Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

After what I am about to read, the Deputy will certainly have a few more comments to make. I thank Deputy Lahart for raising this important topic which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan.

I understand that the Deputy’s question is in relation to the impact on second and third level students, and other commuters, when buses on the 75, 175, 27 and 17 routes fail to operate according to schedule leaving commuters and students abandoned and stranded at bus stops and to learn how this is being addressed by the bus operators.

I further understand that the issue of service reliability on these routes was raised by both Deputy O'Rourke and Deputy Lawless earlier this morning during Oral Questions with the Minister for Transport.

From the outset, I note that the Department for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, the Department is not involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services nationally, including those public service obligation routes currently operated by Go-Ahead Ireland. It is the National Transport Authority that has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally by way of public transport service contracts, and for the allocation of associated funding to the relevant transport operators. PSO services are socially necessary but financially unviable services and the PSO programme represents a significant expenditure of taxpayers' money. Funding support has increased in recent years.

Currently, the vast majority of PSO bus services are provided by either Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann through what are known as direct award contracts. The remaining routes are operated by Go-Ahead Ireland, which entered the market in September 2018 as part of Government’s commitment to open-up the bus market through a programme of tendering known as “Bus Market Opening”.

A key Government objective is to provide all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in Budget 2022 the Department of Transport secured €538 million of funding for PSO and Local Link services provided by State operators and under contract by the NTA this year.

As the Deputy is aware, the Covid-19 health emergency has had a profound impact on the public transport sector due to the fall in passenger numbers and the associated drop in fare revenues. I am advised that to date passenger numbers remain below pre-Covid levels and demand is currently at 90% of that experienced in 2019 during the week and ahead of pre-pandemic levels at weekends.

In the context of the Deputy’s specific question regarding the 75 and 175 routes currently operated by Go-Ahead Ireland, I have been advised that the performance of all public transport operators is monitored by the NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators.

I have been further advised that Go-Ahead Ireland is not alone in experiencing these issues and many operators in the public transport sector are facing challenges with staffing both as a result of Covid-19-related absences and with regard to recruiting new drivers.

However, while these staffing issues are being experienced by both commercial and PSO operators, it is also true that Go-Ahead Ireland is experiencing higher than normal levels of Covid-related staff absences at present. These absences are having a knock-on effect on service delivery with some services not operating as scheduled.

I understand that the NTA is working with Go-Ahead Ireland to try to mitigate the impacts through recruitment campaigns, engagement with the Road Safety Authority, RSA, regarding the testing and licence process for new bus drivers and by working with Go-Ahead Ireland to minimise service cancellations, ensure first-service and last-service buses operate and on low-frequency routes to avoid, where possible, the cancellation of consecutive low-frequency services.

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