Brendan Smith urges expansion of free travel for rural users

Minister, as you know for many decades the free travel scheme has been of great benefit to a substantial cohort of our population. By and large persons in receipt of a pension payment are eligible for free travel and public transport and in more recent years on the local link services. Unfortunately in too many instances customers of transport services operated by private carriers are not able to avail of the free travel pass. So this needs to be changed and I think in many instances more services could be provided in rural Ireland if those operators were able to avail of the free travel scheme. Thank you Deputy for raising this important issue. The free travel scheme is currently available to all people living in the state aged 66 years or over, to carers and to customers under 66 who are in receipt of certain disability type payments. There are currently approximately 978,770 customers in receipt of free travel. However, over 1.6 million people currently benefit from the scheme when companion and spousal passes are taken into account. The scheme allows those eligible to travel for free on most CIE public transport services, Lewis and a range of services offered by up to 80 private operators. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak request by transport operators to join the scheme, where received periodically, with payment rates negotiated based on surveys of free travel passengers. Due to the continuing impact of COVID-19 measures and restrictions on transport service provision, the uncertainty around numbers opting to travel and the consequential lack of reliable survey data, it is a difficult time for operators to enter the scheme. Survey outcomes in the current operating environment are unlikely to reflect true free travel passenger numbers in more normal times. The situation is kept under constant review, and it is expected that as restrictions ease and services return to more normal levels, new operators will join the scheme. Over the past 10 years, the annual cost to the exchequer of the free travel scheme has risen by some 29 per cent to £95 million. Of this, £1.5 million is provided to the rural transport programme, improving links between local or rural services and scheduled bus and rail services. Any decision to extend the free travel scheme to include all publicly licensed bus routes would have cost implications for the exchequer and would have to be considered in the context of overall budget availability. I am glad that you say that it would be kept under constant review, and what I recognise at the moment due to COVID-19, you will not have additional services coming on stream because of the uncertainty in regard to usage of services. Minister, your answer demonstrates very clearly the importance of this scheme. It is a very good £95 million investment in people, in human resources. The fact that there are 980,000 direct customers and 1.6 million people can avail of it, it is clear how important it is. But Minister, I recall some time ago reading documentation where Irish Rural Link and some other organisations that are strong advocates for development in rural Ireland, estimated that something up to 80% of the people who qualify for free travel in rural Ireland are unable to use that pass, that free travel pass, because the services are not available. What we want to do and what we need to achieve is a broadening of public transport to ensure that persons living in remote areas, that there would be some at least limited services available, and that they would not be denied the opportunity to use their free travel pass when there is a public service available. Because Minister, you know as well as I do, of some services would not be viable were it not for the fact that they have had access to the free travel scheme. It is an area that needs to be expanded, and we have to eliminate that discrimination that exists against the rural population as such. Thank you, I can call that. Thank you, Deputy. You make a valid point there regarding rural transport, because I would be standing a long time at the end of my lane before the bus go past. There is no bus. We have the rural transport programme, and it provides services of course to people whose travel needs are not met by scheduled bus or train service. And indeed, Deputy, you will agree, I think we have one of the best local link companies that covers Cavan and Monaghan, I would say, in the country. Because they have added and added to the service that they have provided over the years, and it really is a top class service that provides, you know, transport. To people in remote, rural parts of Cavan and Monaghan, and helps bring them into the towns. So, as I say, you know, you are right too, when you say that the rural transport programme plays a major role in combating rural isolation. And it does act as a catalyst in creating models of partnership at all levels, where key sectors actively engage in transport provision to ensure a quality of access for all. Services funded under the programme complement rather than compete with existing public transport services provided by CAE companies or by private transport operators. And there are currently 400 operators in the rural transport programme who provide transport services under direct contact with the National Transport Authority. Thank you, Councillor Cavanagh. I thank the Minister and I agree with her. Minister, I know of one operator who told me who operates a substantial service covering a very large rural communities and smaller towns and villages. That were it not for the fact that he got access to the free travel scheme, his service would not be viable. I understand that the conditions that the NTA apply along with their own department are too restrictive in relation to a private carrier getting access for a route to that free travel scheme. So, preparing for post-COVID, we must ensure that there is a greater acceptance of the value of the private carrier operating a public service and ensuring that they have access to the free travel scheme because it can make the difference in the service being provided or not being provided. And unfortunately, we may face the situation in rural Ireland where services will be lost in some of our towns and villages and people will of necessity need to travel further, be it for medical appointments or to do routine business. So, we want to ensure that those people living in remote areas, who do not have their own private transport, who may not have immediate family members to take them a distance, shopping or another business, that they have the opportunity, within reason, to avail of a public service transport. Minister, can you conclude on this matter? Thank you. And you are right, Deputy, when you say it absolutely is hugely important to the local towns, you know, when, especially I see it often in Cootill on a Friday morning, when the local link bus comes in and everybody is not doing their shopping and their meeting, unfortunately, that has somewhat changed with COVID. But can I just say that the extent and adequacy of the public transport service provision, both urban and rural, falls under the remit of my colleague, Minister Eamonn Ryan, at the Department of Climate Action, Communication, Networks and Transport. And I will be glad to bring the Deputy's concerns to the attention of Minister Ryan and, you know, the issues around the rural transport. I am happy to raise those with them because, no more than yourself, Deputy, I am very familiar with the particular instances where people can't get the free travel pass on buses, private operators that may be passing their house. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.