Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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547. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a passenger survey on public transport will be commissioned to assess the true costs of the free travel scheme to CIÉ, thereby making payment patterns from her Department more transparent. [43649/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department makes a block payment to the CIÉ Group and the apportionment of payment between the three constituent companies, Bus Éireann, Bus Átha Cliath and Iarnród Éireann is a matter for the CIE Group to determine. In 2016, €61.4 million was paid to the CIE Group for the free travel scheme.

In the early years of the free travel scheme surveys of passenger numbers were carried out by CIE with their rate of payment being adjusted to take account of the survey results, fare increases and increases in numbers qualified. Given the large numbers of passengers involved it would not be feasible to return to surveys of passengers now. The block payment to the CIE group is a service charge that has been negotiated over the years based on a range of factors including passenger numbers, fare levels, availability and frequency of services, peak time access, service improvements and enhancements. While there are no plans to return to the survey process of public transport companies my Department, the Department of Transport and the National Transport Authority have been reviewing the payment mechanisms and funding levels for the scheme. The use of the free travel variant of the Public Services Card will also provide journey data in this regard.

It is important to note also that in Budget 2018, I announced an additional investment of €10 million for the free travel scheme.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.