Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 42 together. As the Deputy said, there are ambitious plans to expand bus services in all our cities through implementation of BusConnects, which will see improved services, better infrastructure and larger bus fleets. This type of transformative change is needed and if we are serious about improving public transport, we need to be serious about our support for BusConnects and the benefits it will deliver.

The Government’s ongoing support can be seen in the expanded bus fleet operating our PSO services now as compared with a few years ago. The PSO bus fleet has grown by around 15% over the last three years and will continue to expand this year and beyond. Next year alone, for example, the National Transport Authority will purchase more than 240 new buses for the PSO fleets. These buses will replace older buses with newer and cleaner buses, add capacity through replacing single-deck with double-deck buses and will also expand the fleet through additional buses beyond existing fleets.

BusConnects Dublin will see the PSO bus fleet in the Dublin region expand by more than 200 vehicles between 2021 and 2024, while the service improvements planned under the network redesign will increase services by around 23% as compared with today. I want to see that level of ambition replicated in other cities also. In the regional cities capacity is being added through replacing single-deck buses with double-deck vehicles, which can expand capacity by around 25% per bus.

On the regional services, capacity increases are also being addressed through the purchase of double-deck coaches to replace single-deck coach vehicles on various routes, which can increase capacity by between 40% and 50%. In 2021, it is expected that an additional 48 double-deck coach vehicles will be brought into operation which will add capacity to the system across the country.

With regard to buses, I also note the NTA’s ongoing work on Connecting Ireland. This is an initiative to provide better public transport connections between villages and towns by linking them with an enhanced regional network nationwide. The NTA is commencing a two-phase consultation, beginning with local authority officials and other key stakeholders on the main concepts of Connecting Ireland, which will be followed by a wider public consultation on the proposals in the second quarter of 2021.

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