Mr. Gerry Murphy:

That is not one for which we have tendered. Bus Éireann either tenders for school transport services or they tender for subcontract operators to help them at peak times in their services. It has run that tendering operation. The operations for which we have tendered have been very small, as in the case of the one awarded to M&A Coaches. That operator provides a good quality service at very good value for money for the State and I presume the operator is earning a profit and is operating satisfactorily. The requirement in any tendering process is that it is all done on a level playing field and that the person complies with all applicable statutory regulations.

I agree with Deputy Ann Phelan that low cost is not always the best value. Quality and price considerations would be the norm for these types of contract awards. I mentioned the buses in Waterford city. It amounts to only 16 buses and Bus Éireann has a residual 86 buses for its other operations. I will ask Ms Anne Graham to deal with the questions on rural transport and school transport services. With regard to picking the bus services, Deputy Dooley mentioned the loss of a joined-up network. Nobody wants to lose a joined-up network. The integration of the network is being provided by us in the National Transport Authority. The only initiatives that have been integrated across all operators have been ours with the Leap card in Dublin, the journey planner app and the real time passenger information system. As Deputy Harrington said, the options offered under the journey planner app include public and private operators. For the first time, people have the option of a mix of public and private operators and there are also rural transport operators. The integrating agent in the State for public transport is ourselves. There have been examples of non-match of bus services meeting train timetables and all those types of issues which we are trying to address.

The was reference to the beginning of a process. I have answered Deputy Harrington's points but perhaps he wanted us to consider other routes. The simple fact is that this was an authority decision, it is done now and 90% of it is confirmed for the next five years.

On the question of increased fares and the direct award EU requirement, definitely direct award complies with EU provisions. National provisions require a review as to whether direct award is approved. On the question of increased fares, fares have increased and we have been the agent that has been sanctioning an increase in fares. There has been a very significant increase in fares to address not only the drop in subsidy but also the drop in patronage. We hope that we are coming to the end of the cycle of those increased fares and that economic growth and the stabilisation of subsidy will allow us to only have modest fare increases in line with the CPI. I will ask Mr. Hugh Creegan to deal with the questions on the rural hackney licence and Ms Anne Graham to deal with the questions on rural transport and school transport services.