Ms Miriam Flynn:

If I may clarify, the point I was making earlier about spare capacity and utilisation is linked. We try to get the maximum utilisation out of a vehicle. We may require a 50-seat vehicle to operate a post-primary trip with 44 children. That bus can do a primary run which may have only 25 children on it. We will try to utilise that vehicle because it is more cost-effective.

Unfortunately, it has an adverse effect on spare capacity numbers but it affords a greater level of efficiency and is far more cost-effective from a value-for-money and a departmental perspective. When one looks at the figures in isolation, it is the multiple runs where the level of spare capacity is higher. Where one vehicle is doing a single run, the levels of spare capacity are much lower.