Written answers

Wednesday, 2 March 2022

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Public Transport

Photo of Seán CanneySeán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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62. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if private coach and bus operators will be included in the scheme to reduce fares by 20% on all public service obligation routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11937/22]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government is strongly committed to helping combat the rising cost-of-living being experienced throughout the country. In this context, a suite of new measures is being introduced by Government to help with this issue, including a 20% average fare reduction on PSO services until the end of 2022. These discounted fares will benefit the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who use PSO public transport every day.

€54m in Exchequer funding has been secured to allow for the introduction of these discounted fares; this funding does not include an extension of the scheme to private coach and bus operators. As the Deputy is aware, unlike with PSO services, the National Transport Authority (NTA) do not set, monitor or regulate fares on services run by commercial operators.

Licensed bus operators are an integral part of the overall public transport system particularly in areas which are not covered by existing public service bus and rail services. In recognition of this, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the Government have provided temporary financial supports for certain licensed commercial services with a view to protecting capacity across the public transport sector throughout the crisis. To date c.€60m has been provided to support the Commercial Bus Operators during this challenging time.

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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63. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consult with the NTA in respect of initiating an additional project to be delivered in parallel with the DART+ West project that will bring passenger dart services to Kilcock town in addition to a proposed train depot in Kilcock, County Kildare. [11941/22]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In consultation with Iarnród Éireann, the National Transport Authority (NTA), which has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure including rail in the Greater Dublin Area, is progressing the various projects of the DART+ Programme.  These projects, of which DART+ West is one, are at different stages of planning and development.

The approval by Government last December of the DART+ Preliminary Business Case, permits not only the purchase of additional DART fleet but also for the DART+ West project to enter the statutory planning process, subject to the completion of the necessary planning and environmental documentation. 

Further extensions to DART services in the years ahead are being considered as part of the NTA’s review of the Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area which, as the Deputy may be aware, was recently subject to public consultation. The revised draft Strategy does propose extending DART services beyond Maynooth; however, the focus is on completing the delivery of the DART+ Programme, as it must be, in order to allow for later consideration of further extensions to the Programme.

Photo of Colm BurkeColm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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64. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress to date in respect of introducing the new half price public transport fare for young persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11953/22]

Photo of Colm BurkeColm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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65. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the 20% reduction in public transport fares as part of measures to help with the cost of living will cover all public service obligation services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11954/22]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 64 and 65 together.

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport, nor decisions on fares. It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) that has responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services, provided under public service obligation (PSO) contracts.

The Government is strongly committed to helping combat the rising cost-of-living being experienced throughout the country. In this context, a suite of new measures is being introduced by Government to help with this issue, including a 20% average fare reduction on all PSO services until the end of 2022. These discounted fares will benefit the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who use PSO public transport every day. €54m in Exchequer funding has been secured to allow for the introduction of these discounted fares.

Also, in recognition of the importance of incentivising young people to use public transport, as part of Budget 2022 I secured €25m of funding to provide for the introduction of a young adult card (YAC) which will allow any person nationwide who is between 19 and 23 years old, to avail of an entitlement for discounted travel costs, and to increase the level of discount over and above the current student discount to an average of discount of 50% across all services, including city, intercity and rural services. It is envisaged that the discount will initially be made available on PSO services, and then broadened to include commercial operators at a later date.  This will not only promote modal shift in the transport sector among this age group but should also contribute towards a reduced reliance on private transport with associated benefit of transport emission savings.

In light of the NTA's responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's specific question in relation to the inclusion of commercial bus operators in the schemes, to the NTA for direct reply.  Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.

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