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The Assembly Public Accounts Committee has found that significant improvements could be made in the provision of public transport services here, both by Translink and by the Department of Regional Development.

The Committee's findings follow a recent review into the effectiveness of local public transport which makes a number of recommendations aimed at developing and improving the service for local people.

The Committee noted that while there has been undoubted success in growing the number of rail passengers since 2002, this has not been mirrored in the number of people using buses. The overall growth in passenger numbers in recent years is largely down to concessionary fares and does not reflect the desired shift from the use of cars to the use of public transport.

Committee Chairperson Michaela Boyle MLA said: "The shortcomings in Translink's performance may be explained in part by the fact that public transport remains relatively underfunded here when compared with Great Britain. In addition, however, it would appear that not enough has been done by the Department and the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (Translink's Board) to scrutinise, challenge inefficiencies and to ensure value for money for Translink users.

"The Committee has made a total of 12 recommendations for the Department of Regional Development and Translink to consider and a key factor for us is that the Department must set targets for fare paying passenger growth as well as for overall passenger growth. We also believe that targets for getting people out of cars and onto public transport must be set and monitored closely.

Ms Boyle concluded: "If the Department is to deliver on its key objectives of growing passenger numbers and achieving a fundamental shift in how people travel, it will require an appropriate level of capital funding. We are therefore recommending that the Department commits to a rebalancing of its funding levels towards improving and developing public transport for current and future users."

Further recommendations made by the Committee include the need for the Department to ensure that Translink has undertaken a thorough and evidenced review of operational and administrative expenditure to identify potential savings before it considers cuts to existing bus and train services. On a positive note, the Committee welcomed the move to a new integrated rail and bus ticketing system which is due to be introduced in 2018.

Report on DRD: The Effectiveness of Public Transport in Northern Ireland

Notes to Editors:

The Committee recommends that Translink examines its train timetable on the Belfast - Dublin line with the objective of providing commuters with the ability to be at their business destination for 09.00 a.m.

• The Comptroller and Auditor General's (C&AG) report identified that public transport in Northern Ireland enjoyed substantial investment of almost £1.1 billion over the decade to 2011-12, through the implementation of initiatives set out in the Regional Transportation Strategy (RTS) for Northern Ireland 2002-2012
• While rail travel has been transformed, with passenger numbers more than doubling between 2002-03 and 2013-14, in contrast, total bus passenger numbers have increased by just 1.5 per cent. Since 2007-08, the overall number of fare paying passengers has decreased by around 5 per cent, with the majority of passenger growth resulting from concessionary fares.
• The Committee recommends that the Department reconsiders its policies around car parking availability for both its staff and the general public to ensure that they complement policies designed to promote public transport and that the Department and Translink should re-examine Translink's ownership and operation of publicly owned car parks.
• The Committee further recommends that the Department of Finance and Personnel should undertake a review of the provision of free car parking facilities for public servants in Belfast.

The current membership of the Public Accounts Committee is:

Ms Michaela Boyle (Chairperson)
Mr John Dallat (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Roy Beggs
Mr Trevor Clarke
Mr Phil Flanagan
Mr Paul Girvan
Ms Claire Hanna
Mr Ross Hussey
Mr Adrian McQuillan
Mr Conor Murphy
Mr Jim Wells