Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I fully acknowledge the problems which Deputy Lahart has put is finger on and I am grateful to him for doing this. It is right that he should do so. In acknowledging it, the Deputy also pointed out the considerable success of the Luas cross city and the fact that it is in enormous demand.

As well as that, the Deputy said something which I thought was significant when he was talking about the number of buses that have been put on to try to remedy some of the problems and the changes that have to be made because of Luas cross city. The Deputy stated that we will have to await the impact of them to see whether they are successful or not. He is right. We will. When we introduce very significant changes, as we have done on the Luas cross city and with other major changes, there are always some impacts which one cannot completely anticipate, in terms of pedestrians' habits in terms of their familiarisation and how they will behave when changes such as this are introduced, and one cannot except to have a massive benefit of the sort that Luas cross city and the additional 10 million journeys a year that will be taken as a result provides, without it having teething problems, and those are being addressed.

One never achieves absolute perfection when one introduces reform. We will not achieve absolute perfection when we introduce a major benefit to the city, to public transport and to the travelling public here. I admit readily that the problems which the Deputy has pointed out are there but let me say this. As they emerge, they are being addressed.

Of course, what Deputy Lahart calls the victim of its own success, Luas cross city, has, in fact, attracted an enormous number of people and the remedy for that, as the Deputy rightly pointed out, is that additional trams will be purchased, trams will be lengthened and we will see if that suffices to resolve the problem of over capacity. The problems of success are the problems we are talking about here and those problems are being and will be addressed seriously. However, the benefits of its success are more substantial. We will respond to both of these particular features of what has happened because of the introduction of the Luas.

The new line has placed an increased demand on the capacity of the College Green area, as the Deputy has pointed out, to cater for the volume of vehicles seeking to travel through this area and I am aware of the congestion issues which have been causing delays to some commuters during peak periods. The introduction of a completely new tram service in to Dublin city centre obviously requires a period of bedding in while all road users get familiar with, and adjust to, the new trams travelling on the central streets. We are not denying the problems the Deputy has pointed out. We are saying we are addressing them but that they are the problems of success.

Car drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, cyclists and pedestrians all have to acclimatise to the new street environment and the new traffic layouts. Teething difficulties are to be expected while that familiarisation process takes place.

As the Deputy may be aware, there is a proposal currently under consideration by An Bord Pleanála for a civic plaza at College Green to help relieve traffic congestion in the area. In the interim, the National Transport Authority has undertaken consultations with Dublin Bus and Dublin City Council on measures that could be undertaken to facilitate the more effective movement of traffic through College Green in advance of the determination by An Bord Pleanála of the College Green plaza proposals.

The NTA announced this afternoon the outcome of these consultations which involves a number of changes to Dublin Bus routes in the College Green-College Street area.

7 o’clock

The purpose of these changes is to reduce the number of buses passing through these streets and enable the more effective operation of this area. Therefore, from next week a number of Dublin Bus routes which currently travel through College Street and Westmoreland Street will instead be rerouted via Tara Street and Burgh Quay. None of the stop locations on these routes will change, so bus passengers will be unaffected. Also from next week, a number of limited stop services, known as X services, will be assigned to alternatives routes and removed from the College Green area. Some other routes will be assigned to other alignments. Details of the exact rerouting will be provided at the relevant bus stops and on the Transport for Ireland and Dublin Bus websites. The combined impact of the above two changes will reduce the number of Dublin Bus vehicles travelling through College Green by approximately 20%. This reduced volume will enable the traffic signalling system and junctions in this area to operate more effectively.

I am informed by the NTA that it is intended to monitor the above changes after their implementation to confirm they achieve the intended outcome. Following this review, should a further reduction in the number of vehicles travelling through this area become necessary, a number of other measures will be considered for implementation. I am confident that these initiatives will go a long way towards alleviating the congestion issues at College Green.

See this speech in context