Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 187: To ask the Minister for Transport the amount spent on rural transport annually since 2004 to date in 2010; the annual passenger numbers and funding given to each of the 36 rural transport providers annually since 2006; the number and location of rural transport services that have been dropped annually since 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22191/10]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 190: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of passengers who availed of the rural transport programme in 2009; the percentage of these passengers who held a free travel pass; the percentage who used the door-to-door service; the cost of the door-to-door service in 2009; the number of passenger journeys in 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22331/10]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 187 and 190 together.

Expenditure since 2004 by my Department on the Rural Transport Programme (RTP), together with the Free Travel Scheme (FTS) contribution from the Department of Social Protection and funding for the Evening Services Pilot Scheme (ESPS) operated by the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs in the period 2007-2009, are set out in Table 1: Table 1

The number of transport services operated under the RTP continues to grow as do the number of passenger journeys recorded on those services, details of which are set out in Table 2:

Table 2

Of the 2009 passengers, 65 percent were Free Travel Pass holders while 79 percent were provided with a door-to-door service. The provision of specific services under the Programme is a matter for Pobal (which administers the RTP on behalf of my Department) and the individual RTP groups who know where the transport needs are in their areas and how best to address them.

The actual amount spent on individual service types is not currently collated. Groups are given overall budgets to provide different models of transport including scheduled services, semi-flexible and demand responsive services depending on the needs identified locally. The annual RTP, Free Travel and ESPS funding in each of the years from 2006-2009 for each of the community transport groups are set out in Tables 3 - 6. I understand from Pobal that the 2010 funding allocations for individual groups have not yet been finalised.

Table 3: 2006

Table 4: 2007

Table 5: 2008

Table 6: 2009