Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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36. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the disruption and cancellation of public bus services in the Waterford region and the associated impacts on public transport users; if he has plans to work with Bus Éireann and TFI to restore services to their usual schedule; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32121/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Both the National Transport Authority (NTA) and my Department have been engaging directly with commercial bus operators throughout the Covid-19 Emergency. The public transport system in Ireland has played an essential service role over the course of the pandemic, especially in carrying essential workers and others making necessary journeys.

In this regard, the Government agreed substantial increases to the PSO budget to support continuation of PSO services during the Covid situation in 2020 and 2021. In addition, the Government has recognised the situation of the licenced bus sector - which normally operates on a commercial basis without public subvention but which, during the Covid crisis, was in a situation where its operations were no longer commercially viable, owing to the impact of Covid-19 on passenger numbers and the associated drop in fare revenue.

Therefore, last June the Government decided to introduce new, temporary financial support for certain licensed services provided by commercial bus operators to ensure the continued operation of these essential services. The Expressway business operated by Bus Éireann is one of the many commercial operations of licenced public transport services that have been able to avail of this new, temporary, Covid-related support.

The temporary support was initially introduced for a period of 6-months, with a view to protecting capacity across the public transport sector throughout the crisis. The NTA on behalf of my Department, entered into contracts with the licensed bus sector to provide funding for routes where a clear public interest justification supports such intervention.

As it remains the case that commercial bus operators are still under severe financial distress due to the fall in passenger numbers and associated drop in fare revenue as a result of Covid-19, on 26 January 2021, Government decided to extend the temporary funding supports for the licensed bus sector for a further period of 3 months, with an option to extend contracts on a monthly basis thereafter. The NTA, following consultation with operators, has recently finalised a review of the scheme and as a result some changes to services have been implemented.

Given the NTA's statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally, I have also forwarded the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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37. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way the closure of bus routes across the country align with the need for more public transport to reduce dependency on cars and carbon emissions in line with Ireland's climate action goals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29426/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Both the National Transport Authority (NTA) and my Department have been engaging directly with commercial bus operators throughout the Covid-19 Emergency. The public transport system in Ireland has played an essential service role over the course of the pandemic, especially in carrying essential workers and others making necessary journeys.

In order to support the continued operation of public transport services throughout the crisis, despite the reduced demand and the restricted capacity owing to the Covid-19 situation, the Government is spending considerable additional Exchequer funds on the public transport sector. Government support for all public transport services in 2020 amounted to over €620m. By comparison, the level of PSO and Local Link funding provided in 2019 was in the region of €300m. The 2021 Exchequer allocation for PSO is just below €659m.

Further, last June the Government decided to introduce new, temporary financial support for certain licensed services provided by commercial bus operators to ensure the continued operation of these essential services. The Expressway business operated by Bus Éireann is one of the many commercial operations of licenced public transport services that have been able to avail of this new, temporary, Covid-related support.

The temporary support was initially introduced for a period of 6-months, with a view to protecting capacity across the public transport sector throughout the crisis. The NTA on behalf of my Department, entered into contracts with the licensed bus sector to provide funding for routes where a clear public interest justification supports such intervention.

As it remains the case that commercial bus operators are still under severe financial distress due to the fall in passenger numbers and associated drop in fare revenue as a result of Covid-19, on 26 January 2021, Government decided to extend the temporary funding supports for the licensed bus sector for a further period of 3 months, with an option to extend contracts on a monthly basis thereafter. The NTA, following consultation with operators, has recently finalised a review of the scheme and as a result some changes to services have been implemented.

As transport accounts for a little over 20% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions, there can be no doubt that the sector has a vital role to play in our national decarbonisation efforts. Providing meaningful alternatives to everyday car journeys, especially in our cities, is fundamental to achieving our climate objectives.

The Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2021 will be published later this summer and will contain several key transport decarbonisation actions relating to modal shift and managing demand for private car use. Regarding modal shift targets, the CAP 2019 aimed for an additional 500,000 sustainable journeys in the transport system by 2035, and I expect that under CAP 2021 this ambition level will be raised further.

The current Programme for Government (PfG) sets out an ambitious and wide-ranging set of commitments in relation to public transport investment. These commitments will provide viable alternatives to car transport to reduce congestion and emissions, and enable the transport sector to cater for the demands associated with longer-term population and employment growth in a sustainable manner.

The implementation of major public transport projects such as BusConnects, Connecting Ireland, the expansion of rail services and infrastructure, as well as a significant increase in our cycling and walking spending will be pivotal in fostering more sustainable trips.

An important element of Ireland’s climate action is the move toward low-emission vehicles. Under the National Development Plan (NDP), the NTA committed to no longer purchasing diesel-only urban buses from July 2019. To date, a total of 280 diesel-electric hybrid buses have been ordered, of which 100 should be operational by May 2021, with the remainder to be delivered before year end. The NTA is also tendering for both single and double-deck full electric town buses and piloting electric vehicles in rural areas under the Local Link programme.

Achieving modal shift will be supported through the new 10-year Sustainable Mobility Policy, which will be published later this year. The new Policy will include actions in the areas of behaviour change, demand management, and transport-led development, including multi-modal transport hubs to deliver modal shift and greater use of sustainable modes of transport.

In tandem to promoting more sustainable travel modes, we need to lessen car kilometres driven if we are to achieve the required 51% reduction in transport emissions. This is not about cancelling trips, but rather it is about reducing the need for and length of certain trips. Planning policy will continue to work to address low-density/suburban sprawl, which increases the distance people must travel and ultimately can lock in car-dependent patterns of behaviour. Increasing sustainable and active journeys offers many co-benefits in terms of citizen health, reducing congestion, and facilitating more accessible and vibrant communities.

In this regard, I am fully committed to exploring every means possible to shift towards low-carbon, affordable, and accessible mobility.