Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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440. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport for an update on increasing bus and rail services in Dublin west for winter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47275/25]

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.

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

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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441. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the installation of the next generation automatic vehicle location system on bus services nationally and in Dublin west; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47276/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, as Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure, including the development of related technology systems.

The NTA awarded a contract to implement and support a National Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system for all Public Service Obligation (PSO) buses to Trapeze in December 2023. This upgrade will improve the quality of bus service operations and the timeliness and the quality of real time bus service information.

This will enable the NTA to consolidate several existing bus AVL systems into one central system to be used by all PSO bus operators in Ireland and has expansion capacity to meet the growing demand for public transport in Ireland. The migration to this upgraded system is expected to take place across the coming years.

Noting the NTA's responsibility in the matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for a direct reply. Please contact my private office, if you do not receive a reply within 10 days.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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442. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport for an update on the implementation to date on the rollout of new automatic vehicle location technology on bus services nationally and in Dublin west; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47277/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, as Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure, including the development of related technology systems.

The NTA awarded a contract to impalement and support a National Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system for all Public Service Obligation (PSO) buses to Trapeze, a specialist transport systems company, which will be enable the NTA to consolidate several existing and disparate bus AVL systems into one central system to be used by all PSO bus operators in Ireland, and which has expansion capacity to meet the growing demand for public transport in Ireland.

The project is well underway and a critical enabler for this project, preparatory works on the bus fleet nationwide to re-wire the buses so that they are ready for installation of the new AVL equipment, has advanced. To date more than 700 buses have been retrofitted with the new wiring arrangements to allow fitment of the new kit.

The next phase is to commence the system testing of the solution. End-to-end testing of the hardware and software solution to be deployed is a critical activity that must be successfully completed, with all defects resolved in order for NTA to be confident that the solution is fully functional and robust before it can be installed on bus.

Subject to the systems successfully passing the detailed testing phases, a pilot implementation will commence late this year and assuming no problematic issues are found, full roll-out will commence in 2026 and will complete in early 2027. In total approx. 1,800 buses nationwide will have the new system installed.

Noting the NTA's responsibility in the matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for a direct reply. Please contact my private office, if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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443. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of buses in operation in Dublin overall, by diesel hybrid and diesel in each of the years 2021 to 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47278/25]

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. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure, including the provision and upgrade of the public bus fleet.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Government is committed to the decarbonisation of the public transport sector in line with the Climate Action Plan. No new diesel-only buses have been purchased for urban public service obligation bus fleets since July 2019, as set out in the National Development Plan 2018-2027. The transition to a zero-emission urban bus fleet is currently programmed to take up until 2035, based on replacement of non-zero emission buses as they reach the end of their efficient service lives.

Electric buses produce no emissions and offer reduced interior and exterior noise levels compared to diesel buses. This transition to electric buses will result in cleaner air and less noise pollution in areas where the buses are operating, while also providing a quieter journey for passengers. Electric buses are currently rolling out across Ireland in areas such as Dublin, Limerick and Athlone.

Noting the NTA's responsibility in the matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for a direct reply. Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.