Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 March 2022
167. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Transport 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]
View answer171. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Transport 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]
View answerI 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.
