Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests today. It is good to see them again. It is only a week since we last met with some of them. I want to start by acknowledging Mr. Kerry. As he mentioned in his introduction, he is responsible for Kildare and south Dublin. I have daily and weekly briefings with him on various issues. I want to put on the record, as I did last Wednesday when I spoke at the fares briefing, the respect I have for Local Link, what it does and the difference it has made for rural Kildare, in particular, where I live.

It has been a game-changer, and it is important to start there. For many people in rural villages, locations and towns, Rural Link has been a game-changer. If we look at the 883 service between Athy and Newbridge it has made a spectacular difference for people going to work. I have mentioned this at several briefings. People are using it to get to work. It is essential for those who do not have their own transport and did not have access to public transport previously. This has to be acknowledged. I also want to put on record our thanks to the staff who operate Local Link and Rural Link. They are at the end of the phone when we have queries. As public representatives, we get a lot of queries. It is good to have someone to speak to in connection with them.

I have started with the good news, but I want to come back to the poles. This is critical for Local Link and Rural Link. It was mentioned by Senator Garvey and others. Mr. Gaston spoke about speeding up the roll-out. What does this mean for people? Senator Burke referred to local authorities. I speak to both sides on the issue. I am not saying that one is blaming the other, but I do find a little of that. What can we do to speed it up? There is absolutely no doubt that this is a terrific service. I admit that it is mainly through word of mouth that the service is growing. People do not know where to get on or off the buses. They look at the website. They come into my office and we have printed timetables. We put our names on them, and it is great for us as we get a bit of publicity. This is what is happening. The service needs to be advanced. It needs to be advertised. The biggest issue in advertising is the location of bus stops and where people get on and off. Mr. Gaston spoke about speeding up the roll-out. What does this mean for the 883 route, in respect of which there are no bus poles at present? When will we see those being put in place? This was asked about by Senator Garvey last Wednesday. It is essential for the infrastructure and the growth of this terrific service. I ask Mr. Gaston to come back on this.

Senator Burke raised an issue that I also want to raise. It is with regard to town bus services. Every town except Newbridge was mentioned. The reason I want to speak about Newbridge is that Ms Graham is very familiar with the campaign we have in respect of train fares from Newbridge. Newbridge has experienced growth beyond anyone's belief to a point where it now has a population of 25,000. Towns with populations of 10,000 have been mentioned. Newbridge has a population of 25,000. People phone me to tell me that they are getting taxis to the train station from the outskirts of Newbridge where new houses have been built. Because of the length of their journeys, people are looking for a bus service. They have to pay for taxis get to the train station. Towns with populations of 10,000 have bus services. When will Newbridge, which has a population of 25,000 - it is growing every day - have a service? This is an essential question for us. It is something I am asked about on a regular, particularly as the town has seen such growth. It has expanded almost as far as the Curragh. When I was a member of the local authority, I raised the fact that infrastructure is not keeping pace with the building of houses. We all know there is a crisis and we must build houses but we are putting people further and further away from town centres and further from train stations. Infrastructure is not being built. I would like witnesses to comment on this.

Mr. Kerry is very familiar with the fact that services are in the pipeline for Athy, Kildangan and Rathangan, which are very important towns in south Kildare. I refer here to the 888 service. I am not sure whether we have an update on when it will come through. I believe it is in process, which is great. I am looking forward to it because I get calls on it and I deflect them to Mr. Kerry on a regular basis. When will it come on stream? This is an essential service for south Kildare. The people in these towns and villages are looking forward to the service. Perhaps the witnesses have information on the matter.

School buses were mentioned. I have discussed this matter with the witnesses. There has to be a link between school bus transport and Local Link. When we get a new schedule I get calls from parents asking whether, for example, a 4 p.m. departure time can be changed to 4.15 p.m. because their children would then have access to it. This would help the entire situation. Are there conversations between school bus transport and the NTA on accommodating this? Mr. Kerry is also familiar with the issue regarding the 880 Carlow to Castledermot service that I have asked about. Both companies operate in silos when they should complement each other. That 15 minutes may make a difference. I know there were issues with regard to the times of this particular service but I hope we can get over it and children going from Carlow back to Castledermot could get on the bus and save the State a bus service, which is what we ought to do. There should be a bit of co-operation between the services.