Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

BusConnects plans to increase reliability and build out 16 core bus corridors to form a continuous bus lane in each direction. In principle, it is a laudable aim but the proposed interchanges or breaking of journeys on long-established routes direct to Dublin city centre pose insuperable problems for many of my constituents. I met the deputy chief executive of the NTA, Mr. Hugh Creegan, in this House. Many people also ask whether the NTA is putting the cart before the horse. If it was serious about this plan, why did it not move on the core routes first and build them out - it will only start that consultation next month - rather than causing the extreme anxiety it has caused across Dublin Bay North?

My constituents in Howth, Sutton, Bayside and Raheny are desolate and very upset at the proposed changes to the 31, 31A, 31B and 32. Those who live in Howth and Sutton will now have take the N6, which will run between Howth and DCU, and will have to connect to the city centre via Raheny DART station or the Artane roundabout on the D or A spine. There seems to be an emphasis on the fact that we also have a DART station but early morning and evening DART services are already at capacity and anyone who commutes every morning in particular will speak of the cramped conditions. BusConnects is also ignoring the huge numbers of weekly visitors to Howth from all across the north side and many thousands of foreign visitors. It has been estimated that 1 million visitors travel to the peninsula every year. Obviously, we need both a bus and a fixed rail transport system to deal with that.

There is also uproar all across Ayrfield, Edenmore, north and south Coolock and Artane at the changes to the 27, 27A and 27B. The 27A will no longer have a direct route to the city centre for residents of Blunden Drive through to Edenmore and on to Artane. Many residents living in areas for 40 or 50 years are desolate that they might have to walk a mile on a cold and wet morning to one of these spines to catch the bus to town. There was uproar among commuters in Artane, Beaumont, Ayrfield and Edenmore at a meeting I attended organised by my colleague, Councillor Paddy Bourke, in the Artane Beaumont Family Resource Centre where many older speakers asked whether BusConnects was a plot to get older people with bus passes off the buses because they could not see any other sense in it.

We received a lot of documentation and have huge files on this. The other thing that has been ignored in all the documents we received is a disability impact assessment. There is no mention of universal design. These are fatal flaws. Ms Graham, Mr. Creegan and the rest of the NTA should go back to the drawing board.

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