John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The BusConnects project has caused considerable public concern, but that is not surprising, given that Dublin Bus is the dominant carrier of passengers, with 140 million per annum in the greater Dublin area.

There is concern that the public consultation process took place over the summer.

Most of us, as public representatives, receive more inquiries and queries about what is in the plan now than we received in July and August. That is the reality. It was unfortunate that it took place in that period. I would like the Minister to take the opportunity to clearly set out clearly the timelines for how the plan will be developed and, more important, to incorporate the submissions received which were made by the public and for the redesign of the plan to be made public.

The first concern that people had was losing the direct route that existed. It all sounds very well and I listened to and observed how that might work. I will give an example of one area. A bus leaving Rathcoole, the 69, goes no farther than the Luas stop at Saggart. When one reads the narrative, it says that instead of being once an hour, the 69 will be twice an hour, which looks like a net gain. When one gets to the Luas line, the Luas is very frequent, so that is not a problem. The problem in reality is the return journey. One ends up in the middle of nowhere, with no shelter, waiting for up to half an hour to get a bus. These are the concerns with losing the direct route which have not been factored in, including where one is waiting and the type of environment one is in. People are genuinely concerned about the loss of that direct route. I do not have time to go into every route and I will not. Some of the design takes buses out of existing population areas. The one that goes through Clondalkin village, the 13, will no longer come down the Fonthill Road and serve the whole parish of Sruleen and will no longer go up Woodford Road and serve the parish of Knockmitten. Two areas are being left vacant.

Much of it relates to interconnectivity between Dublin Bus and other modes of transport and where the plan does not clearly indicate the additional capacity that will be made available on the Luas. People are concerned that at 7.30 a.m., at the Red Cow, the Luas is full. What will happen if more people are brought to that? That is a huge source of concern. The underlying concern is that the plan is predicated on increased frequency, with a bus every eight or ten minutes. For that plan to happen, the quality spines, the corridors, have to be in place. There is a lack of clarity about implementation. At what stage are the corridors built and at what stage does one revert to this new BusConnects project? People are genuinely concerned that the transition will take place first, so new bus routes will come in before the spines and corridors are in place. If that happens, the frequency that the Minister anticipates will not be delivered.

This is a plan for the future and the timelines are somewhat unclear. I know the Minister will take an opportunity to spell that out. People ask me what is happening this year and next year. I reiterate that people who will go to work tomorrow who are dependent on the 25 in Lucan will not be able to get on that bus tomorrow because it will be full. While we are planning for the future, we are not dealing with today's demand on some of our routes. People are not able to get on the bus. There are other routes with similar issues, such as the 68 from Newcastle. Some people living in Lucan get on the outward bound bus to go farther out so that they can cross the road and get a city-bound bus. I ask the Minister, in his response to this, to set out how he sees this being implemented with regard to the delivery of the capacity that underpins the required frequency.

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