I thank the committee for its invitation. I am accompanied by Ms Anne Graham, director of corporate policy and services. We are glad of the opportunity to deal with the queries of members and to hear their views.
At our last attendance in February, which was the first appearance of the authority before the committee, we took the opportunity to set out the functions and priorities of the authority and we explained in particular the difference between our national and greater Dublin area, GDA, responsibilities. Today I will set out some recent developments in our functions, I will outline progress made and I will broadly address the bus licensing and taxi regulation issues mentioned by the Chairman.
Since our last attendance there have been some statutory and administrative extensions of our functions. The authority's functions under section 60 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 were extended by statutory instrument in March 2010 to apply to the cities and counties of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford and the contiguous areas of those counties. Those functions relate to integrated information which encompasses initiatives such as multi-modal journey planning and real time passenger information.
The Minister for Transport made two orders in September in respect of integrated ticketing. The purpose of the first order was to commence section 58 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act, which gives the authority responsibility for the development of integrated ticketing in the GDA. The purpose of the second order was to extend the authority's remit in respect of integrated ticketing to the rest of the State. As the integrated ticketing project has been progressed to its critical testing and roll-out phases by the Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, we have exercised its power of assignment under the Act to enable the RPA to continue to develop the project on our behalf for the time being. It is intended to terminate this assignment in due course once the project moves into its operational phase during 2011 and, at that point, the RPA staff working on the project will transfer to the authority. I will cover integrated ticketing later.
The authority has also assumed responsibility for funding the Transport 21 project office within Dublin City Council. That office collates and distributes information relating to the delivery of Transport 21 projects in the GDA and the objective is to keep both citizens and visitors to Dublin fully informed and up-to-date as the various projects are rolled out across the city. It also works closely with the RPA and Irish Rail on planning traffic management within the city for the periods when major construction works are under way.
We anticipate that the Minister for Transport, in the near future, will designate the authority as the body responsible for the enforcement of EU regulation that ensures basic rights for rail passengers, for example, with regard to insurance, ticketing, and for passengers with reduced mobility. In addition, we understand that the statutory assimilation of the Commission for Taxi Regulation into the authority will take place in December when we will then become responsible for developing and maintaining a regulatory framework for the control and operation of taxis, hackneys and limousines. Until such time, this sector will continue to be overseen by the commission. When the guidelines for the licensing of public bus passenger services are adopted by the authority later this month, the bus licensing function will be transferred statutorily from the Department of Transport to the authority.
I refer to progress in capital investment since our last meeting. The authority is responsible for financing and construction of public transport projects in the greater Dublin area, namely counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow and the four local authority areas in Dublin. The authority's delivery role is undertaken by other organisations, including the Railway Procurement Agency for Luas and metro projects, Iarnród Éireann for DART projects, commuter and regional railway projects and local authorities for bus, cycling and walking measures. To fulfil its function, the authority needs the delivery agencies to follow clear processes to ensure projects are well managed; that the authority is informed of all key matters relating to projects; and that at each key milestone in a project the authority has received the information to make sound decisions on the authorisation of the next stage of work.
We have introduced three sets of guidelines which are now being implemented by the delivery agencies. The guidelines are for the management of public transport projects delivered by conventional procurement or by public private partnership and the cost management guidelines associated with those projects. While the agencies already had well developed processes in place, they have welcomed the guidelines due to the greater clarity on decision points and interface requirements with the authority. Those guidelines are on our website and have been since implementation.
An investment programme of almost €350 million for this year is proceeding well. Major milestones include the opening of the Luas extension to Cherrywood, the opening of the rail line to Dunboyne, the granting of the rail order for metro North, the publication of rail order applications for DART underground, Luas Broombridge and metro west and the ongoing construction and installation of a wide range of projects throughout the seven local authority areas in the region.
On public transport services, since establishment we have been actively implementing new contracts with the CIE companies who under these contracts are providing public transport services subsidised by the authority. In 2010, the authority provided subvention of €276 billion to the three operators, Dublin Bus, Irish Rail and Bus Éireann. Our contraction role involves monitoring the performance of the operators in terms of punctuality, number of services, customer information and other matters, approval of all service changes and fares. We also have powers to direct service changes. Each quarter, a portion of subsidy is dependent on satisfactory performance. The operators' performance reports are placed on our website. For the two quarters analysed to date performance payments have been made to all operators as contractual requirements have been met.
Our plans now are to delve in more detail into the cost allocations and service planning of the operators. We have engaged a financial accountancy firm that will ensure, in particular in respect of the bus companies, that appropriate separation of costs is made between their subsidised and commercial services and that their subsidies are appropriately applied. We are also in the process of procuring specialist advisers who will supplement our transport expertise to examine bus and rail services to ensure they are of a type and quality that best meet the needs of consumers. As a start, early in 2011 we will review rural bus services in the south east region. Based on that review, we will continue our review programme across the country. We also plan to review city bus services in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
On the rail side, we plan to commence a review of the Dublin-Galway line service and to then continue to review other inter city and rural services. The year 2010 has been challenging for all operators, including those in receipt of State subsidy. The economic recession has reduced patronage significantly since 2008. The subsidy available in 2010 was more than 10% lower than in 2009 and fuel duty rebate is no longer available. Each of the operating companies has engaged in substantial cost rationalisation and efficiency drives resulting in more than 400 changes of services being processed through the authority for approval during the past nine months.
The authority established a methodology for the evaluation of social benefits to be used in particular circumstances where the public subsidy needs to be prioritised. Methodologies are used by operators as required by the authority. When operators are examining choices for rationalising services a formalised assessment of the social value of the services concerned supports good decision making. As this is the first methodology of its kind for public transport in Ireland we will pilot it for a period and where necessary will adapt it based on experience gained. The methodology is also available for download on our website.
On integration measures, one of the National Transport Authority's key objectives is to improve the provision of travel information to the public. We wish to make it easier for public transport users, including visitors to Ireland, to recognise and interact more effectively with the transport system and to have easy access to information on all aspects of travel such as timetables and journey planning. Real time bus information lets passengers know as accurately as possible when a bus is likely to arrive at a bus stop. The authority has worked with Dublin City Council to develop this new service for bus passengers in the greater Dublin area. Customers will receive the bus arrival information in a number of ways, including display signs at the busiest stops in the network, from a dedicated website that will continually update information on arrivals at all bus stops and by text. Passengers will be able to text their bus stop code, bus stop name or route to a central telephone number to receive real time bus arrival times at a particular stop. We are pleased to report today that we will launch a pilot this month at a number of locations in Dublin to test the accuracy of the systems that have been developed. In the initial phase, which will be completed by March 2011, 450 display signs will be installed at key stops in the greater Dublin area. At the end of this phase, the website and text message facility will also have been commissioned. In the next phase of 2011-12, we will roll out the system to the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford in conjunction the local authorities in those areas.
The signs will incorporate the latest technology to ensure easy readability and will comply with disability guidelines for electronic signage. As well as providing bus arrival times, they can display service updates and messages from the bus control centre. We are also examining options to assist blind or partially sighted people to use the bus network more easily, using a combination of telephone and text services together with braille identification of individual bus stops.
On the multi-modal journey planner, the authority has commenced work on developing a national inter-modal journey planner system that will provide door to door information on available travel options for journeys within the greater Dublin area and nationally. The journey planner will work in such a way that customers will perceive the public transport network as an integrated network rather than a fragmented compilation of different operators and modes. Planning a public transport journey is currently quite frustrating in that one has to examine a number of websites of different operators to find the journey options available. Walking and cycling links are not provided and the inter-change between modes is not comprehensive. The authority's journey planner will pull all the information together into a one-stop website operated and maintained by it.
The integrated ticketing system in the greater Dublin area based on smart card technology will be introduced on a phased basis throughout 2011. The back office built by IBM has passed all tests and is now ready to support end to end testing with the transport operators. HP in association with Payzone have been appointed as the scheme's operators and are now recruiting staff, preparing the operating manuals, building the website, establishing the call centre and the retail outlets for an operations launch in summer 2011. The launch, supported by a marketing programme, will unveil a pay-as-you-go function using an e-purse for all Dublin Bus and Luas services. Following that phase during the remaining months of 2011, Irish Rail, DART and commuter rail services will be added to the scheme, as will private bus operators and Bus Éireann. The coming months will see the continuation of extensive staff testing of the single smart card. It is being tested and will then be rolled out to a small number of customers for live consumer testing of the Dublin Bus-Luas integrated annual ticket followed by the e-purse function.
At our last committee appearance, I stated that I expected that the first small customer pilot would take place in summer 2010. That was not achieved but is expected to commence next month. The overall project tasks have been rephased to minimise the impact on the next phase of testing of electronic purse integration, which will take place in the New Year. The target now for overall roll out is summer 2011.
The National Transport Authority is charged under the Dublin Transport Authority Act with developing a brand for promoting public transport. We have considered how best to use a brand to optimise the benefit for the travelling public. We do not require a new brand to be directly associated with the organisation that is the National Transport Authority. This is not an exercise in building the authority's image or credentials, rather it is about fostering the integration of Irish transport services for the benefit of the travelling public. There is a particular requirement to streamline the information flow for customers. Currently, travel information must be gathered from an unacceptably high number of different sources. We intend to address this shortcoming by developing one-stop websites supported by the new brand. This will enable people to easily plan a trip between any two points in Ireland using an online journey planner, real time passenger information, maps, timetables and links to other sites, for example, integrated tickets, real time roadworks and congestion information. The pilot launch of real time passenger information this month will see first use of this public transport brand.
Throughout 2010 the authority has been active in making statutory submissions on regional planning guidelines, development plans and local area plans. These submissions are available for viewing on our website. Themes we have highlighted include the need for settlement patterns that are not dependent on long distance commuting, the need for development consolidation to support effective public transport provision and the potential for increasing cycling and walking for short journeys in urban areas and in rural towns. Through this exercise, we have developed links with all the regional authorities and with the local authorities in the greater Dublin area. We view these links as critical and will liaise closely with regional and local authorities when undertaking our national reviews of bus and rail services.
The authority is at the final stage of preparing a draft transport strategy for the greater Dublin area. This is a long-term strategy which will inform all transport planning in the region from now until 2030. The target year for the strategy is 2030.