Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 1028: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the other public transport bodies that are to be included in the Leap card scheme; if Dublin Bikes is to be included in the scheme specifically; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41421/11]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 1033: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will report on the recent introduction of the Leap card; the take-up of the Leap card since its introduction; the estimate of the number of Leap cards that will be in circulation by the end of 2012; the total cost of introducing the Leap card; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1140/12]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1028 and 1033 together.

Responsibility to develop, procure, implement, operate and maintain the integrated ticketing system in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) became the function of the National Transport Authority (NTA) with effect from 30th September 2010 in accordance with section 58 of the DTA Act 2008.

The Leap card was launched for sale on 12th December 2011. I am advised that 25,000 Leap Cards have been issued, with almost 180,000 transactions having been carried out using these cards. Given the time of year the NTA is satisfied with the level of usage so early into the phased implementation of the Leap Card.

The Leap Card scheme has been launched on the services of Dublin Bus, Luas and Dart and Commuter rail in the GDA. As part of the planned phased approach in introducing the scheme, the Leap Card will be available for use on Bus Éireann commuter services in the GDA within the next few months.

This year the Leap Card will also be made available on a number of privately owned licensed public transport providers and a trial with Matthews Coaches on the Bettystown to Dublin route has already commenced with further routes to follow.

To date €48 million has been spent on the project out of a budget of €55.4 million; this is within budget and the expenditure to date is in line with expectations. The remaining spend of just under €7 million is to complete the implementation of the project on the other transport operators including across a number of privately operated services as well as for the introduction of additional functionality for cardholders, including auto top-up, price capping, transfer discounts as well as the inclusion of prepaid tickets onto the Leap Card.

The introduction of these new functions, together with the incorporation of Bus Éireann and a number of privately operated services, taken with the considerable discount offered to Leap Card users over cash fares will make the Leap Card very attractive to all members of the public and will likely bring the number of cards into circulation by the end of 2012 to be in excess of 150,000 cards.

With regard to Dublin Bikes, the NTA has held preliminary discussions with Dublin Bikes with a view to integrating the services with the Leap Card and a number of options and technical challenges are being investigated with a view to determining the feasibility of integration.