Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The capacity has been increased by 30% recently. It was proposed to extend all 26 trams to 55 m, and an additional eight new trams are being purchased. The key point is increasing the frequency, including through work at the St. Stephen's Green junction. There is scope to increase capacity. The Senator is correct. I use the Luas regularly during the morning peak hours. Numbers are starting to come back. It can be tackled by addressing the capacity issues. In the longer term, as I said in reply to Senator Horkan, the Luas line from UCD to Sandyford will take some of the passengers. The BusConnects proposals will also have an impact. It is an integrated approach, involving an increase in public transport capacity overall. The line will not be upgraded to metro status in the long run, so that will not be the solution. I do not believe it should be and believe it would have been a bad engineering solution. The Senator is correct that there is significant development in places such as Cherrywood, Glencairn and various other points along the line, but a combination of capacity increases on the existing line, the addition of a new line, particularly from UCD to Sandyford, and the other public transport projects will be the way to manage the long-term development.