Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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330. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to issues related to the reduced capacity on public transport services: his plans to address the issues; and if he has considered the allocation of additional resources to transport providers such as the rental of additional fleet as a temporary measure. [33091/20]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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331. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the provisions that have been made to ensure essential workers can travel to their place of employment in view of reduced public transport services now operating; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33137/20]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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338. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if public transport providers can cope with demand in the next six weeks while operating at only 25% of capacity; if there are plans to provide additional services on train, DART, Dublin Bus or Bus Éireann routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33220/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 330, 331 and 338 together.

The continued operation of the public transport sector is important and, from a very early stage in the Covid-19 crisis, public transport was designated by Government as among the essential services that could continue throughout the emergency. Guided by public health advice, measures have been introduced across the system to enable the continued operation of services during the pandemic, including enhanced cleaning regimes and appropriate social distancing measures across the network. New Regulations were also introduced making mandatory the wearing of face coverings on public transport, with some limited exceptions.

There is continued strong messaging that public transport capacity remains restricted and, therefore, should only be used for essential travel, with only those who have to travel at peak times doing so. People are being encouraged to walk or cycle where practical, and organisations are encouraged to continue to facilitate working from home.

The Government is also spending considerable additional Exchequer funds on the public transport sector in order to support the continued operation of necessary services, despite the reduced demand and the restricted capacity owing to the Covid-19 situation. The Exchequer is now funding the PSO (public service obligation) regime far in excess of the allocation that had been provided under Budget 2020. In addition, the Government introduced a new temporary funding support for the non-PSO (licensed, commercial) bus sector in respect of its continuation of necessary bus services.

The Government's Living with Covid Plan, clearly sets out the guidance and restrictions that will apply for all sectors, including public transport, at the 5 levels of the Plan, including strong messaging that people should use active travel as an alternative where this is feasible. The advice is aimed at ensuring public transport is safeguarded for those who need it most, most notably, frontline workers and those needing to travel to education.

The move to 25% capacity utilisation on public transport is amongst the measures introduced under Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID-19, following recommendations made to Government by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). Issues arising from the reduction of capacity arose on some services at the commencement of Level 5, in particular on some early morning bus services. The problem was most acute on buses early in the morning, particularly in the Dublin region. The return of schools this week is likely to again put the public transport system under pressure.

The NTA issued a statement on their website on 20 October 2020 which says that they will look at “particular pressure points” in relation to public transport should the need arise, with a view to addressing them at local level. Since the implementation of Level 5 restrictions, Dublin Bus for example has redeployed additional vehicles to address particular problem areas, where possible, to mitigate the impact of capacity pressures on the network. I would like to thank operators and their staff, particularly drivers, who continue to provide a service in difficult circumstances to ensure essential workers and students can get to work and school.

Both my Department and the NTA are closely monitoring public transport demand and will continue to be guided by public health advice. The NTA advise that the situation on Monday 2nd November, the return of schools following the mid-term beak, was much improved with a reduced level of capacity problems notified by transport operators.