Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I welcome that if it happens as the Minister outlines. On the detail of the review, and understanding why Dublin Bus will concentrate on high capacity routes that have quality bus corridors, it will be at the expense of many new residential areas around Dublin. In my constituency there are areas where thousands of houses have been built without a single bus route. They do not have a quality bus corridor and they will not have one. Effectively these areas are being ignored by Dublin Bus.

By adopting this approach, Dublin Bus is cherry-picking routes in advance of competition and leaving the less productive routes to the private sector. Is it still the Minister's intention that only 15% of new routes will be made available to the private sector? That is the same as doing nothing at all. Dublin Bus has squatted on routes so that no new routes remain to be provided. If a bus is provided in the morning and one in the evening, so far as the company is concerned, that is its route.

There is a need for the Minister to be proactive to ensure the newer areas around Dublin are not ignored simply because they do not have a quality bus corridor. Traffic congestion inhibits the provision of public transport as far as Dublin Bus is concerned. It is a chicken and egg situation. If there is too much traffic, Dublin Bus will not put on a bus and if a bus is not provided, there will always be too much traffic. Somebody needs to be proactive to ensure services are provided where they are required rather than where it suits Dublin Bus to provide them.

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