Mr. Kevin Traynor:

I thank the committee for affording us this opportunity to make a submission on the very important issue of the accessibility of public transport for people who have a disability. The Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland, CTTC, is the representative body for Ireland’s coach touring companies and Ireland’s private bus operators. CTTC members are experts in coach hire and transport solutions, including: airport transfers, day tours, extended touring, incentive travel, golf tours, school transport and provision of scheduled services. In addition to specialising in long distance scheduled services, many of our members also operate licensed bus services in towns and cities throughout Ireland.

All CTTC members are family owned companies, with a combined fleet of 1,500 coaches, employing more than 3,500 people directly. The CTTC comments and makes representations regularly on matters of concern to its members such as public transport, school transport, the coach tourism sector and the tourism industry generally.

CTTC believes the availability of and access to public transport is essential for many people with disabilities to play a full and active part in society, engage with their communities and to access services and work. Accessibility to public transport is of critical importance to those who have no other form of transport and is a key challenge going forward with a rapidly ageing population. It ensures a quality of life which is taken as given norm for public transport passengers without a disability. Private operators currently operate quality scheduled route services throughout the country under licence from the National Transport Authority and are uniquely placed to improve transport services in a cost effective manner. There are, however, significant barriers currently, which are restricting the continued positive growth in the provision of fully accessible services that I will set out for the committee.

One of these challenges is the cost of fully accessible transport. In private sector transport, accessibility is restricted due to limited financial resources and the substantial cost of providing accessibility features. Private operators face additional costs in excess of €30,000 to purchase a fully accessible vehicle. There is a requirement for positive national and EU incentives to create a sound business case for owning and operating accessible vehicles. In addition, funding should be provided from State resources to private operators for increased staff training, pre-journey information and access point of contact in order to put systems in place to deal with requests for accessible vehicles.

A further challenge faced by private transport operators is the shared use of existing infrastructure. Section 62 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 was included to facilitate access by non-public funded transport operators to bus stations and railway stations but this has failed to materialise. Investment in infrastructure is also a challenge. There is no point in providing accessible vehicles if the infrastructure is not available to support these services. All local authority transport plans must provide accessibility infrastructure and ensure sufficient funding is available to complete the necessary work. Other infrastructural barriers include managing the accessibility of infrastructure in small towns and villages to curb illegal parking in bus stops and provide accessible toilets and associated facilities at private resting areas and stations.

There is clear evidence that in the past there has been a communication failure between statutory bodies. There is, therefore, an urgent requirement to ensure there is a joined up thinking process put in place between planners, transport providers and statutory agencies to facilitate fully accessible transport infrastructure in any new development, and to maximise resources to ensure a planned cohesive approach to optimise delivery.

CTTC welcomes the opportunity to make this submission and looks forward to liaising with the committee and contributing to the provision of an enhanced public transport system that is value for money and provides a public transport system that is accessible to all users.