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

Publicly subsidised bus services are provided on the basis of public transport service contracts made between the relevant operators and the NTA. These contracts are a requirement of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, which sets out the broad parameters of the contracts. The contracts are published and available to view on the NTA's website.

As the House will be aware, the vast majority of subsidised bus services operating in Dublin are provided by Dublin Bus, with the remainder provided by Go-Ahead Ireland. I assure the Deputy that I am fully aware of the service delivery issues relating to these operators over the past two years and the negative impact these issues are having on the travelling public. I reassure him that my Department has been engaging regularly with the NTA on these service issues and we continue to keep the situation under close review.

Many operators continue to experience staffing difficulties in terms of recruitment and retention of drivers and mechanics. Unfortunately, this is impacting on the quality of service provided to public transport users. That said, the NTA closely monitors the contractual performance of operators in respect of reliability, punctuality, regularity and customer service quality. Accordingly, deductions are imposed on operators where performance standards specified in contracts are not met. In 2022, €8 million and €2.4 million was deducted from the contracts of Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead Ireland, respectively. This represented an increase on the 2021 figures of €700,000 for Dublin Bus and €300,000 for Go-Ahead Ireland and was commensurate with a drop-off in the quality of service provided.

The rationale behind this system of deductions is to improve the reliability, frequency and overall quality of our public transport offering so that we can continue on our path in shifting towards more low-carbon transport solutions. While acknowledging the frustrations felt in certain areas, I am informed by the NTA that the system of deductions has resulted in significant aggregate improvements to operator performance and service experience by customers in recent years.

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