157. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport his Department’s plans to reduce the frequency of ‘ghost buses’ in the Dublin region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46378/26]

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in conjunction with the relevant transport operators.

Notwithstanding the above, I do understand and appreciate that some customers may have experienced issues with regard cancellations and reliability. A range of factors can contribute to a decline in service performance, such as congestion, and a shortage of drivers or mechanics preventing services from operating to schedule. The NTA are working hard with operators to address these issues, and holds weekly operational meetings to discuss performance, understand challenges and identify where improvements can be made.

My Department is also working closely with the NTA to try to address these issues through initiatives such as the Public Transport Workforce Taskforce which aims to address recruitment challenges for drivers and mechanics; and planned improvements to the vehicle location system under Next Generation AVL, which will enhance the accuracy of real-time passenger information.

Further, in instances where performance drops, under their contractual arrangements, financial penalties are rigorously applied unless the cause of the loss of performance is outside of the control of the operator. For example, if a bus service doesn’t operate due to circumstances within the operator’s control, a deduction is applied equivalent to the cost of the cancelled service. The contracts also provide for deductions to be made when punctuality and reliability targets are not met.

In light of the NTA’s responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.