Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smith for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan. I want to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority. The NTA works with the public transport operators who deliver the services and who have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters.

That said, I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing 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 2023 the Department of Transport received €563 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, and TFI Local Link services. This was an increase from €538 million in 2022. More recently, under the new budget for 2024, a funding package of €613 million has been secured for public service obligation and Local Link services. This includes funding for the continuation of the 20% fare reduction on PSO services, the young adult card on both PSO and commercial bus services, and the 90-minute fare until the end of 2024. Funding has also been secured to support new and enhanced bus and rail services next year.

As the Deputy is aware, the Government is committed to improving bus and rail public transport and is backing up this commitment with significant investments across the network. This includes the continued roll-out of BusConnects. The latest phase of the BusConnects network redesign in Dublin, phase 5B, commenced on 26 November and involved the introduction of new southern orbital, radial and local routes. The S2, 74 and L25 routes are operated by Dublin Bus and the S4, S6, S8, W2 and L55 routes are operated by Go-Ahead Ireland. Phase 5B represents an increase in service levels of approximately 80%, which makes it one of the most significant changes under the network redesign to date. With the introduction of these new services, as of 26 November, routes 17, 17D, 18, 61, 75, 75A, 76, 76A and 175 ceased operation. I understand that information booklets were delivered to households in the areas affected by the launch of this latest phase of the BusConnects programme and an extensive media and public relations campaign has begun.

With respect to the specific queries regarding issues with the new BusConnects services in Dublin 10 and Dublin 12, it is important to note that UCD will be served by the new orbital routes S4 and S6, which will run every ten minutes and every 15 minutes, respectively. Other existing routes, such as the 39A, 46A, 145 and 155, will continue to run. Route S4 provides a direct connection via Clonskeagh to Milltown for the Luas Green Line and then to Rathgar and Terenure for connections with high-frequency services on routes 14, 15, 15A, 15B and 16. These connections are either new or much more direct than the route 17, which looped southward between UCD and Terenure. Route S4 then continues via Crumlin to Ballyfermot and Liffey Valley. Route S6 continues to provide the connection to Dundrum, but at higher frequency than route 175, then onward via Rathfarnham to give new direct connections with Templeogue and Firhouse Road and on to Tallaght.

I reassure Deputy Smith that the Department of Transport, the NTA, and the operators are working to ensure the optimised deployment of resources across the public transport network to match changing passenger demand patterns.

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