Mr. David Conway:

Both the cost and timeline serve as barriers. It depends on the route somebody takes to become a professional bus driver. If the person does it themselves, while it may only take 16 to 20 hours of training, booking time with a private school of motoring will take quite a bit of time. When the person has done the training and applies for his or her test, there is another lag and then there are the other aspects such as CPCs, tachograph cards and so forth. That is one route. It is not as easy as saying that it will only take 16 to 20 hours because it will end up being over a much longer time.

One of our organisations, because of our make-up, could conduct those 16 to 20 hours and many others around the safety aspects, the customer service and so on. We can do that in a shortened timeframe because we have more resources available and are able to use vehicles when they are not out in schools. There is a practical aspect to it. However, when that is done there is the follow-on time lag from when the application is made to sit a driving test and, as Mr. Crowley has mentioned, it cannot even be done in the local area.