Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Boyd Barrett and Coppinger. I want to address the positives first. There are some positives with BusConnects, particularly around the orbital routes, cycling infrastructure, dedicated bus lanes, transferable tickets and so forth. Dublin Bus was once referred to as the workhorse of public transport and it certainly is that. It is probably one of the few bus services, if not the only one, in the world where people say "thank you" to the driver when they are getting on and off. I hope it stays that way with BusConnects.

BusConnects is quite confusing and convoluted. A person would need a degree to work out what is what and where to go. The main thing about public transport is that it is convenient. The NTA says 92% of people will have a direct bus route into the city centre. That leaves 8% of people without a direct bus route. I want to talk about that 8%, especially in Dublin Mid-West. Areas such as Newcastle and Rathcoole, which have growing populations, new housing and so forth, will lose their direct bus service into the city centre. This was mooted in 2010 under Network Direct by Dublin Bus, but the people of Newcastle and Rathcoole, through people power, won their direct bus into the city centre. It does not make sense for commuters in Rathcoole or Newcastle to lose a direct bus service into the city centre. It is proposed that the bus would stop at the Saggart or Red Cow Luas stop and people would switch to the Luas. That does not make sense. It would not save time.

There are positive things with BusConnects but it is highly convoluted. There is a lot of opposition locally to people losing their bus service. I hope there will be consultation over the next 18 months and we will see what happens after that.

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