Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

We also need to make it easier for the bus user to get from A to B and back again. Simple things, such as mapping, need to be transformed. The Dublin Bus map is not the kind one would carry around in one's jacket pocket. It is difficult enough to open the map in the Dáil Chamber so one can imagine what it is like on a windy Friday morning trying to work out how to get from A to B and back. We need pocket-sized maps, such as those issued in London that enable one to work out quickly what bus to get. People do not go to websites or maps to choose their buses, they ask other people. That is a failure on the part of Dublin Bus to communicate the information about how to get from A to B.

Fares need to be simplified and there should be easier ways to use the bus. The Labour Party spokesperson mentioned a €1 fare, or multiples of that, in order that one does not have to wait two or three minutes for people to take change out of their pockets while boarding a bus. The dwell time at Luas stops is 20 seconds. It should be the same for buses. That would speed them up. There should be fewer bus stops, perhaps every 300 or 400 metres instead of every 200 metres.

Electronic ticketing is the real breakthrough that should happen sooner rather than later. In London one can get a purse card free in a tube station. One can top it up and use it on the Underground or on the bus, transferring effortlessly from one to the other. In Dublin one can get a Luas card but it does not work on buses, or a travel 90 card from Dublin Bus, which does not work on the Luas. No wonder people are sticking to their cars and not jumping onto the bus. Dublin Bus will claim it needs the back office support. We have waited 15 years for this to happen. It is not rocket science to give people a card they can use on private or public buses, the Luas or a train. It should happen now, and if it does not happen within the next six months, people should resign or heads should roll. These simple changes — simpler fares, better mapping and ticketing — would transform the bus service. Very few bus shelters in the centre of Dublin have maps. There is a map at every Luas stop. Almost every other form of transport shows one how to get from A to B and back. These changes need to happen soon.

I have talked about the efficiency measures required to transform Dublin Bus, such as moving buses more quickly through College Green. We need better routing that does not go around the world and back again. I would like to straighten the 46A route, which is the pride of the fleet in many respects. The Deloitte report shows how the Finglas routes could be transformed to provide a reliable service to customers. There are unexpected dips in the 46A service when drivers go off duty. Problems arise every week at the same time.

We want buses to go every ten minutes on Saturdays, Fridays or Thursday evenings. We need that kind of reliability. While the company has made many strides over recent years to transform its service, it needs to go the extra mile to get people out of their cars and make them see the Dublin Bus brand as a watchword for reliability. I believe it will do so. Change has to happen at the top. One should be able to set one's watch by the arrival times of buses. Simple mechanisms should be in place to allow people to hop on and off buses using the same bus ticket or card. People want it to be easier to transfer between buses.

The report mentions other improvements that are needed. It suggests that there should be less empty running of buses. I am aware that buses on the 4A and 4B routes run empty between Harristown and Blackrock. Why is the Donnybrook depot not used in some of those cases? While these may seem like simple suggestions, it is not always easy to manage. A little more desk work is required to make things happen to transform the company. Buses have an important role in tacking climate change and traffic congestion. If the right initiative comes from the top in Dublin Bus, we will truly be able to meet the needs of the travelling public of the 21st century.

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