Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The enhancement of the public transport system is at the heart of the sustainable travel agenda. In this context, notwithstanding the very real challenges the Government faces in the current difficult economic climate, it remains committed to providing the infrastructure and services required to deliver a modern, high quality public transport system. This has been demonstrated by continued Government support for bus services. The provision of Exchequer subvention to CIE in 2010 is €276 million, of which €76 million will be allocated through the National Transport Authority to Dublin Bus.

It is imperative in the current environment that public services are delivered in an efficient and effective manner and reflect the economic, social and demographic changes of recent years. In response to this challenge, Dublin Bus is currently undertaking the biggest redesign of its network in the history of the company. The objective of the redesign is to provide current and future bus customers with a service that will be modern, accessible, integrated, easy to understand, punctual and frequent. The redesign will deliver real and tangible benefits to the vast majority of bus users. For example, there will be a doubling in routes with a frequency of ten minutes or better and 60% of customers will be carried on high frequency routes - currently this stands at 23%. Complementary measures supporting the quality of the service to customers will also be introduced during 2010, including the provision of integrated ticketing, real time passenger information and further investment in bus priority measures.

The proposals to streamline and improve the frequency of bus services in the Dublin area, improve the quality of service, attract more customers from cars are perfectly aligned with the intent of "Smarter Travel". This is also fully in accordance with the Government's aim of measuring outputs for taxpayers' money and getting more for less.

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