Written answers

Tuesday, 3 July 2018

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Free Travel Scheme Review

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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503. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the length of a survey required to be carried out when requesting a review of the payment for the free transport scheme; if it is six months, the same as the initial survey or if it is two weeks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28638/18]

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The free travel scheme permits free travel on most CIÉ 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 914,000 customers in receipt of free travel.

The six month survey period is necessary to capture possible seasonal fluctuations in passenger traffic. 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 tax payer and also that operators in the scheme are fairly compensated for the carriage of free travel pass holders. These payment mechanisms are reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Whilst my Department appreciates that the carrying out of a survey and the associated manual recording of data is a labour intensive project, it is not possible to review payment of existing operators in respect of the Free Travel Scheme in the absence of survey data. It is with this in mind that the Department is encouraging private operators to install the integrated ticketing technology which automatically reads the free travel variant of the Public Services Card (PSC) and would significantly reduce the workload in carrying out these surveys.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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