Mr. Ray Coyne:

While I have been here, I was reminded that it was actually 42 years ago, in 1980, that we had our first bus lane. The years pass me by. I probably bumped into the Deputy at some point because I was in Donnybrook 33 years ago. We probably crossed paths back then.

On the network design, while we assisted with it, the redesign of the network is led by the NTA. It is statutorily in charge of that. We worked with it on the interchange. There were many queries on that at the start. Through the public consultation process, some of the initial proposals were adjusted, particularly with regard to peak times, recognising that people are in a hurry during the morning and evening peaks and want to travel more directly. Where the first couple of spines have been introduced, there are significant peak time-only end-to-end services. With regard to convincing people that getting two buses instead of one to a destination is a better alternative, it is very hard to convince somebody who had one direct bus route. I will go back to the three points. The Deputy mentioned two of them. They are frequency, reliability and punctuality. Everything else after those three is just nice for a public transport user to have. If you have those three, you have a good service. There will be higher frequency for more customers. On the spines, which are essentially on the main roads inside the M50, there will be more frequent services on the corridors. Many of our customers are within that area so they will not have to interchange anyway.

The other part of this is making the whole system better than the one individual journey users may have had. Part of that is a significant increase in the number of orbital and localised services. There will be customers who will now have to take two buses instead of one but we are also offering them increased orbital movement so they will not have to go into the city if they do not want to. If people want to go from Blanchardstown to Tallaght, they can jump on a frequent bus between the two. There are similar routes to the south and north of the city. We are trying to broaden it out and provide a greater total package of public transport options for the vast majority of people. When a bus network is changed, some people are going to be disaffected. There is no question about that. We are trying to minimise that. The NTA has done a public consultation. The first couple of corridors it has introduced have been broadly welcomed. In time, some of those issues may have to be looked at again if the interchange penalty is too significant. This may be remediated by providing for peak-only services or making other adjustments. The networks in some cities have this kind of system while others have what we traditionally had here, a system that tries to minimise interchanges. With increased frequency and increased orbital options, we can now say that, while a given journey might be a bit sticky for some, they will have additional services that can take them to more places for education, school or work. That is what we are trying to do. We are trying to sell it as a whole package.

On the 155, unfortunately I do not have a date for the Deputy. Investment and the NTA will determine when the 24-hour service on the 155 route comes in. It is ultimately the NTA's decision. From our point of view, no additional buses are required because there are buses parked up in the garage after midnight anyway. Additional drivers are required. We have a good campaign under way with the tagline "Get thanked for a living". It is going well and attracting employees. That is part of the investment piece and, as I touched on earlier, it has multiyear funding. I cannot tell the Deputy which services we will be introducing next year. I can tell him what aspirations are there but I could not tell him definitively what services will be introduced. It is planned to introduce 24-hour service on the 155 and 46A routes at an early phase. We believe that should be done as soon as the required resources are available. I would caution against holding everything off until the bus routes are changed under BusConnects.

BusConnects will take two to three years, so we could introduce measures in advance and then make adjustments in two or three years. It is a route that we think would be a success to operate 24 hours.

On the TII report, the NTA has responsibility for bus shelters on the bus network. Dublin Bus used to have it but that responsibility was transferred to the NTA. Nevertheless, we feed in our views on safe public transport. Generally, they are in well-lit areas where there is high footfall. The Deputy's question was a good one because it contained an insight into the complexity of the bus network in the context of stop locations and how moving one stop will have a significant implication for stops around it. There are areas where we have removed bus stops because some dynamic has changed, such as the lighting or the infrastructure around it. A road may be built, for example, and all of a sudden a bus stop may be isolated. We take that into account. The NTA is the authority on the matter but it asks us for advice on the relocation of certain stops. When we are planning routes and implementing bus stops, we are conscious of the surrounding environment. It is our service for our customers, so we would like it to be a pleasant experience everywhere.