Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

BusConnects is one of the flagship investments that will be delivered by Project 2040, the ten-year national development plan that was launched by the Government earlier this year. Reports show that approximately 70% of people travelling into Dublin city each morning do so by sustainable transport and public transport, which is very welcome. More than half of public transport trips are by bus and there are 136 million passenger journeys every single year. All the NTA is proposing to do is to improve those services to allow people to spend more time with their families, learn a foreign language or do whatever it is people choose to do in their spare time instead of spending hours on public transport.

The one point on which I agree with Deputy Joan Collins is that there is a need for a review. That is exactly what is intended. We have a need for full public consultation, which is exactly what is planned. In June, the NTA published a discussion document that focused on some 230 km of continuous bus lanes across 16 core corridors or bus routes. That is expected to achieve time savings of between 40% and 50% on journeys. It is also the case that the routes and options are indicative at this stage. It is up to the NTA to conduct public consultation meetings following the publication of the public consultation report in July, and consultation meetings are being held the length and breadth of the city and in my area of County Meath where Dublin Bus looks after some residents. The purpose of the consultation meetings is to hear the objections, concerns or praise for what the NTA is trying to do but, more important, the NTA can feed the information back into what will ultimately be the end design. The end design may not be remotely like the initial public consultation document.

It is vital that all of the views raised at the public meetings described by Deputy Joan Collins are brought to the attention of the NTA so that when we get a final draft document to appraise and approve, collectively and publicly, we will have a better infrastructure for the public transport network in order that people spend much less time going to and from work, college or school every single day and that people will have a better work-life balance because they will be spending more of their free time doing what they want, as opposed to sitting on a bus in traffic.

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