Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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598. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the solutions available for small bus operators from her Department to record passenger numbers in view of the fact that a manual record system is difficult and time consuming to maintain; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23283/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The free travel scheme permits free travel on most CIE public transport services, Luas and a range of services offered by some 80 private operators in various parts of the country for those eligible under the scheme. There are currently approximately 911,000 customers in receipt of free travel.

Travel operators must comply with a number of terms and conditions when entering the free travel scheme. In this regard they must conduct surveys of free travel customers to my Department’s specification, provide copies of their motor insurance policies indemnifying my Department and providing for public liability, and provide copies of the public service vehicle licences for each of the buses being used on the service.

Surveys of passenger levels are of six month duration. My Department is satisfied that this length of time produces a very fair and equitable result bearing in mind the obligation to ensure that value for money is obtained for the taxpayer. The six month period is necessary to capture possible seasonal fluctuations in passenger traffic. It also ensures that operators in the scheme are fairly compensated for the carriage of free travel pass holders. Currently, ten operators have initiated surveys of their routes to review their rates of payment. To date, these operators have not reported issues with the process.

While my Department appreciates that conducting a survey can be labour intensive, it is not possible to admit new travel operators or to review payment of existing operators in respect of the Free Travel Scheme in the absence of survey data. My Department continually reviews these arrangements to ensure that they are as streamlined as possible. Operators are also being encouraged to install the ITS technology which provides ticketing equipment to operators. This technology facilitates customers using the Leap Card to pay for their travel and reads the free travel variant of the Public Services Card. This, in turn, minimises some of the work involved in the survey process.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.