Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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166. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has agreed to a request to meet with representatives of an organisation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12335/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I would like to reassure the Deputy that both the National Transport Authority (NTA) and my Department have been engaging directly with commercial bus operators throughout the crisis to help inform policy decisions in relation to the public transport sector as we continue to deal with the impact of Covid-19.

In this context, my Department has been liaising with the Coach Tourism & Transport Council of Ireland (CTTC) since May 2020 - to date 22 meetings have taken place, and a further meeting is scheduled for 8th April 2022. I also previously met with the CTTC and a further meeting has been scheduled for 22nd March 2022.

I look forward to meeting again with representatives from the CTTC to discuss the issues facing the sector.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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167. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has considered the resumption of the commercial bus operators' scheme for 2022 in line with fare reduction measures he announced on public service obligation routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12336/22]

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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171. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will extend the commercial bus operators' scheme until the impact of the pandemic on consumer confidence dissipates and passenger rates return to pre-pandemic levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12354/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 167 and 171 together.

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 public transport services until the end of 2022. These discounted fares will benefit the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who use PSO services 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 Deputies will be aware, unlike with PSO services, the National Transport Authority (NTA) do not set, monitor or regulate fares on services run by commercial operators.

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.

Licensed bus and coach 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.

The temporary support was initially introduced for a period of 6-months in June 2020, however owing to the continued fall in passenger numbers and associated drop in fare revenue, the support has been extended a number of times. To date c.€60m has been provided to support the Commercial Bus Operators. The scheme is due to expire at the end of this month and no decision has been taken in relation to a potential continuation of these supports.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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168. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 169 of 17 February 2022, the reason that the option of running route A down Camden Street, Dublin was deemed better by the NTA; and the further reason the NTA took a decision on route A in 2019 prior to the completion of the public consultation process (details supplied) given the final phase of BusConnects was in December 2020. [12350/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport.  The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area, including BusConnects Dublin.

The Revised Network was published in September 2020 following the conclusion of 3 separate public consultations in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The public consultation referred to by the Deputy was held in respect of the Core Bus Corridor network which is separate to the Revised Network.

I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for further elaboration on the process of the route selection for Spine A.  Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 days.