Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. I thank the witnesses for being here. I extend a special welcome to Mr. Hann, who is here in his new capacity. I congratulate him on his new role.

It has been interesting to hear the update on the recruitment of drivers. It was only a month ago when Mr. Edwards sat here and told me that there was going to be additional drivers in the coming four weeks and that as a result of that we would see improvements in local services, such as the 175 to Citywest, the 76 in Clondalkin, the 18 in Palmerstown and the L51 and L52 in Lucan. While those services are still not up to scratch, there are anecdotal reports that there have been improvements. We look forward not just to the 50 new drivers that Go-Ahead Ireland has on board but also to the 98 drivers in its training school and the 27 who are due to start in the coming weeks. Once they come on board, I hope we will see dramatic improvements in those services and that we will see them working on time and on schedule.

The C spine, which is a Dublin Bus route I spoke about last time, is still having capacity issues at peak times. Mr. Hann has said that not all office workers are back. That gives me a little bit of cause for concern because people are going back to the office more on a gradual and phased basis. If you cannot get on your C spine bus now, what will it be like when they are all back?

I will focus on Newcastle, which is a big village that is growing into a town. We have had a massive amount of housing developments and new businesses come on stream there. As a result, we have more people looking to use the 68 bus route. Public transport has not kept pace with the development in Newcastle. What was already an inadequate service once per hour has become even worse because now it is completely and utterly unreliable. I will give our guests five examples of that. On 1 December, the 5.30 p.m., 6.15 p.m. and 6.45 p.m. buses from the city centre - three buses in a row during peak period - did not show. Commuters were significantly impacted, including a pregnant lady who told me she had to get a taxi, which cost €48, to get home after waiting around for hours on end. A taxi was also the solution for a student who contacted me a couple of weeks later to say they had given up waiting in the rain for the bus that was due to their bus stop at 7.05 p.m. That student pointed out that there is only one bus between 5.30 p.m. and 6.50 p.m., which is interesting when you look at the fact that those are the key commuting times for students and workers. A taxi was not an option yesterday for a schoolchild from Newcastle who attends school in Clondalkin. The bus that was due at 4.15 p.m. did not show up and neither did the next one. As a result, the child was left stranded. Many workers in Greenogue have completely given up on waiting for the 68 bus and now use an hourly private bus to get them to the Red Cow Luas stop. They can travel into town from there. Healthcare workers and the families of people with disabilities in Peamount Hospital are continually impacted by what has become a completely unreliable service.

People are late for work, students are missing lectures, kids are missing classes and commuters are missing precious hours with their kids before bedtime. That is not good enough. Why has this route not been prioritised by Dublin Bus?

I understand that there are shortages and that drivers do not always show up for work for various reasons, for example, sickness and leave, but why is this service, which only runs once per hour, not a prioritised route? If the real-time information we have heard about is 98% accurate, then it must only be Newcastle that is not accurate. The facts of the past month, which is only the time since the organisations were last before the committee, speak for themselves.

The 68X service, which I raised at our previous meeting, was withdrawn without any notice to the commuters using that rush-time service. The NTA informed me that this happened because it did a survey and felt there was low demand on the route but that it would consider the matter again. How is demand checked on a route when this is the service that we have currently? An hourly bus service is failing to show.

Sticking with Newcastle, the long-promised W6 orbital route, which will be serviced by Go-Ahead, will be delivered in two parts - the W61 and the W62 - instead of as a single connected route. This is because a bridge that was built in, I believe, the 1800s is hindering progress and means that two buses cannot pass at the same time. I suggested an alternative route but was told "No" by the NTA, so I have two new suggestions. Can the W62 terminate at Hazelhatch instead of Newcastle? This would link Newcastle to Hazelhatch train station. This route is the key infrastructure that the people of Newcastle have been waiting on for years. The current bus service into Newcastle village is so unreliable that the least we can do is give them a service to Hazelhatch train station. If that is not doable, could the W62 route travel in a loop? This would present the option of facilitating the orbital route. That these buses will not be regular means that they will not meet on the bridge, so that should not be an issue.

I welcome the 12 new off-peak train services through Adamstown and Hazelhatch that will start shortly, but there is a significant shortfall in weekend services. This matter is raised with me time and again. More people are using the train line, and this is great. Even more will use it once Kishoge rail station is open as well. I believe that will be next year, but I have been told that before.

I concur with what has been said about taxis. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get a taxi. FREE NOW has predicted a shortage this winter. I have two questions for the NTA. Is it time for us to consider Uber, which is being utilised in many other cities around the world? I used it this summer while on holidays and was intrigued to see how it worked. It seemed to work well. My second question relates to the statistic that Ms Graham provided of 7.4 SPSVs per thousand people in our capital city being a good ratio and how there might be an issue with taxi drivers not being available to work all day every day. Is it time to start considering something innovative, for example, waiving VRT for taxis that come on stream if drivers promise to operate through local or industrial taxi companies that provide 24-7 service to people?