Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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433. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if an analysis has been done as to the reason for the appearance and disappearance of scheduled buses on the TFI apps and bus stop information boards on the Dublin bus routes; to identify which routes are worst for it; how to address this frustrating issue which is causing workers to be late regularly to work, others to miss hospital appointments, or children to be in trouble for arriving late for classes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19730/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in conjunction with the relevant transport operators.

I understand that the data displayed in the TFI Live app is provided directly by the bus operators and that it is the responsibility of the operators to provide accurate vehicle location data relating to all their services. This data is provided by the on-bus AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) system which records the position of the bus as it proceeds on its route and generates predicted arrival times for each bus stop.

The NTA TFI Live app receives this data from the bus operator and publishes it in the app. The issue of a bus service being displayed in the app but not showing up at the stop is typically caused by the operator not cancelling that service in their AVL system if that service is not being operated (for example, due to a shortage of drivers). TFI Live cannot display a service as cancelled if it has not received the appropriate cancellation message from the operator and as a result it reverts to showing the timetabled time that the bus is due to arrive at a stop.

The performance of all public transport operators is monitored by the NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators. These contractual arrangements allow for not just the monitoring of performance by the NTA and the publication by it of annual performance reports, but importantly, the contracts also allow for the imposition of financial penalties where performance does not meet the required standard.

The NTA's contracts with public transport operators have been strengthened in recent years, to incentivise operators to operate more reliable and punctual services, and they are also investing in a new vehicle location system for the fleet which will improve the reliability of the real time passenger information system.

We are seeing more people using public transport services and we are improving our fleet across the country and I am acutely aware that commuters need certainty around bus services.

In light of the NTA's responsibility in this area, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within ten working days.