Bus Services

129. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Transport if he is aware of ongoing capacity issues on the 15 bus route; and the measures that are being taken to ensure that local residents can reliably access the service. [67534/26]

Is the Minister for Transport aware of ongoing capacity issues on the north side's 15 bus route and the measures that are being taken to ensure local residents finally get a usable and dependable 15 service?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Yes, I am aware of concerns regarding capacity and reliability on the route 15 service, which provides an important 24-hour, high-freguency connection between Ballycullen and Clongriffin, serving communities, including Templeogue, Terenure, Rathmines, the city centre, Fairview and Artane. I understand that the current route 15 timetable is being reviewed by the NTA and the operator, Dublin Bus, with additional running time and an additional bus being incorporated into the schedule. Here, capacity pressures are most likely to occur around peak school travel times. The revised timetable is due to be introduced on 6 December and will provide for an additional 12 drivers, with the aim of improving service reliability and reducing the impact of delays. An additional journey was also introduced in January 2026 to assist with customer loading. Looking ahead, the BusConnects programme will also bring changes to the route. The current plan, subject to funding discussions, is for the northside of route 15 to transition to the D-spine in quarter 4 of 2027, with the A-spine covering the southside in 2028. These changes are intended to strengthen connectivity and provide improved public transport options for communities along the route. I, the Minister for Transport and our officials will continue to support the NTA and Dublin Bus in ensuring that the public transport network has the capacity and resources required to provide reliable services to passengers, particularly where workforce resourcing has been a core concern over the past while. The Department's upcoming public transport workforce task force action plan will play a key role here, looking to facilitate and support the implementation of such critical service changes.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. The 15 is meant to be a northside workhorse service serving Belmayne, Clongriffin and Clarehall. As Deputy Gould said, Glanmire is a fast-growing area. This is also a fast-growing area on the northside. It is meant to be a 24-hour service. It is meant to be going every five to 12 minutes at peak but the service is just not delivering. Local residents will tell you that if you are getting on at Clarehall, you cannot get on. The bus is full at Clarehall at peak. Clarehall is stop three out of 17 on the northside stops, if you take Connolly Station as the last northside stop. The NTA's own data for the service show that one in five buses are late and it does not seem to even gather the capacity issues I can see. I do not know how it reports or deals with that. There does not seem to be a mechanism to deal with that. As Cathaoirleach of the climate committee, I advocate for people to get out of cars and get into the buses but the 15 "ain't working" and we need to get the NTA to step it up.

I hear the Deputy's frustration with this service. I have outlined changes that are going to happen in December with additional drivers and bus runs. It is important. The Deputy says the demand is there so we have to make sure that whatever service we put in place actually meets that demand and is providing a service. It is a capacity issue. It has been in terms of getting drivers, having the buses, having mechanics to service the buses and all of this. I met with the NTA and Bus Éireann last week in connection with another issue. These issues are being addressed, but maybe not as quickly as people would like. Like the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, said when talking about Cork, I will be bringing this back to the NTA. It is important that whatever we do with public transport we have to make it a service that people enjoy using and that people can rely on so, going back to the Deputy's position as Chair of the environment committee, we end up with a situation where people do not need a car; where they can not just leave it at home but maybe get rid of it and enjoy public transport. That is the overriding goal for everybody.

I raised this in February and the response at the time was it was planned that a revised schedule for route 15 would be introduced in September. It is now September. I welcome the clarity on what the NTA is proposing but now it is saying, per the Minister of State's response, it will introduce its changes in December. Everything is being dragged out. We are talking about a fair increase in bus services raising about €70 million of which only a quarter is really targeted at improving services like this. I am not going to repeat myself but we really need to crack the 15 so it works for the northside. I know the Minister of State will but I implore him to sit on the NTA, to dialogue with it and to get this service working properly so the people I talked about finally get a reliable service as commuters to work or school, or to appointments in the city centre.

I thank the Deputy. I will bring his concerns back to the NTA. It is no problem. I will also seek to find out whether it can bring forward that date if it had already given a date in September. The date the authority now says it is going to introduce the service is 6 December. I do not know why it has been delayed. I can imagine why. An additional 12 drivers and additional bus services coming on will make a difference but we need to keep on top of it to ensure the service is fit for purpose and that we provide public transport for those who want to use it. That is the aim of everybody and we will continue to work on that.