Parliamentary Question addressed to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport

Oral Question:

I congratulate the Minister on grasping the nettle on this proposal to open up the bus market. It has been in the pot for a very long time and I am very pleased to see it come to the boil at last, albeit in a more limited way than I would like. For that reason I regret it is happening when the market is contracting. It would have been so much easier if this had happened ten years ago when the demand for transport was expanding. As a result of that the bundle of networks is limited in the initial stage. Are the new contracts envisaged as a pilot scheme to test the proposition that the competitive tendering process will give us a service that is cheaper, more efficient and better for the consumer and taxpayer? Some people have expressed concern about it in other areas but of the kind of model envisaged here, London is the nearest one. I am very familiar with the services there. Competitive tendering has been hugely successful and the demand for travel has almost doubled on the London buses.

 

Reply:

I note the Deputy’s comments and in her previous role as transport spokesperson and a member of the transport committee she took a very active interest in this area. The NTMA’s proposal is to tender out some contracts from the end of 2016, although they would have to be awarded some time before that. They would run for five years until 2021. I cannot look into a crystal ball and say what will happen beyond that. Many things can change in the world between now and then. We should not assume that the contracts will go to non-State operators. It is open to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to tender for those contracts. Private operators I have met always say they can provide a better service for the same price. Most of us will have met them and the groups which represent them. This is an opportunity to test them out, call their bluff and see if that is the case.