Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome all our guests before the committee. Mr. Faughnan from AA described our public transport in Dublin as "inefficient, unpredictable and frustrating". As somebody who drives into Dublin city three days a week, I can share some of that frustration, particularly in the last number of years as a result of construction work under way for the Luas. The glaring thing is that we launched the greater Dublin area transport strategy this year and despite having a strategy, we do not have the money to implement it. Despite having a plan, there is no money there to implement it. How will we address the crisis that is there at the moment? It is a crisis. Traffic is at a standstill between 7 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. Again in the evening it is like a car park, no matter what street one walks down. Can the witnesses identify how much of a funding shortfall there will be in terms of implementing the strategy for the greater Dublin area?

On the capital plan, the witnesses have identified four projects. What exactly is the status of each of those projects? What stage of planning are they at? If money was available tomorrow, how long would it take to deliver those four projects? Have we looked at any possible solutions in terms of what can be delivered in the short to medium term? None of these capital projects, even with the best will in the world and all the available capital, will be delivered in the short term. There have been suggestions about car pooling and I had it written down myself. It is amazing that there is no initiative or incentive for people to car pool. Have we looked at restricted delivery times in terms of lorries and delivery vans coming into the city? It is unbelievable that they come in and park on double yellow lines. They do not care about the ramifications of that. They are breaking the law but there is no other incentive against it. Can we look at incentivising deliveries coming into our capital city outside peak traffic times?

Mr. Brady from Dublin City Council said that the road and street space is at a premium. I read somewhere that along the quays and Bachelor's Walk is possibly the busiest location in Dublin city in terms of the cars, buses and lorries that go over it on a daily basis. There is car parking right along each side of the quays. Has anybody looked at the possibility of removing the car parking along the quays and diverting cars to multi-storey parking to increase the capacity along the quays? These are all things that could be done in the very short term.

It is unfortunate our taxi representatives are not here today. They were invited and that is to be acknowledged. Will Ms Graham indicate the reasons she thinks there has been such a significant drop in the number of taxi licences being issued by her department over the last five years? There has been a drop of 45%. What percentage of that relates to Dublin? What percentage of that relates to the rest of the country? In terms of Uber, do our guests feel it has a role to play in helping to address the issues we have at the moment? My colleague is right about the lack of park and ride facilities. Where they are provided, they are being greatly utilised. Have we looked at landbanks under the ownership of the State at present? Have we identified landbanks that could be used? I welcome the opinion of the witnesses on that.

On Transdev, my colleague asked about the profits that are being made. I am more interested in knowing how much of a subsidy Transdev has got to operate since the Luas commenced. What are the witnesses' opinion on the benefits of a Luas line or light rail network in terms of the initial outlay from a capital expenditure point of view as opposed to putting in a quality bus corridor? Perhaps the witnesses will talk about that.

I have another question for the representatives from the Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland.

They identified several barriers which, if removed, could alleviate traffic congestion. One would imagine it was planned. This morning, I had a coffee with a commuter who told me one issue for private bus companies bringing commuters into the capital from Navan and Shercock is they have nowhere to park in the capital city. These bus services are bursting at the seams. How can they provide a return service to commuter towns like Navan for between €50 and €60 a week, yet Bus Éireann cannot compete with that? Reference was made to protecting the public service obligation, PSO. The big difference between Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and private bus operators is that if there is no money to be made on a route, the latter will not stay on it and to hell with those who need connectivity to go to work or school. The State has an obligation to ensure all our communities are connected. That is the reason we have a public service obligation.

The stifling of any innovation was mentioned. What type of innovation was being referred to?