Written Answers. - Public Transport. Thursday, 13 December 2001

Dáil Eireann Debate Vol. 546 No. 5 Page of 277

  91.  Mr. R. Bruton      asked the Minister for Public Enterprise      if she has carried out an economic evaluation of the impact of the public subsidy to Dublin Bus to establish its impact on efficiency, on patterns of switching to public transport, on standards of service on different routes and on the wider social benefits; the findings of the study; and if so, when it will be available in the Library. [32268/01]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke):    A comparative study of the levels of Government subvention in urban public transport in European cities was carried out last year on behalf of my Department by the department of economics, UCD. This report has been made available to the public and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library. Arising from this report, my Department is currently engaged in the development of key performance indicators in respect of efficiency, effectiveness and quality of bus services provided by Dublin Bus.

Question No. 92 answered with Question No. 90.[1272]

  93.  Mr. R. Bruton      asked the Minister for Public Enterprise      the findings of the study which was commissioned on integrated ticketing in Dublin; and if she will lay the report in Library. [32270/01]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke):    A committee chaired by my Department and including representatives from CIE, Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann, the light rail project team of CIE and the Dublin Transportation Office was established in late 1998 to prepare proposals for an integrated fares and ticketing system. These proposals were finalised and noted by the Government in November 2000. Copies of the report are available on my Department's website, www.irlgov.ie/tec. I am also arranging to forward the report to the Deputy.

Following the committee's report, my Department in early 2001 requested the light rail project office to develop an integrated ticketing project. In August 2001, an outline project plan was agreed with the LRPO which is proceeding with the work in that regard. The work of the LRPO will shortly be subsumed into the Railway Procurement Agency. The project plan is taking the project from design to launch incorporating procurement, installation, commissioning and roll out.

  94.  Mr. R. Bruton      asked the Minister for Public Enterprise      the final subvention to each of the CIE Group of companies following the recent Supplementary Estimate for which she obtained approval; and the projected total passenger numbers and passenger miles on each service. [32271/01]

  96.  Mr. R. Bruton      asked the Minister for Public Enterprise      the State subvention to Dublin Bus and the subvention per passenger for 1999, 2000 and projected for 2001. [32275/01]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke):    I propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 96 together.

The allocation of the Exchequer subvention to the individual subsidiary companies is a matter for the CIE board. The subvention is paid to the CIE Group to meet the cost of providing socially necessary but commercially non-viable public transport services.

The subvention provided to the CIE Group of companies in respect of 2001 has been increased by an additional £16 million, 20 million, by way of a Supplementary Estimate. This brings the total for the year to £175.060 million, 222.28 million. The table sets out the allocation of the subvention on a company by company basis, the projected passenger numbers and the projected passenger miles-vehicle kilometres for each service where available:

[1273]

The subvention allocation to Bus Átha Cliath for 1999, 2000 and 2001 and the subvention per passenger is as follows:

*The 2001 passenger subsidy figure is based on an estimate of passenger numbers.

  95.  Mr. R. Bruton      asked the Minister for Public Enterprise      the average daily number of passengers on the DART, on suburban rail, and on Dublin Bus for each year since 1995; and the average daily morning peak number of passengers in these services over the same period. [32274/01]

  97.  Mr. R. Bruton      asked the Minister for Public Enterprise      the total number of buses and their passenger capacity in use in Dublin Bus in 1999, 2000 and 2001; and the total number of suburban rail carriages and their capacity in use in 1999, 2000 and 2001. [32276/01]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke):    I propose to answer Questions Nos. 95 and 97 together.

The statistics requested in relation to vehicles and passenger numbers, as provided by the companies, are set out below. Estimated figures are included for 2001.

Bus Átha Cliath

Iarnród Éireann

*Services were disrupted due to industrial disputes.

The figures in respect of average daily morning peak hour passenger numbers are not routinely collected by Iarnród Éireann and are therefore unavailable.

Iarnród Éireann: Passenger Capacity

Bus Átha Cliath Vehicle Numbers and Passenger Capacity

Question No. 96 answered with Question No. 94.

Question No. 97 answered with Question No. 95.

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