Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of one licence application for a feeder service to Malahide DART station which was refused by the NTA. Generally, if there is an existing publicly subvented service, the NTA will not permit another operator to compete with that service. The view is taken that if the service is necessary and socially desirable but not profitable, it is subvented. If another operator were to come in, it could undermine the subvention. It is an imperfect arrangement. Much as we would love to believe the transport planners know everything and get it right, they do not always and people do not behave the way computer models say they are supposed to.

The public consultation began on 11 September. The current contracts for the Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann services in question were supposed to expire at the end of 2014, but the NTA is proposing to extend them for a further two years when it will tender some of them.

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