Mr. Gary Owens:

I am honoured to have been asked by the Minister for Transport and Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to become chairperson of Dublin Bus. I thank the Chairman and other members of the committee for the invitation to appear before them today.

I was born and grew up in Dún Laoghaire and attended the Christian Brothers school in Eblana Avenue. I have lived all my life in Dublin and am very proud to have been given the opportunity to be the chairperson of Dublin Bus over the next five years.

I have served as chief executive in the financial industry and technology and disability services and, more recently, as interim chief executive officer for the Football Association of Ireland. As a non-executive director over many years, I have served on national and international boards and was chairperson of audit and risk committees of large companies at both local and global levels. I am a chartered insurer and have attended both Columbia and Wharton universities during my career.

I am currently chairperson of Diona, chairperson of the risk committee and independent director of LeasePlan Insurance, and chairperson of a general insurance business called Icare Capital Partners.

I am conscious, as chairperson designate, that I am a custodian of what is a strategic State asset and a Dublin institution. As I assume this role, I would like to thank the outgoing chairperson, Mr. Ultan Courtney, who worked closely with the chief executive and board of directors over the past seven years to successfully position Dublin Bus as Ireland's leading transport provider. Today, the company is Ireland's largest public transport provider, carrying 70 million customers in 2021, and we hope to get back to over 150 million customers travelling per year as our society recovers from the pandemic.

Dublin Bus is a vital part of our domestic economy, with over 3,600 people employed in good, secure jobs. The stories of how companies are responding to these changeable and uncertain times are still emerging. Our employees responded exceptionally well in difficult circumstances and their resilience is at the heart of everything we do in Dublin Bus. I really look forward to meeting them in our depots across the city to thank them for their hard work and listen to their views and hopes for the future of the company.

At all times, our focus is on providing customers with safe, comfortable and efficient journeys, putting them at the centre of everything we do. That is why we recently bolstered our operational excellence and network resilience by introducing two new 24-hour routes, which will provide all-day and all-night services to customers in west Dublin and north Kildare.

The company is also assisting the National Transport Authority, NTA, with the implementation of the BusConnects Dublin area network redesign. The successful delivery of BusConnects is vital to the future aspiration of a sustainable Dublin city. It is also critical to achieving the company's goal of being the State's delivery partner of choice.

Over the centuries public transport in Dublin has grown and evolved, and the periods when it has thrived the most are the times when it has embraced change. With this in mind, we recently worked with Transport for Ireland, TFI, on the roll-out of a new 90-minute fare. This is a significant enhancement to our customer offering. The new 90-minute fare, when combined with fare reductions and, in particular, the 50% reduction for young adults, will incentivise the use of our services and help deliver on our ambitious modal shift targets.

Despite this progress, the gains made by Dublin Bus and public transport need to be further reinforced. One of the key advantages of using a bus is its ability to quickly adapt and accommodate additional customer demand in a way that no other transport mode can. As the economy began to recover from recession in 2014, Dublin Bus was able to quickly provide the additional services required to meet customer demand and deliver retail spend to the city centre.

The operating environment during the pandemic offered us a glimpse of what is possible for our city. With the optimal operating environment, we can have fast, reliable and sustainable bus services to the city centre. During the lockdowns, with fewer private modes of transport on the road, we saw sustainable public transport journey times reduced, bringing essential workers to their destinations more quickly. We can have a city where priority lies with the sustainable public transport user and those using active travel. We have seen that Dublin does not have to be a car-dominated, congested city. Sadly, however, as normality has returned so too has congestion.

Another key issue is sustainable urban development. New residential developments do not need enough car parking spaces to provide each household with the capacity to park multiple cars. Residential development should encourage the use of the local public transport links, which should be invested in to ensure there is sufficient capacity and frequency to handle this increased demand. It is 42 years since the introduction of bus lanes that transformed bus services across the capital. Today, they need to be protected and improved. When it comes to bus lane enhancement, we believe it would be appropriate to move away from time-specific bus lanes and towards 24-hour designation for all bus lanes on all days of the week. If we do not take these steps, we will inevitably see congestion get worse, commute times get longer, and emissions rise in line with population growth.

Over many years we have seen the benefits of embracing technology in our lives and in business. At its purest form, technology makes things easier to use and by design, better. We have seen the benefits of technology in the transport industry over many years leading to greater accessibility of our buses with zero tailpipe emission buses on order, traffic light priority for public transport and timely information for customers. We are now at a time where the technology and transport industries are significantly integrating. If we can plan together and capture the benefits that technology and transport can offer, we can facilitate modal shift and achieve our climate change targets.

Short-term initiatives include the use of account-based ticketing, for example using a token to pay a fare. The token can be a smartphone, smart watch, debit card or QR code. In March, the Government agreed funding to progress under the next generation ticketing project of BusConnects. Account-based ticketing can provide faster boarding times, allow for dynamic pricing to manage demand, provide a single payment system for the whole transport system, and can provide the cheapest fare given the journeys and modes taken, in real time.

Technology will also provide a platform for enhanced reliability and efficiency of service provision through greater use of data, analytics and artificial intelligence. Historically, traditional companies have not been imaginative enough with their assets and the benefits technology can bring. There is an opportunity for Dublin Bus to further build on its reputation through the early adoption of new technology to create and capture value for our customers and the State. Examples include the use of predictive maintenance to increase reliability and real-time capacity deployment to meet customer needs as they arise.

Technology is also an enabler for the sustainable development of our city by assisting with increased movements by way of an integrated multi-modal transport system. Many public transport users are also car users and there will always be a need for public and private modes. We must ensure priority is given to high capacity transport modes but that it works in harmony. We need to achieve modal shift in an appropriately managed fashion. This will require a consensus on the introduction of demand-management principles in our city, which technology can facilitate. The technology and innovations are there to deliver if consensus can be achieved.

I am pleased to report that when it comes to environmental sustainability, Dublin Bus is well on its way to achieving our long-term goal of zero emissions and being net carbon positive by 2050. We have big ambitions, because we deeply understand our part in creating meaningful and positive change in our city’s environment.

As chairperson designate, I want to see significant modal shift from private car to bus because I know it is vital to building a truly sustainable Dublin. Every time one of our customers chooses the bus, rather than taking the same journey by car, they are reducing their own carbon footprint and making a positive contribution to the environment. Every full Dublin Bus means a 92% reduction in carbon emissions for every kilometre travelled by our customers compared to the same journey taken by car.

As the largest public transport company in the State, we know it is our responsibility to embed sustainable practices in every aspect of our business, from the vehicles that carry our customers, to the energy and materials we use throughout the organisation. This collective responsibility is why we, in conjunction with the NTA continue to expand our hybrid-electric fleet, which now stands at 213 vehicles. The company is under no illusion of the enormity of the task ahead of us all in fighting climate change. It will take hard work, dedication, and commitment to achieve. We are doing this because it is the right thing to do for our company, our communities, our city and our future.

I know that Dublin Bus has a long-standing reputation for trust that is built on the solid foundations of strong leadership and good governance. It is my firm belief that robust governance underpins a healthy culture and good corporate behaviour, and I know that trust and transparency will continue to define the company in the years ahead. If appointed, during my tenure as chairperson Dublin Bus will continue to take a disciplined approach to strengthening our capabilities, including innovation and operational excellence, continued focus on inclusion for all, the digitisation of our company, and the advancement of technology for our customers' benefit. Equally, as one of Ireland’s largest businesses, we recognise that we have a responsibility and an opportunity to act on some of the most pressing social and environmental challenges in the world today. With our unparalleled reach across the capital, in thousands of communities, we are acutely aware that we have a real opportunity to create change. We will seize this opportunity.

Although we know that the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and other challenges will not be simple or straightforward, my greatest source of confidence that we will emerge even stronger and smarter is the strength, adaptability and dedication of the 3,600-strong Dublin Bus team.

I thank the committee members for taking the time to listen and I am happy to take any questions.