Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Seanad Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

the capital city still does not have a high speed integrated and sustainable public transport system to entice commuters from their cars to reliable public transport;

Dublin Bus is taking more buses off the road and reducing routes, therefore cutting services to local communities;

the Government has failed to implement its planned policy on bus competition;

the integrated ticketing scheme has still not been completed ten years after its announcement;

sustainable travel projects such as bus park and ride, real time information and metro north are stalled after a decade of planning;

there is a clear inability of our transport bodies to turn strategy into action;

considering that:

billions of taxpayers money has been spent on infrastructural projects in the transport sector;

the subvention to Dublin Bus has more than quadrupled in 10 years to €82.4m in 2009;

calls on the Government to:

honour its commitment to provide commuters with a real alternative to the car;

ensure Dublin Bus publishes in full its recent Network Review; and

allow private public transport operators to enter the bus market.".

I also welcome the Minister of State to the House. I believe this is his first appearance here. I know he has considerable interest and expertise in these areas. I wish anybody well who has come into ministerial office for the first time after a time in the Dáil. I hope it is successful for him.

It is timely to consider a survey published over the weekend by TomTom, the company that makes satellite navigation systems for cars. It conducted a survey of 59 cities across Europe with a population of more than 500,000. It analysed the cities that suffer most from traffic congestion issues. Out of the 59 cities analysed, Dublin was sixth worst in terms of the time lost in-car and the amount of time commuters must spend unnecessarily as they go about their business.

I want to raise four themes to which I would like the Minister of State to respond: the status of integrated ticketing; the recent announcements from Dublin Bus about the withdrawal of buses; the integration of planning and transport introduced under the national transport authority Bill; and the status of Transport 21 and how those projects stand.

Experts in transport planning frequently state the most important aspect of public transport, once different modes are available, is to deliver integration so people can move from one mode to another. Given the increase there has been in the varieties of public transport since the introduction of the Luas, the introduction of integrated ticketing has never been more important. The track record of the Government, however, on integrated ticketing, both in terms of cost and delivery, is a joke. In 2000 the then Minister for Transport made the commitment that integrated ticketing would be rolled out and the first deadline for delivery of that project was 2002. It is now 2010 and there is no sign of the project being rolled out across the entire country. There is a promise of some phasing but, by this stage, given the increases in public transport modes, the idea that a person cannot move from bus to train to Luas is a disgrace.

By the time the project is up and running, the cost is likely to exceed €55 million. The taxpayer has already spent in excess of €30 million. The project is eight years behind schedule and, given that nothing has happened, the costs are going up year on year. There was a report in The Sunday Times at the weekend that targets that were being set for the delivery of phased integrated ticketing in the second half of this year were unrealistic and would not happen. Does the Minister of State expect to see the rol-out of integrated ticketing in the second half of the year? Where will it happen, will it be in Dublin alone or will it happen elsewhere? How much will it cost? If we find ourselves moving beyond 2010, the phasing that has been pointed to as vital to deliver the national roll-out of the project will not happen and we will face a further delay. I was concerned to see a report in The Sunday Times that claimed further delay is likely.

What is happening in Dublin Bus is topical. This is not just an issue for Dublin Bus because when it makes an announcement, a similar announcement is usually made by Bus Éireann soon afterwards. This is confined to Dublin at the moment but Bus Éireann faces the same pressures and it is likely it will have to put in place a plan to respond to the commercial pressure it faces. Dublin Bus has stated there will be a further reduction of 90 buses following a reduction last year. Despite that reduction, it does not expect to see any change in the frequency and quality of service made available to commuters.

The bus levels in Dublin will fall back to those of 2001 and 2002. Since then we have doubled the amount of money available to Dublin Bus, from €40 million to €80 million. The subvention made available to that company has doubled across the time the number of buses has decreased. It will be difficult for the Minister of State's Department to enjoy the credibility it wants in sustainable transport if, at the same time, the number of buses on the streets is decreasing. The Minister of State should make a statement this afternoon about the Department of Transport's intentions on this, publish the report underpinning the decisions that have been made and examine the putting in place of the legislative changes that would process the applications from private operators who wish to provide services separate from Dublin Bus. We have operators who have been waiting for a decision on a licence from the Department of Transport for up to four years. That must be addressed.

There are many projects in Transport 21 that are moving quickly through the planning phase, such as metro north and the Dublin interconnector, but there has not been a recent statement from Government about the capital funding and support necessary for the delivery of those projects. Every public reference tells us they are in the planning phase and the Government will not make a decision until planning is complete. There is little point moving through the entire planning phase if the capital requirement needed to get the public private partnership off the ground is not in place.

I wish the Minister of State well. His job is needed to deliver the necessary integration. The record until now has not been good and I hope the Minister of State will change that. I await a detailed response on the status of integrated ticketing.