Ms Anne Graham:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend. I am joined by my colleague, Mr. Hugh Creegan, deputy CEO with particular responsibility for transport planning, investment and taxi regulation. I understand that the committee wishes to focus on the vision for public transport for the greater Dublin area.

The Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016-2035, approved by the Minister this year, sets out how the vision for greater use of sustainable transport could be delivered by 2035, allowing for a 29% increase in transport demand over that period. The strategy outlines the heavy and light rail networks, the core bus network, a supporting cycling network and other demand management measures that are necessary to ensure that 55% of the trips to work in 2035 are made by sustainable modes, an increase from 38% since 2011.

The cost of all the measures in the strategy is an estimated €10 billion, which averages at €500 million per year over the strategy's 20-year horizon. Delivering these projects will accrue an overall benefit-to-cost ratio of 1.5:1. However, the current capital funding for improvements to public transport are not at the levels required to meet the strategy goals. Approximately €350 million will be provided each year for the next three years for public transport across the State, which includes the funding required for steady-state funding of the rail network. The authority will shortly publish its statutory draft implementation plan, which will set out what can be delivered within the current financial envelope in the next six years.

Following a period of reduced transport usage and suppressed transport growth in private car use and public transport patronage, 2014 saw the start of a reversal of these trends. Public transport usage has increased for all modes since then – bus, Luas and commuter rail. Paralleling the changes in public transport, car travel has increased across the Dublin region since 2014. Demand for travel is on the increase and patronage on public transport is growing. To date in 2016, passenger numbers have continued to grow, with an estimated outturn growth of approximately 5% expected by the end of the year. The trend of increased overall demand is expected to accelerate, with further economic recovery and population growth envisaged over the next five years. It is unlikely that all such demands can be met within existing service provision and capacity, particularly within the city and urban networks where population growth will be the highest and existing peak capacity is already well used.

What is being delivered now? Over the next year, the following transport improvements will be delivered: Luas cross-city will commence services at the end of 2017; train services from the Kildare line linking with the city centre through the Phoenix Park tunnel commenced this week; a ten-minute DART service will be provided from early 2017 and additional bus fleet will be acquired to add capacity to busy routes experiencing high passenger numbers in peak hours.

The main projects to be delivered by the Government's capital plan up to 2022 include additional bus fleet and improvements in bus corridors; design and planning for construction of the metro north; extension of the DART to Balbriggan and designs for electrification of commuter sections of Kildare and Maynooth lines; redesign of the DART underground; and the construction of a new national train control centre. However, the city region cannot wait for these projects to be delivered. Rail projects have a long lead-in time. Work must commence immediately on improvements to the bus infrastructure across the region in order to meet the growing demand and offer an attractive alternative to car drivers.

A number of aspects must be delivered now including an accelerated development of bus lane provision on the priority bus corridors forming the core bus network, further enhancement in terms of bus fleet numbers and bus services, the introduction of bus rapid transit services on some high-passenger volume bus routes, the provision of higher frequency and amended rail services on certain commuter routes into Dublin, which requires investment in new rail carriages, measures such as park and ride services and fares initiatives and an accelerated delivery of key elements of the cycling network.

Sixteen bus corridors form the core bus network within the Dublin region. They are set out in figure 1 of the submission. These priority bus corridors represent the key arteries of the bus system, with multiple high-frequency bus services using them. As such, they form the cornerstone of the overall bus network for the region. Outside of the city centre, the overall length of these corridors amounts to 174 km, or 347 km when each direction is considered separately. Of these 347 km, less than one third – 102 km - have dedicated bus lanes. The remainder require buses to co-run with general traffic. In order to improve the efficiency, journey time performance and overall competitiveness of the bus services on these routes, it is important to address the bus lane deficits sequentially and provide continuous bus lanes to the extent practicable. While five of the arteries are being designed to accommodate bus rapid transit, the remaining 11 corridors will be addressed as conventional bus routes. Work has commenced on the design of the necessary improvements on all corridors and outline designs will be completed in early 2017. Detailed design and planning work must be carried out and provided for in capital funding so that construction of the improved infrastructure can commence in 2018 or 2019.

The licensed commercial bus industry supports 9% of all public transport journeys across the State and, therefore, plays an important role in meeting travel demands across the Dublin city region. These services would also benefit from the improved bus corridor infrastructure. The authority is funding the provision of a coach park facility in Dublin 1 to alleviate the on-street parking of coaches in the city centre. Work is scheduled to commence on that project in early 2017.

Demand for travel is growing rapidly and the public transport system must respond. While the authority is planning for the infrastructure to meet this demand, funding is not fully in place for its construction. An increasingly congested city has the potential to undermine the economic recovery that is taking place and stifle the provision of the housing and commercial developments that are required to sustain that growth.

That concludes my introductory presentation. I trust that I can answer any question that arises.