Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I will go to something else. I may follow up if we get a second opportunity. The NTA planned routes. To what extent was this a desktop exercise? I will give two examples. The NTA planned on putting the W8 on, which was an orbital route from Maynooth to Tallaght. It was a great idea which I really supported. Just before it was to be introduced, the NTA discovered there was a bridge over which a bus could not go. There is now the W61 and the W62, one which brings you so far and the other which brings you to the other side because you cannot get over the bridge.

A second example is where the NTA wanted to terminate several services at Confey railway station. You would be doing well to turn one bus there; you could certainly not queue or turn four or five buses there. There was no capacity or space to do that. I do not know if that is happening in other areas. I can give the witnesses examples of things I am aware of at a granular level. It indicates that this is very much a desktop design that does not take account of typography or the requirement for movement to, for example, hospitals, etc. All it looks at is routes, spine and services.