Results 6,941-6,960 of 15,510 for speaker:Brendan Griffin
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: Has the Department examined options?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: Unfortunately, there is a very real prospect of major strike action next week. We hope it can be avoided. In respect of private operators, has the NTA contingency plans in terms of ensuring that there is no abuse of licences so that nobody operates routes they should not be operating during that period? Has the NTA plans to address that?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: Ms Graham spoke about the NTA figures from 2012 to 2015 which show that passenger numbers on the Dublin-Cork route are up by 61% and that numbers on the Dublin-Limerick route are up by 50%. Could Ms Graham clarify that this relates to the number of passenger journeys made?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: Could Ms Graham tell us about the increase in capacity or supply?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: I am going back to basic supply and demand. If there is an increase in the number of passengers, passenger journeys are in isolation if we do not know the capacity increase. The concern would be that there is over-supply.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: So the NTA does not know about the supply?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: Surely the NTA should know that in terms of having an informed debate on this and informing public policy. Is this not something about which there should be further scrutiny?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: If I was Bill Gates and I wanted to increase the number of passengers flying from Kerry to Honolulu, I could put on free flights, everybody would hop on them and we would increase the passenger numbers but this would mean that people would stop using other routes to go on their holidays and there would be job losses. There are spin-offs and effects from this.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: If one wants to increase the number of passengers on a route, well and good. Surely, however, there cannot be a Machiavellian approach where one just increases the number of passengers regardless of the impact. Knowing the capacity is of interest here. If there is oversupply, that will affect the market as well. Is that not something the NTA should know?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: In terms of a level playing field, no Bus Éireann driver can turn away anybody with a free travel pass. Should the same not apply to any commercial operator?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: Should that not be a condition of granting licences?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: The NTA issues the licences. It is the agency tasked with ensuring that this is managed. If the NTA wants somebody to operate a route, should it not tell the operator that it can operate the route but that it needs to accommodate people with disabilities and older people - individuals for whom the scheme was designed in the first instance? Should that not be a precondition? If operators...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: I imagine that it is something which should have been considered well before this point. The crisis in Bus Éireann's Expressway routes has been well flagged for some time. I do not believe it is the entire cause of the problem but the link to the free travel scheme has been well flagged so surely that is something at which the NTA should be looking.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: That is a decision the NTA makes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: The NTA has decided not to make it a condition of a licence that someone be compelled to accept the free travel pass.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: That needs urgent consideration.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: Should the NTA not have been considering that when it became aware of the huge issues in Bus Éireann?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: On the logistics of disabled persons’ access, am I correct in saying that 2030 is the target date for 100% wheelchair access?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: I am working from memory of responses to parliamentary questions. Is it a pre-requisite for the NTA to grant a licence?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Situation in Bus Éireann: Discussion (22 Feb 2017)
Brendan Griffin: What percentage of Bus Éireann buses are wheelchair accessible?