Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The naysayers and doomsayers stated the M50 would close down when the port tunnel opened. Equally, this has proven not to be the case. I accept there are transport issues which must be dealt with and I am happy to state we are dealing with them. I saw the Dublin Bus plans for the new buses to be provided which are being maximised on green routes from suburbs to the centre of Dublin. The QBCs will carry many more buses. As the Deputy knows, we want to expand the number of QBCs.

Another 160 buses were provided for Bus Éireann, many of which will operate in the greater Dublin area outside the Dublin suburbs and bring many more passengers from towns to the centre of Dublin. The capacity of the bus fleet in Dublin has increased by 45%. I am glad Dublin Bus maximised its use and is now busily putting in place the route selection process for the new and additional buses.

I agree with the Deputy. I am anxious to have more buses in the Dublin bus market. As the Deputy knows, I have substantial resources available under Transport 21. We intend to increase bus capacity by more than 60%. The bus will remain the workhorse in the public transport system, as it is in almost every other country. This measure will be joined by seven Luas projects, metro north, metro west and the interconnector for all DART services. In the past year all DART services were expanded to eight-car services, which has meant a dramatic improvement in capacity on DART services.

It is my intention to roll out more buses with both the public and private sectors and continue to grow the bus market in the Dublin area. We began that process with 100 buses and 160 have gone to Bus Éireann, many of which will be used in the surrounding towns which now form part of the greater Dublin area on commuter runs to the city centre.

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