Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I too want to make a quick comment on Mr. Watt's remarks on the bus pass. We have got to be very conscious when one is talking about a bus pass that there is an array of people using public transport who are using a bus pass. Some of those are people with disabilities or people who have no other way of moving around. We have got to be very conscious of that. It seems that we have a Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport who is really the Minister for Justice and Equality and that we have a Secretary General who has suddenly become the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Some of this is really an unacceptable way of communicating and there is a degree of scaremongering that is going with it. I am very happy that we will write to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection because some of this is unnecessary. I completely accept the point that unless this is funded, it cannot be provided.

We could look at BusConnects and the difficulties and say why it cannot be done. I remember when the first of the bus corridors was brought in, there were all sorts of problems at the time. In fact, where they work they can work very well. I know some of these corridors reasonably well. One would know them better if one used the buses and one could see where the pinch points and things like that are. Take my own one bus corridor, route No. 66, which was one of the first ones that was developed. Apart from the cycle lane, the corridor does not change; it is exactly the same all the way in. How many others are more or less the same, and really do not require very significant amendment apart from the very important amendment to prevent mixing buses with bicycles? Certainly, there are an increasing number of people on bikes. Will they be segregated? Is physical segregation what the intention is? One sees that in other parts of Europe and it is a much safer environment for pedestrians to have a physical delineation between the two, and maybe even a difference in the surface. That would be important in encouraging people to cycle more. There was a proposal recently about a legal distance. I had a concern about that because I wondered whether it would be implementable and enforceable. I think the principle of it is a very good one. The segregation is one question.

In terms of the current capacity, have scenarios been looked at around the national planning framework, the number of passengers now, where growth will happen and what the capacity is likely to be? Have those projections been done?

Again, using the example of the one along the N4, which is unlike the one to Bray - I do not doubt an improvement is needed along that corridor because we could see with the recent rail disruption that the bus corridor was also problematic - why would one confine it totally to the city or to Dublin, when in fact Dublin Bus has routes that go beyond? For example, my own area is served by the Nos. 66s and 67s and there is already a population of approximately 50,000 in those three or four towns in north Kildare. Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth are served pretty well by Dublin Bus, but the bus corridor only starts in Lucan. Why would we exclude that location but still call it the commuter belt? It seems strange to do that because we want to discourage people from using cars and encourage them to use the buses. I would have thought that looking at that area also would have been important. I have no doubt the same is the case in a couple of other locations. It is certainly very obvious in north Kildare.

In regard to the orbital routes, I had expected, if it is BusConnects, to have seen the radial routes with the orbital routes published at the same time in order to get a visual on how that might work. Obviously, there is timetabling and the points of connection between the buses, and I refer to the comfort of the areas people will require when getting off a bus and the provision of a decent shelter, which can be an issue in its own right. All of that requires consideration. In terms of people seeing it as an attractive option, if they get off one bus that is on a radial route and there is an orbital route they can connect with, they should not be waiting 15 minutes for the bus. That those connections should be made easy. Will there be a presentation on the kind of timetabling or will that happen some time in future? Will routes be looked at first and then timetabling after that? Will any indication be given of what people might expect? If people see something that is well thought out and well designed, and they buy into it from the word go, it is a better way of appealing to people.

The bus is the workhorse of the public transport system. In that context, I do not understand why so little attention was paid to the disruption that might have been created, and was created, when the cross-city Luas service was developed. The signalling system works for the Luas but buses do not get the same priority. Has consideration been given to prioritising buses too? The new proposal means there will be more buses and a greater number of people using them. Unfortunately, bus transport is the poor relation in terms of priority.

Delivery has been mentioned by the witnesses and Deputy Lahart made some interesting points about delivery at the last meeting. Is the delegation talking about the private operators who make up 10% of users being allowed to use the same routes as Dublin Bus? Will it be a seamless operation; 10% of 1,000 buses is 100 buses but 10% of 2,000 buses is 200 buses. Will the 10% figure remain static? I accept the point made by the NTA that is has not made a decision or it will not make a decision to expand the scheme.

What are the downsides, if any, of a single bore metro option? I suspect that if there is a breakdown or fire that capacity will be lost in both directions. Are there other downsides that we must understand? I am sure there is a good reason that the NTA gave consideration to the two bore approach. I would like to understand that situation so I would like to hear about the constraints and possible difficulties.

I have inquired about locating cycle lanes on bus corridors. Will it be possible to segregate all of the new cycle lanes? Is that where the money will be spent, in addition to the land?