Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. It is great to get an opportunity to discuss issues with them. Coming from a rural area in Galway, we have issues with school transport, which is a major bugbear. One issue that comes up frequently is that when a new school is built, it distorts all the school transport rules and families end up being split as a result of that. That is not helping the students in terms of their education. We need to take a common-sense approach to that issue. I hope that, working together with the Department of Education and Skills, we can come up with sensible answers to address the problem.

Senator O'Sullivan mentioned rail freight. I would also like to know what is happening with the Ballina to Waterford line.

The other issue the Senator raised was the type of buses being used by Bus Éireann. It will add 135 new buses. Are they diesel buses? If not, what type of buses are they? Is Bus Éireann moving towards the new thinking in that area, which we have not implemented here yet, which is to do with carbon saving and more efficient buses in terms of maintenance?

On the Local Link service, I am glad to see that the other five Local Link groups have put in their submissions. One of the reasons I have a concern about rural transport links is that they are not being properly resourced. They are taking on more areas. I am concerned that Bus Éireann is now talking about the new procurement programme, which will place a huge workload on the Local Link manager. In many cases, they are managing the service themselves because they have no staff. We can cod ourselves all day about everything we are doing but we have to provide the Local Link groups with the proper resources. I recall that on the previous occasion the witnesses were before the committee they mentioned that the NTA uses a system whereby buses co-ordinate with rail services or whatever. That software is not available to Local Link operators but it should be to help them in terms of the planning. I was told that would be looked at but we need to put it in place.

On rural transport, Bus Éireann has Dublin to Galway bus link or local bus links but the problem is that the pick-up points are so far apart, people use their cars to drive to the bus stop but when they get there, they keep going. They do not bother using the bus. There seems to be a conservative approach to setting up new bus stops quickly. I am aware that private operators have also had the problem of trying to get additional bus stops or additional routes licensed. However, the approach to the application of that is fragmented in that they have to go to the local authority and here, there and everywhere. We need to tighten that up because we want to take people off the roads, out of their cars and on to public transport.

I have a question about Galway city and the provision of commuter rail services into the city from towns such as Tuam and Athenry.

Galway city is congested. Despite what has been done to try to resolve this, apart from the outer bypass, buses still cannot drive over the bridge. Buses do not go that route, which is mind-boggling. They cannot go that route for whatever reason and this has been the case for years. They cannot go from, say, Newcastle across the bridge to the Headford Road and then on to Parkmore. They must go through the city. The other thing that is wrong, and which we need to put right collectively, is that we talk about providing park-and-ride facilities, but the big obstacle to local authorities doing so is that we do not have the bus lane network to make the buses run more efficiently within the city. The net result is that people from Loughrea, Gort and Tuam drive into the city, clogging up the place to go to work and spending perhaps three or four hours in their cars every day, when there is a solution. The problem is that no one is taking this by the scruff of the neck. The NTA needs to do this, bring all the agencies together and say we have a problem, this is the solution, and how are we going to do it?

One fine example of this is the bus lane into Claregalway village. It has been in place for seven or eight years. the former Minister, Mr. Noel Dempsey opened it a number of years ago, and that is neither today nor yesterday. We have been talking since then about developing a bus lane from Claregalway right into the city at Two Mile Ditch. This has not happened and still does not seem to be happening, although it is on everyone's agenda.

Mr. Hernan referred to a "town hub and spoke". What does that mean? For instance, Tuam a railway station is on a 13-acre site. It could be a fine park-and-ride facility if a commuter rail link or bus services between Tuam and Galway were opened. Could that be a "town hub and spoke"?