John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That may be so, but buses were the casualties. Some routes were amended, such as the No. 15 which I use. It was redirected from College Green in advance of Luas cross city to facilitate that project. However, it was not restored to its original route and the closest stop to the Oireachtas, for example, for a person travelling on the bus from Knocklyon or Templeogue is College Green or the Bleeding Horse on Camden Street. I will come back to that because it needs to be separately addressed.

I could not be more enthusiastic in my welcome for BusConnects. I know it is a cliché but it will involve the breaking of a number of eggs, which will be painful. The NTA was correct to be upfront on compensation such that people at least know of it. The timeline is very ambitious. The city needs this project and I am a very strong advocate for it but it will hurt some people. I wish to ask some questions relating to my constituency. BusConnects is the way forward for the city and it is democratic. If one had a Luas for everybody in the audience, life would be great but the problem is that when Luas lines are constructed everybody between the lines, such as those living in my constituency which is between the green and red lines, suffers because they do not have the service and are ambitious to get it. There are associated issues such as an increase in property values. That is not a democratic way to do things. BusConnects will not cause the same increase in property prices as would rail-based public transport but it will have some effect. It is essential to have an A to B seamless, segregated and guaranteed route. I am the biggest supporter of the NTA in that regard.

Some of my questions have been answered so I will be quite quick. One of the big advantages of Dublin Bus is its reach into housing estates in various parts of Dublin, as other members stated. Will that suffer? It is an essential part of the service which must be maintained but that can only be done if the fleet is increased. Ms Graham is aware from the most recent Dublin Bus strike that there is significant loyalty to and sympathy for Dublin Bus in the city and that people are very understanding when drivers take industrial action and there is very little adverse public reaction to that. Will some areas be left without buses? Will buses be pulled out of estates? That is the lifeblood of many people, particularly older people and those in disadvantaged areas. Dublin Bus currently carries approximately 140 million passengers on the existing network. What will happen to that network? I ask Ms Graham to help us with the narrative in that regard because the proposed bus corridors are separate to it but connected. Dublin Bus has approximately 1,000 buses. If BusConnects were in place tomorrow, how many buses does Ms Graham think would be needed to maintain the existing network as it connects to the corridors and to keep it running on a pretty efficient basis? If the NTA got everything it wants and BusConnects was ready to launch tomorrow, how many buses would it require in tandem with the existing network?

This is where we will differ. Ms Graham stated that it does not matter who is operating the service. Does the NTA propose tendering the 16 bus corridors separately? Similar to the manner in which those who can afford to do so buy homes near the DART or Luas lines, some people have made home or work choices based on existing bus routes. Has that been taken into account in this project? I acknowledge that the NTA is not at the detailed design stage but it will have to sell to the public the interchanges at which several buses will arrive into a depot and a person such as Deputy O'Dowd may get off one bus and connect with another. We need images of those interchanges and their geography and an explanation of how they will work because one of the drawbacks of the existing system is that people do not know how to connect. One of the advantages of the Dublin Bus system is that it has many single journey route options that work very well.

How does the NTA work around that? We need more orbital routes. What data does the NTA have to suggest that people do not want city-bound routes, which Dublin Bus predominantly provides? I do not expect detailed answers but we will need them because the NTA will get these questions at a public consultation. In my constituency, the bulk of the Templeogue to Tallaght BusConnects corridor is in place, along the N81 to Templeogue Bridge. There will be a little work to segregate it but there is ample land, which is public land and will not be an issue. Why is the NTA not starting it from further up the N81, for example, at the Jobstown turn at the beginning of the dual carriageway? That would be a relatively inexpensive addition to it. There is a hard shoulder and there is public land available. There may be little bits and pieces to be done to segregate it and a proper cycle track. If it is being done between the M50 and Templeogue, what is the difficulty here?

If this is to be seamless, it looks like Templeogue village is a pinch point. What are the NTA's plans for property owners who may need to be contacted there? If the NTA is to fulfil its ambitions, several property owners will have to be contacted along the stretch from the Templeogue-Templeville Road junction to Terenure village. Can the witnesses comment on that? Garden acquisitions will be required on Rathfarnham Road between Rathfarnham village and the Rathfarnham crossroads at the Dodder River.