Paul Murphy attacks bus privatisation, exposes 'ghost buses' crisis

I feel that for the last number of years, every couple of weeks, I have been getting up here and giving out about the ghost buses, about the buses that are put out of order and they are packed and you can't get on them, about the buses that are cancelled, about people waiting forever, about people not being able to rely on basic public transport services in this country. There is no recognition by the Government of the fundamental issues. Yes, there are staffing shortages which are underlying issues, but there are also other issues. It is very, very clear that privatisation is a disastrous experiment for which the workers and the commuters are paying the price. You can just look at the figures in terms of the lack of punctuality of Go Ahead, the fines for Go Ahead. Go Ahead has 22% of the fines for buses in Dublin, but only provides 12% of the services. That is on the one hand and on the other hand is routes, new routes, new spine routes that simply do not make sense. I will give you some anecdotes to go with that overall picture from Dublin South West. Up until the F spine, the routes that we got most complaints about all the time were the S6 and the S8 and then the lower frequency routes of the W6 and the W2. What is the common feature of all of those? They are all Go Ahead routes. The S6 has so many problems that it has its own Instagram account. I hate the S6 used by students who are going from Tala to UCD or from Blackrock to UCD to highlight all the problems with it. I will give you an example from the W6 from Tala to Maynooth. Last Thursday, myself and 15 other people to be exact were waiting at the square bus terminus for over half an hour for the next bus, not leaving the stop in case it showed up. It did not in freezing cold two degrees weather. But then you go on to the F spine where again and again and again people are telling me their journeys into town has been increased by half an hour. So you have this new high-frequency route and because the route is going in places that does not make sense, that are not made for a whole number of buses to be going, the routes have slowed down significantly. That is the NTA's fault, that is not Dublin Buses' fault. Thank you Deputy Minister. Well thank you Deputy Boy Barrow, Deputy Murphy. I am taking a matter from Minister O'Brien who apologises he cannot be here this morning. As both of you know quite well, the Minister has responsibility for the policy and overall funding in relation to public transport but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operations of the transport but the Minister's service, that being wrestling with the NTA as you both have articulated and I am not going to insult you by telling you that this morning here. Can I just begin by saying that I appreciate and acknowledge the remarks that you both made in the context of the experience of commuters and of the travelling public and I think it highlights the importance of the need for bus connects to be complete. Can I assure both of you that Government are committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic, sustainable mobility options and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. As I said, it is unacceptable that members of the travelling public, as you both articulated, have experienced no buses, ghost buses or late buses and the reply given to you outlines a variety of reasons why there are bus cancellations and they will be available in the record of the House. The issue of staff availability is an issue that's ongoing, it isn't just about Dublin and Cork as well. The most frequent reason for bus cancellations on routes has been related to traffic congestion and traffic delays and I suppose the key point that I would make to all of us is that it isn't about lack of investment by Government. Government are committed to public transport. It has been seen in the budget allocation and I do appreciate that it is discommoding for members of the travelling public. It is unacceptable that buses have to be cancelled. It has an impact on passengers. That is unacceptable, full stop. And the frequent occurrence of this is in part because of the high volume of traffic. There is a variety of reasons as well but it is important to recognise that NTA have a responsibility in this matter. Phase 7 of Bus Connects, the F spine is a good example of the responsiveness though of the NTA to the challenging environment in Dublin. The most extensive phase of Bus Connects to date, Phase 7 was launched on October 19th and whilst this did not involve, did involve the removal of some services, new services and changes have been introduced including 24-hour spines F1, F2, 80 and the F3 spine which aim to enhance connectivity across the capital and support Dublin's growing night-time economy. New and local radio services such as 23, 24, 73, 82 and the LAH9 now-starve areas including Ballymun, Finglas, Charlestown, Walkenstone and Liverpool Valley. Following feedback from passengers and local representatives, alignment changes were made to a number of these routes and the NTA are reviewing further amendments to the routes to tackle challenges to reliability. With regard to ghost buses, when a service is cancelled, the operator is required to cancel the service on the system that monitors bus locations and which feed the real-time information system and while that generally does happen, there has been some occurrence with relevant operator personnel who did not input the cancellation in timely manner. The NTA continues to monitor this item and to stress to the operators the need for timely inputs of cancellations where they occur. In addition, you spoke about the issue of the apps, Deputy Boy Barrett, and again, tomorrow on Question Time in the Dáil, there are a number of questions on the apps. It is unacceptable where people have to rely on different forms of information when there is an app available that should have, in real-time, the pertinent relevant information. I will bring your points back, both of you, in terms of the S6. I am not familiar, Deputy Murphy, with the actual route here because it is in my locality, but I would certainly look at the Instagram account and feed back to the NTA. It is unacceptable that if someone is waiting in some temperatures to wait for half an hour for a bus to Manute and if it does not show up, but I will take the points you raised this morning on behalf of people, and we are talking with people here who are and who want to use public transport, and we must give them that certainty and that guarantee that public transport will work for them. One thing that is Government policy is to slice and dice and privatise our routes in Dublin. But by every metric of reliability, of punctuality, of penalties incurred, go-ahead is much worse than Dublin bus. So why is the Government persisting with privatising routes and giving them to go-ahead? Why are they not returned to Dublin bus? Will the Government call a halt to the plans to privatise even more routes to go-ahead? Routes 56A, the 65, the 77A, in light of all of the evidence showing that go-ahead provides a much worse service. Then in relation to the F-spine, it is interesting that the F-spine is given as a good example, but I quote to you an email that I got a few days ago. It takes on board all the changes. The F1 bus takes nearly two hours from McConnell Street to the Square, and that journey was taken in Saturday afternoon traffic. The amalgamations made for this route were frankly ridiculous, and the bus travels through several small estates, lacking in necessary travelling infrastructure, to properly facilitate a bus route. These residents have lost their previously efficient 49, 54A and other routes, and the new F1 is not a suitable replacement. Go on and on and on with similar stories. Thank you. And you might forward be Deputy Murphy, because it is important that we bring the feedback to the NTA. And can I just assure both of you that Minister O'Brien, Minister Cally and I, and the Department fully recognise that transport connectivity is hugely important for people who live, work and study. And you mentioned the whole piece around Houston, Deputy Boyle Barrett. It does beggar belief that there's no link for Houston to the colleges you reference. It does, to be honest. Yeah, it does. But I do want to make the point that from a Government point of view, public transport and connectivity is key to revitalising our villages, towns and urban centres. By expanding the public transport network and increasing service levels, as outlined in policies like Connecting Ireland and Bus Connects, we are aiming to achieve more balanced region development and greater connectivity for all public transport users, and that's for all public transport users. Bus Connects has already achieved significant success in transforming Dublin's public transport network, notwithstanding the challenges that you have articulated this morning here. Just recently, research carried out for the NTA by Ipsos B&A funneled four out of five customers, have expressed satisfaction with the bus, with the services that are on the Bus Connects, and 45% believe that the bus service has improved. I know we have a road to go and we have a journey to travel in that. The NTA and the Department will continue to collaborate with operators and customers to enhance the punctuality and reliability of services throughout the network we've designed. And I want to thank you sincerely for raising the matters this morning here, and I'd be happy to take the points you've made and I've taken notes of the issues you've raised because it is about the travelling public, as I said, it is about members of the... Can I ask you some information? Absolutely, yeah, please. And I'm encouraging you to, because if we don't take the experiences of the travelling public on board, then we can't learn. And there are mistakes, there are gaps, and I'd be the first to say that. I see it in my own city of Cork. I'm not living in an ivory tower. I use the bus myself in Cork. So I recognise when I meet people with the... I'll go back to your fundamental point. It's, to me, crazy in a world where we're living with technology, where an app can't have correct, real-time information for members of the travelling public. And that's, that drives people daft. And that increases the volume of emails to you, and the anger and frustration. Thank you. So I'll bring you, I will bring them back for you. Good morning. Thank you. I'm not.