Mr. Ray Coyne:

Ultimately, the NTA decides where park-and-ride facilities are located, their scale and whether they will be introduced as fully private operations or as State-owned and State-managed operations. The view of Dublin Bus is that park-and-ride facilities have a role to play. We would welcome an opportunity to use our experience to deliver them. Primarily, in terms of what is required to provide park-and-ride facilities, and in all of the suburbs for the areas that come into the city, our customers want frequent, reliable and punctual services that give them a better alternative than a car. Dublin Bus seeks to increase the frequency of services, and ensure that they are very punctual and reliable. One also needs to have a journey time that is at a minimum equal to a private mode. One must set the fare correctly. Finally, to get people out of their cars, the park-and-ride facility must be sited at a good and secure location and be a welcoming environment.

Dublin Bus believes that well positioned and fully funded park-and-ride facilities would form a great part of the integrated transport system that will also have to penalise private mode use because we all battle for the same road space. Our view is that one could have a park-and-ride facility for 1,000 vehicles somewhere in County Meath but if one needs two hours on a bus and can do the journey in an hour in a car, then one will choose to drive.

We believe that these facilities can be very successful if they form part of an integrated transport system. Dublin Bus operated them many years ago. I am sure that people will remember Operation Freeflow where one could avail of a park-and-ride facility at the Spa in Lucan, Stillorgan and Whitehall. These facilities were very successful because they were faster than the private car mode and were extremely cheap. Dublin Bus would like to play a role in these facilities and look forward to the NTA making provision for them within its transport ecosystem.