Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the question of people's working patterns now and hybrid working, I will furnish some further information. As I said, overall PSO passenger numbers are approximately 84% of pre-Covid-19 levels. Passengers are returning in good numbers in most markets with Local Link and Bus Éireann's town services in Limerick and Galway all reporting levels at or similar to 2019 levels.

Increasingly, it appears that the primary cause of reduced total passengers is office-based workers travelling less. This is consistent when considering that pre-Covid-19 analysis showed white-collar worker commuters to be 30% to 35% of total demand. A 50% reduction in these trips would account for 15% to 17.5% of overall demand. This supported the anecdotal evidence that many office workers are working a hybrid model of two or three days per week at home. Fare reductions are to be welcomed but investment in additional services is also valuable for customers and communities. We need to ensure that we maintain the right balance between those factors.

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