Public Transport
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Seán Canney (IND), Galway East

I will go back to the NTA regarding the 73 bus service to seek the clarification the Deputy requires. There is no doubt about that.
Further to the updates I provided earlier on the next generation automatic vehicle location system and practices by the NTA and bus operators to support a better real-time information system for passengers, I note that a number of actions have been taken that will help to address this issue. These actions include the replacement of older antennas on buses, with close to 800 to be replaced. GPS receiver boards on Dublin Bus services are in the process of being updated, with 300 buses updated to date and the balance to be updated in May of this year. Operational practice has also been modified to help address the issue. The NTA has developed a tool that can be used by Dublin Bus and Go-Ahead Ireland to monitor the efficiency of trip cancellation processes. This will help ensure real-time passenger information takes account of all cancellations as they arise.
Finally, as I noted in my opening statement, the new system is planned to go ahead in Waterford in June and the roll-out to the other areas will be taking effect straight away after that, in the rest of 2026 into 2027. It will consolidate the five existing systems, some of which are 15 years old, into one central one. This will bring advantages in terms of consistency of the data that people will get from across all the operators. The system will be robust with more modern bus-control features that will assist the bus operators to run services against schedule and provide accurate and reliable data for passengers on real-time displays. If we have the system correct, the information will be live and people will know. We invest a huge amount of money in public transport but we want to make sure we are generating the confidence in the public so that they can use it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-22