Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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54. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will intervene to stop the cutting of the school bus service previously contracted by Dublin Bus. [16041/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As the Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The day-to-day management and operational aspects of public transport are the responsibility of the individual operators, in this case Dublin Bus, in conjunction with the National Transport Authority (NTA).

Within this context, I understand that Dublin Bus decided in June of this year to cancel its contracts with a number of private bus operators for the provision of dedicated school bus services. The decision was arrived at after careful deliberation and based on a number of factors including -

- Availability of PSO network services in the Dublin area, and in the vicinity of Tallaght, Ballinteer and Greenhills;

- Low passenger usage on some contracted services;

- Value for money for the delivery of the services; and

- Strategic fit in relation to the existing and proposed bus network.

In response to this decision by Dublin Bus, the NTA has put in place arrangements to augment PSO bus services where necessary to cater for the schoolchildren. The NTA, in conjunction with transport operators, is monitoring the impact of the return of schools on bus services generally. Once new patterns of travel demand are established, the NTA will further review services and make any adjustments that may be required, including determining the potential implementation of any additional services.