Ms Miriam Hughes:

I thank the committee members for their time and attention today. I have been asked by the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to accept this position and it is my privilege to attend the committee as chairperson designate of Bus Éireann. I look forward to sharing perspectives with the committee on how we can continue to grow and widen access to public transport for all in Ireland.

I will begin by telling the committee a little about myself. I was appointed to the board of Bus Éireann in 2019. Since I joined I have, in addition to my normal duties, served as a member of the audit and risk committee, been chair of the safety and accessibility committee and been a member of the sustainability committee and the overall strategy committee. Prior to this, I was CEO of DDFH&B, which is Ireland's largest communications group. Over 17 years, I led this business through significant growth and transformation and radical business changes. Until recently I was chair of Barnardos Ireland. I am a mentor on the Enterprise Ireland panel. I am a non-executive director of Eir and a non-executive director at Pluto, which is a creative agency. I am a graduate of UCD with a B.Comm and an MBS in marketing. I have served as president of the Marketing Institute of Ireland. I was a member of the Dublin Chamber council and the Irish Management Institute council, and I was chair of the Association of Advertisers in Ireland. These experiences have all been very beneficial. They provide me with a strong background to build on Bus Éireann’s great heritage and work to make it more progressive and customer-focused, delivering real value for the State.

Members are all very familiar with Bus Éireann but for completeness I will provide a brief overview of the company. Bus Éireann was established in 1987 as Ireland's national bus company. The company operates city services for Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, town services for Athlone, Balbriggan, Drogheda, Dundalk, Navan and Sligo, and rural and regional services. These are all under contract with the National Transport Authority, NTA. Despite changes in commuting and travel patterns arising from Covid-19, with the numbers badly affected, we anticipate future growth given the NTA's transformative strategies, including Connecting Ireland and BusConnects in Cork, with Galway, Limerick and Waterford to follow.

It is encouraging to note that many of our PSO services in regional cities and towns have already recovered. We are probably up to approximately 80% of pre-pandemic passenger numbers. Overall, I am optimistic about passenger growth. Bus Éireann will have to compete for many of its contracts but fundamentally I believe these plans will radically improve public transport provision throughout the country and can be achieved within a comparatively short and cost-effective implementation phase.

Bus Éireann also runs a commercial business, Expressway, on 14 intercity and interregional routes. Notwithstanding the collapse in passenger numbers that occurred during the pandemic, and in recognition of its essential service for essential workers who in the main had no alternative form of transport, we continued to operate Expressway routes throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

This commitment by the board significantly impacted the reserves of the company, but following approval of a new plan, we are now implementing actions to ensure these 14 routes are sustainable. Our focus now is on rebuilding this business and increasing customer confidence. Major markets, such as third level education and airport travel, diminished significantly over the past two years, but thanks to Government support for commercial operators, granted through the National Transport Authority, NTA, Expressway has survived and customers are returning. We have probably reached about 75% of pre-pandemic levels.

Last, but by no means least, Bus Éireann operates the school transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education, a commitment dating to the scheme's inception in 1967. This is the largest school transport scheme in Europe, with 122,000 children being brought to and from school every day. Many members will be acutely aware of just how vital this service is, especially in rural Ireland, and of the important role it plays in reducing car journeys, congestion and facilitating workforce participation for parents. The school transport scheme is just as relevant to society today as it was in 1967, though for different reasons. We look forward to contributing positively to the Department of Education's review of the scheme currently under way and to bringing this scheme to many others.

What does all this mean? Putting all the elements together, Bus Éireann operates the most extensive and varied public transport network in the country. In 2019, we facilitated 89 million passenger journeys. We covered 82 million km directly and subcontracted a further 110 million km, and these journeys were delivered by our 2,700 valued employees. It is appropriate to take a moment to commend especially our customer-facing staff for the commitment they displayed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in maintaining the availability of transport to so many. This is a great responsibility. Bus Éireann has set itself the goal of being the most customer-focused and sustainable public transport company in Ireland. Real transformation is under way in every part of this company, as well as a modal shift in how we provide transport for Ireland.

There could not be a more exciting time to be in public transport. Positive change is coming on many fronts, and public transport offers solutions to some of Ireland's most urgent and critical priorities. These include the climate action plan and Ireland’s international obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; the national development plan objectives, including compact growth, enhanced regional accessibility, strengthened rural economies and communities, sustainable mobility, the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient society and access to quality childcare, education and healthcare; improving air quality in cities and towns; and, not least, improving well-being and quality of life for people throughout Ireland.

Technological innovation is a major agenda for us. This will see us move from a fleet of vehicles with diesel-fuelled internal combustion engines to a fleet of zero and low emission vehicles powered by electric, hydrogen and hybrid engines. This will require new training for 300 craftworkers and a major reconfiguration at our depots, as well as more sophisticated management information systems. Bus Éireann is also working in a focused way to make up for years of underinvestment in information technology. A large-scale new booking system has been rolled out on Expressway routes, major transformation projects, funded by the NTA, are under way, and we see enormous opportunities flowing from the introduction of new ticketing technology to our vehicles, particularly in the context of the school transport scheme.

There are always challenges to be faced. As a bus operator, our vehicles must share the roads safely with other users, including cyclists, pedestrians, scooter users and private cars. Congestion is a major challenge for us operationally, especially the lack of enforcement of laws to prevent people parking at bus stops. Additionally, there are only 30 km of bus lanes outside Dublin. Attitudes and behaviours must shift to enable buses to offer ultra-reliable, frequent and punctual services. This, in turn, will help people to choose to use the bus in preference to their cars. Fuel prices are a concern as well, bringing greater impetus to our transition to a zero and low emission fleet. While Bus Éireann was fortunate to have hedging in place for part of our fleet, we are extremely conscious of the impact of higher fuel prices on the general economy. Cost-of-living pressures are a major challenge. We also hope, however, to bring a focus in this context to public transport as being a practical, reliable and genuine alternative to owning a car, especially in regional cities and towns.

As chairperson of Bus Éireann, I will mainly focus on three things. The first is achieving financial stability and ensuring the company can plan for and invest in the future. To a great extent, Bus Éireann is a purpose-led organisation, but providing best-in-class customer experience, safety and sustainability requires continual investment and a longer time horizon to allow resource planning and investment in our fleet and facilities. Second, we will support the NTA's ambitious plans for BusConnects in the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, as well as in transforming rural public transport through the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan. These are step changes in the delivery of public transport, and Bus Éireann will be ready with the people, technology and systems to bring them into operation as smoothly and quickly as possible. Finally, we commit to delivering on Bus Éireann’s 2030 sustainability goals. These are broad, including climate action, a continuing focus on being a great place to work, having a strong customer focus, improving diversity and inclusion and increasing the accessibility of our services to people with disabilities, as well as, of course, developing the organisation and maintaining our corporate governance standards.

I am honoured to have been chosen for this role. Public transport matters more than ever. Bus Éireann’s services, and our people who deliver them, can make an enormous impact on communities throughout the country. I look forward to working with all our stakeholders to deliver high standards of excellence throughout our business and to expand our network to meet our future needs.