Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It has great loyalty from customers and, from a commercial point of view, it is a well known and valuable brand. I have no idea why one would ditch a valuable brand in favour of a complete unknown that means nothing to most Dubliners. The development of the app for Dublin Bus, the real-time information at the bus stops and the Leap card, all of which were done some years ago when we were in government, have transformed the reputation of Dublin Bus. Dublin Bus is both necessary and popular. The Minister needs to rethink the plan.

For blind people, getting rid of the yellow buses means that, for people with very little or no sight, the dark blue against the sky is very difficult to see. I note that a lot of those buses have been repainted. Perhaps the engineers now understand that.

The Minister also needs to reconsider what his Government is planning in respect of the 37 and 70 bus routes. It is putting out tens of thousands of consumers in the Dublin 15 and Dublin 7 areas.

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