Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 July 2014
730. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the 120 bus route from Edenderry, County Offaly, will be retained as a public route with particular reference to the numbers of persons who currently avail of this bus route; if he will alleviate concerns of commuters who are worried regarding the plans to privatise this route; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30750/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra807. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress of opening up public transport routes to other transport providers; if he will confirm that acceptance of the free travel pass will be a requirement for any new services taking over contracts from Bus Éireann or Dublin Bus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31584/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 730 and 807 together.
The direct award contracts for the provision of Public Service Obligation (PSO) bus market services held by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann expire later this year. The awarding of subsequent contracts is the statutory responsibility of the National Transport Authority (NTA).
All Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann routes will be included in the new five year direct award contracts which the NTA will enter into with the companies next December. However, the NTA announced that 10% of publicly subvented bus services will only remain within the direct award contracts until the end of 2016 after which they will be operated under separate contracts that will have been competitively tendered. In the case of Dublin Bus services, the routes that will be opened to tender are the orbital routes and some local routes around the city. For Bus Éireann services, the routes for tender will be the city services in Waterford and certain commuter routes into Dublin along the N4 and N7 corridors, including route 120 from Tullamore.
The principal concern when looking at the future of bus services is to provide a better service to those people who currently use those services, and more importantly, getting those people who don’t, to use those bus services. As at present, the fares, timetables and service standards will be set by the NTA. I have been informed that the NTA intends that free travel passes will be honoured by any new operator and is currently in discussion with the Department of Social Protection in this regard. The tendering of these services will therefore not lead to a downgrading of services to bus users. The purpose of the tendering is to secure a better service for the same cost.
Tendering will give the opportunity to test market pricing and offer possibilities to improve efficiency and customer service and I would describe the overall level of tendering as being modest. The contract will go to the best competent tenderer and I expect both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann to apply for such tenders. The NTA expects that the procurement process for the routes to be tendered will begin in December 2014 leading to the award of the contract in March 2016 with the successful operator commencing services in late 2016.
