Mr. Feljin Jose:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to speak today on what we regard as a great opportunity to improve the lives of those in the greater Dublin area. I am chairperson of Dublin Commuter Coalition and I am joined today by Ms Janis Morrissey from our committee.

Dublin Commuter Coalition is a voluntary advocacy group established in 2018 to act as a unifying voice for sustainable transport users in the greater Dublin area. Despite our name, we do not advocate just for commuters, but for everyone in the GDA who walks, cycles, scoots or uses public transport. We represent the lived experiences of our members, from parents who want their children to walk or cycle to school independently to people who cross the city each day for work or college, and older citizens who need reliable and accessible connections to their local shops and to their friends and family. Our vision is for Dublin to have a transport network that is safe, accessible, connected and sustainable. We work to realise our vision through meetings with policymakers and engaging with public bodies, as well as by being a voice for sustainable transport in social and traditional media.

When we were founded, the future of transport in Dublin looked bleak. There were very few public transport or active travel projects in progress and we spent most of our time countering objections and misinformation about what little was proposed. In just over three years, this has changed dramatically. The calls to strengthen public transport infrastructure have only grown louder as the climate crisis has become more urgent and the many benefits of sustainable transport are becoming more widely recognised. We are pleased to see the roll-out of the new BusConnects network and the submission of planning applications for BusConnects core bus corridors. For us, this is the culmination of over three years of advocacy on different strands of BusConnects. The introduction of the new 90-minute fare, which enables free transfer between buses and rail services, maximises the utility of the existing network by making multistage journeys easier and significantly cheaper. We are getting very positive feedback on this and we hope to see it expanded to more areas around Dublin.

We are also seeing a much greater appetite for safe active travel infrastructure and are pleased with the substantial increase in the planning and delivery of pedestrianised streets and segregated cycle routes.

On the GDA transport strategy, we have submitted our response to the public consultation on the draft transport strategy for the greater Dublin area as a briefing document for members of this committee. During the initial public consultation, 90% of respondents stated the transport strategy should seek to reduce the reliance on private cars for travel in the GDA. While the draft transport strategy gets a lot of things right, it is less progressive than the previous strategies at a time when Dublin people, and indeed our planet, demand the greatest ambition. Our main concerns relate to the slow and vague timelines provided and the removal of two vital projects. People in Dublin are increasingly frustrated with how long it takes to design, plan and build transport projects. We believe the timelines for the delivery of projects in the draft transport strategy are far too slow. Given Ireland's climate commitments and the growing demands to decrease air pollution, travel times and costly car dependency, we had hoped the NTA would seek to accelerate some of these projects. However, we have seen no evidence of any accelerated delivery in the draft transport strategy. For example, the sum total of the Luas lines proposed to have been built by 2042 in the draft transport strategy is the same as what was proposed to have been built by 2035 in the previous transport strategy, namely, a new line to Lucan and small extensions to Finglas, Poolbeg and Bray.

While we are concerned with how slow the projects are and the general lack of urgency, we are also concerned with the vague timelines given. The draft transport strategy divides projects into two groups depending on when they are due to be finished, that is, whether from 2022 to 2030 or from 2031 to 2042. Beyond this, it is not clear when the projects listed will be completed. For example, the people of Navan were told their rail line would be finally built, but they do not know if that will be ten or 20 years from now. It is difficult to bring communities along on these large projects with such vague timelines. They do not instil any confidence in the projects themselves and people find it hard to believe they will ever be built. A notable omission from the draft transport strategy is the DART+ tunnel, which was previously known as DART underground. This project would completely transform the eastern rail network by connecting the Cork and Kildare line to the northern line, which stops in the heart of Dublin. The previous transport strategy planned to have completed this crucial infrastructure before 2035, but the draft transport strategy postpones it for at least 20 years. The delay exemplifies the lack of urgency and leadership evident throughout the document. This year marks 50 years since the tunnel was first proposed.

The Luas green line between Charlemont and Sandyford was built with the intention it would be eventually upgraded from a tram to a metro. The previous transport strategy proposed to link this high-capacity section of the Luas green line to the new high-capacity metro at Charlemont to create one long metro corridor from Swords to Sandyford, as originally intended, for relatively little additional cost. Housing developments along this corridor already have been built on the promise this line will be upgraded, but this essential upgrade is now notably absent from the draft transport strategy.

We believe it is important to acknowledge the strategy is better than the previous one in some areas. We welcome changes such as the extension of the DART to Sallins, Wicklow and Kilcock, the inclusion of the Navan rail line and the removal of the eastern bypass.

In conclusion, we believe the draft transport strategy falls well short of what is needed to facilitate the radical shift away from private cars to sustainable modes that is required to meet our climate commitments and reduce congestion, air pollution and inactivity. We are seeking substantial changes to the plan before it has been finalised and approved by the Minister. With greater ambition, the transport strategy can be a catalyst for change and Dublin can be a leader in the provision of safe, accessible and sustainable transport for all. The people of the greater Dublin area demand and deserve it.