Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

Five minutes should suffice. The Senators do not know how quickly I can speak. Some 60% of customers will be carried on high frequency routes. The current figure is 23%. There will also be increased interchange opportunities with DART and heavy and light rail services. The redesign will reduce the lay-over of buses in the city centre and improve traffic flows, thereby leading to an improved city centre environment. Complementary measures supporting the quality of services to customers will also be introduced during 2010. Real-time passenger information is on the way and will be available by mobile telephone and also at 500 on-street signs. I hope that software developers, such as those involved in the iPhone and other telephones, will put in place the kinds of applications that will allow customers to see what is occurring in real-time. The initial phase of the project will be delivered by the end of the year.

Another important initiative to enhance the quality of the service for users of public transport is integrated ticketing. This project, which will integrate smart cards on Iarnród Éireann, Luas, Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann and private bus operator services, continues to progress well and rigorous testing of the system is under way. I was privileged to receive and use an Iarnród Éireann smart card in recent weeks. It beats looking for a handful of change when getting on a DART that is pulling into the station. This project continues to be rolled out and those smart cards are now available from on-line vending machines.

Subject to successful testing, Dublin Bus and Luas annual pass holders will be migrated to integrated smart cards from late summer of this year. This will be followed by a similar exercise for ePurse or pay-as-you-go users of Dublin Bus and Luas services when the scheme is sufficiently robust. The last thing we want to do is roll out a scheme that might experience difficulties. We want to get it right. The smart card will be rolled out to cover services provided by private operators, Iarnród Éireann, DART, commuter rail services and Bus Éireann following completion of the necessary development, testing and commissioning of the systems.

We also have a new bus licensing regime. These initiatives have been supported by institutional and regulatory reform in public transport. The Public Transport Regulation Act 2009 reforms the bus licensing regime for the commercial bus market, replacing the Road Transport Act 1932. The new regime, to be administered by the National Transport Authority, provides a level playing field for all bus market participants, public and private, and will foster a competitive market that best serves the needs of bus users. There are some great private operators in my constituency. However, the last thing we want is for people to cherry-pick in respect of the most successful routes. That is an important point to make to those in certain parties which have advocated in favour of a sweeping privatisation process.