continue to have in providing a range of public transport services outside Dublin in close partnership with key stakeholders.

Bus Éireann operates a fleet of approximately 650 buses, providing 6,500 services on more than 220 routes every day to people in towns and villages throughout Ireland. Within our road passenger network we have more than 1.2 million different origin and destination combinations, and more than 10,000 bus stops are serviced in both urban and rural settings. We provide city services in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, but we also provide town services in Sligo, Athlone, Dundalk, Drogheda, Navan and Balbriggan. We provide urban and rural services that link practically every town in Ireland, which is particularly important in locations where there is no rail link. Last year, Bus Éireann transported almost 38 million passengers on our scheduled services, while our school transport services carried in excess of 115,000 students every school day on almost 6,800 routes to more than 3,000 schools.

As a person from a rural background, I am well aware of the challenges faced every day by rural communities throughout the country and the ever-increasing level of commuting to work, college and other locations. The fundamental principles of our approach to delivering public transport is to provide a reliable and punctual service that provides value for money to our customers. Bus Éireann is not just the largest public transport provider but also a significant employer, providing direct employment to more than 2,500 employees across 17 locations. Bus Éireann works closely with its large base of suppliers in communities throughout Ireland. We contract in more than €110 million from small, locally based private transport service providers, mainly for school transport services, meaning that Bus Éireann is the largest customer of the indigenous private sector in Ireland. This school transport scheme is a very good example of rural mobility and rural modal shift, providing sustainable employment in both urban and rural settings.

We believe that there are some basic building blocks that are fundamental to the integrated backbone network of services that we provide. Each journey that begins from village to town to provincial city and possibly on to Dublin and beyond is important to us, and it is the network of services provided within available funding and resources that makes mobility possible for all our rural or urban-based passengers.

Bus Éireann services connect with a significant number of Local Link services nationwide, and I believe that the provision of improved and enhanced services will further the opportunity for greater connectivity throughout Ireland.

In the past year, Bus Éireann, with the financial support of the NTA, implemented a completely revised and enhanced town service in Athlone. Service enhancements like this have resulted in a 91% increase in passenger numbers within the first 12 months and will continue to facilitate and drive modal shift. Significant service enhancements were also implemented along the M3 corridor in quarter 3 of 2017. This year further investment will see further service enhancements in the cities of Galway, Limerick and Waterford, the towns of Drogheda and Sligo and local services in Mayo, west Cork and west Clare. The enhancements outlined, which total approximately 50 changes to frequency or entail new services, will provide new services in the next three months, will provide greater access to local educational, employment and health facilities within the wider region.

In appreciating the value of connectivity, Bus Éireann is supportive of a proposal to facilitate a "town hub and spoke" approach where Local Link would interchange into the backbone network provided by Bus Éireann. This would make best use of the NTA investment in Bus Éireann services in recent years and would be focused on increasing efficiency and effectiveness in the overall public transport offering outside Dublin. While 86% of the Bus Éireann fleet is wheelchair accessible, I acknowledge that to facilitate the further roll-out of accessible services to our passengers, further investment is required at bus stops nationwide.

Again, with the assistance of the NTA, a significant investment in fleet will result in more than 135 new vehicles entering the Bus Éireann fleet over the next 12 months. These new vehicles encompass a variety of fleet types, all of which are low floor and wheelchair accessible and will be distributed across our nationwide network, including the improvements I referenced earlier. In order to service this ongoing expansion of the national network, Bus Éireann is now at an advanced stage in a recruitment campaign that seeks to recruit an additional 190 employees, made up primarily of drivers and mechanics. These new positions will be required in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Mayo, Waterford and many other locations across the country.

Building on the steady growth of public transport usage outside the Dublin metropolitan area that has occurred in the past two to three years, Bus Éireann welcomes all initiatives that will increase public transport usage across Ireland, including the recently launched BusConnects and looks forward to its roll-out outside of the greater Dublin area, GDA, at the earliest possible opportunity.

Congestion is no longer a Dublin city issue as many regional cities and towns are experiencing longer journey times, most acutely in the morning and evening peaks. In recent years, congestion has had a significant impact on the average speed of Bus Éireann services and subsequent journey times. In order to ensure efficient journey times, timetable adherence and subsequent modal shift, it is critical that large-scale bus priority measures are put in place. That will ensure the most efficient use of our fleet while ensuring reliable journey times for our customers.

I wish to re-emphasise to the committee that Bus Éireann remains committed to providing as many inter-regional services connecting rural communities to the main population centres. This applies also to our Expressway commercial services. It will be appreciated by the members here today that we do not receive any public subsidy for providing these inter-regional and intercity services.

In summary, Bus Éireann is steadfastly committed to providing a safe and sustainable public transport service to all communities outside Dublin in partnership with the NTA and our other stakeholders. Most of these services could not operate without public subvention. In this context I welcome the increased subvention provided by the NTA in recent years and its commitment to provide further funding this year and going forward. We are aware of our responsibility, as Ireland's largest operator of public transport services, to ensure our operations are provided to the highest quality in terms of reliability, punctuality and value for money.