Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 November 2020
11. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Transport his plans to increase both the Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann fleet numbers in the coming years; the expected extra capacity that will result from this in both companies in order to increase public transport use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35773/20]
View answer42. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Transport his plans to support an increased bus fleet in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35639/20]
View answerWhat are the Minister's plans to increase the services in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann? I am aware that he was to give me good news and talk about increased services, which are welcome, but it is worth highlighting that even before Covid, we had a national crisis in our bus transport system. There was a significant increase in the numbers using public transport in 2019. We are now running to stand still and only recovering from the austerity years. Added to this is the need for capacity at peak hours, particularly for essential workers. Will the Minister address the issue in that context, please?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 42 together.
As the Deputy said, there are ambitious plans to expand bus services in all our cities through implementation of BusConnects, which will see improved services, better infrastructure and larger bus fleets. This type of transformative change is needed and if we are serious about improving public transport, we need to be serious about our support for BusConnects and the benefits it will deliver.
The Government’s ongoing support can be seen in the expanded bus fleet operating our PSO services now as compared with a few years ago. The PSO bus fleet has grown by around 15% over the last three years and will continue to expand this year and beyond. Next year alone, for example, the National Transport Authority will purchase more than 240 new buses for the PSO fleets. These buses will replace older buses with newer and cleaner buses, add capacity through replacing single-deck with double-deck buses and will also expand the fleet through additional buses beyond existing fleets.
BusConnects Dublin will see the PSO bus fleet in the Dublin region expand by more than 200 vehicles between 2021 and 2024, while the service improvements planned under the network redesign will increase services by around 23% as compared with today. I want to see that level of ambition replicated in other cities also. In the regional cities capacity is being added through replacing single-deck buses with double-deck vehicles, which can expand capacity by around 25% per bus.
On the regional services, capacity increases are also being addressed through the purchase of double-deck coaches to replace single-deck coach vehicles on various routes, which can increase capacity by between 40% and 50%. In 2021, it is expected that an additional 48 double-deck coach vehicles will be brought into operation which will add capacity to the system across the country.
With regard to buses, I also note the NTA’s ongoing work on Connecting Ireland. This is an initiative to provide better public transport connections between villages and towns by linking them with an enhanced regional network nationwide. The NTA is commencing a two-phase consultation, beginning with local authority officials and other key stakeholders on the main concepts of Connecting Ireland, which will be followed by a wider public consultation on the proposals in the second quarter of 2021.
I thank the Minister. On the ambitious plans to increase the network across the country, it is pretty shameful for the Minister to describe them as such given that the NTA has actively encouraged private competition and run down Bus Éireann as a company. The Minister's lack of concern about the recent announcement that Bus Éireann will cancel three Expressway routes was astonishing. He does not seem to understand the importance of that decision for the company's future.
We need to look at what the NTA is doing with its neoliberal experiment, as I describe it, under which it is bringing privately operated bus services to 10% of routes in Dublin in the name of competition. The only area that is competitive is the wages and conditions of workers. Everything else, including the routes, the number of buses, fares and timetables are decided by the NTA. It is only the workers' pay and conditions that are subject to competition. This is true also of the Expressway routes being taken over by private companies.
I thank the Minister for taking this question. Last year, passenger numbers rose in Dublin by 7.5%, going from 141 million passengers in 2018 to 151 million in 2019. I ask the Minister to provide an update on his plans to increase the bus fleet for 2021.
I set out the numbers in my earlier answer. There will be an additional 240 new buses, and 200 additional buses are planned for the Dublin region in the next three years.
As regards Bus Éireann, those Expressway services are not yet due to be removed but that decision was made at the same time as additional drivers were being taken on by Bus Éireann. The company is expanding and I want to see it expand further. It is making provision for new services in counties Meath and Louth where there is unmet need. That decision was not an expression of a lack of confidence in Bus Éireann - far from it. The company told us it wanted to expand in these areas and that deploying its resources in this way was the best way to proceed. For the towns that could potentially lose out, for example, Cahir and Mitchelstown, we gave a very clear commitment that public service obligation, PSO, services would be put in place in any such instance. I believe in public transport and PSO services and if any such gap appears, it will be met and closed.
It is not a question of drivers. I am aware that Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann are recruiting. It is about the number of physical buses we need. Nothing in the Minister's response indicates the sort of radical forward thinking we need, given the Covid crisis and the climate crisis. We do not have to argue with our population about using public transport. They want to use it. The question is whether they can get on it. At the moment, healthcare workers cannot get home from work or travel to work because of the lower capacity. I understand that this is a particular situation but this will be a problem in the future. Before Covid, people had difficulty accessing bus services on time with the same frequency. There is also the question of cost. Bus fares are excessive and have gone up hugely in the last few years. We are only now returning to the fleet numbers we had before the fleet was cut in 2009. The Minister's response is not good enough and does not deal with the issue, the climate crisis in particular.
As I said, passenger numbers increased by 7.5% in Dublin and 138 million journeys took place on Dublin Bus services in 2019. Dublin Bus has significantly increased efficiency, brought in new timetables and improved frequencies on the network, which has enabled it to continue growing its passenger numbers, hopefully into 2021. It is clear that there is a demand for improved and increased services across Dublin and Dubliners want to see more improvements on public transport. That is only right. If we want people to leave their cars at home, we are going to have to improve public transport services. I note what the Minister said about the BusConnects plans. That project is important and while the majority of it is welcome, some new routes will also benefit the network. On new proposed routes, I note that there was a discussion around 24-hour bus services. If the Minister has any information on that, particularly routes southbound from Dublin city to Bray, I ask him to elaborate on it.
I do not have the detail on that matter but I will ask the Department to furnish it to the Deputy directly. We will provide additional buses but the key here is the BusConnects project because if we can deliver that, not just in Dublin but also in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, it will radically improve the service, as well as the conditions and lived experience of the drivers working on the service. That is the most important step and we have to get it right at this time to make our bus system the cornerstone of our public transport system.
I was looking in detail at the Kimmage route the other day, which Deputy Smith and I share in our bordering constituencies. I will take that as an example, although it is one of many I could take along the 16 corridors being built. After consultation with the community, we have ended up with a very different design from the one that was originally proposed. It will be very radical and will take a lot of political courage for us to get this through because it will very much advantage cycling, buses and pedestrians over other modes of transport. That is what we have to do now because the city will not work unless we make a bus system that works. We will provide the buses. A shortage of buses will not be the problem in any instance. The key now is getting the BusConnects project into planning. We hope to get that done in March after this final consultation. If there are changes, the NTA should be open to looking at them but by and large the network proposed and the design solutions it has come up with are the right ones. More than anything else, that will increase bus numbers by making it easier for drivers and passengers to use the buses we have. That is the key measure we need to get right in the next few years.
