John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Earlier in the summer, the NTA and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, announced the most radical transformation in the history of the State for public transport in Dublin. However, the Minister is not here now. That says it all. Need I say any more?

On this side of the House, we recognise there are eight aspects to BusConnects. We wholeheartedly support seven of them. Colleagues have gone through them, from the simplification of fares and ticketing to improvement to bus stop facilities, etc. Our issue is with the area network redesign. What the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, just said essentially supports our motion. Every Member who contributed, regardless of political hue, mentioned nearly every bus route in Dublin. Our motion speaks to the reversal of the decisions proposed.

Both the Minister of State and Deputy Rock said that this is not an implementation proposal. However, the NTA's consultant said that if 10% of the proposals were removed, then the BusConnects project would be a waste of time. Accordingly, it is an implementation proposal. It is also part of Project Ireland 2040 but there has been no great Government acclamation for this, aside from the Minister, Deputy Ross. I have not heard the communications unit go into overdrive about BusConnects. As one of my colleagues described, instead of connecting people, the evidence coming from public meetings is that people are fearful that it will disconnect them.

This side of the House acknowledges the gridlock facing Dublin city. In my constituency, upwards of 1,200 people have attended the public information meetings I have held. What we have heard at these meetings is that the public will buy into a system of public transport when they are offered segregated bus corridors which would essentially operate like a Luas tramline, get them from A to B and, regardless of whether it is early morning peak or the middle of the afternoon, the time of travel would be the same. They will buy into a system where there is an obstacle-free journey. Accordingly, we buy into the spines proposal where buses arrive on time and there are sufficient numbers of buses. If the infrastructure was created first, then people would buy into it and leave their cars behind because they would know there is a reliable system of bus travel spines going into and across the city.

We support the orbital routes proposal. However, this is really putting the cart before the horse. The NTA is proposing to implement BusConnects without any of the infrastructure being in place. Initially, it said it would be implemented from the third quarter of 2019 but it has now pushed it out to 2020. One cannot implement any of this. Not one driver will be persuaded to leave his or her car behind under this proposal. If they saw proper segregated bus corridors and cycle lanes which allow untrammelled journey from A to B, then people will buy into it.

Several bus drivers came to my public information meetings and spoke about the existing position. The existing bus corridors are not policed which causes bus drivers significant delays. We asked them about the No. 15 route in Knocklyon on which buses are full by the fourth stop. People asked why all buses have to start at the terminus. Why can one bus not start at five stops in on the route? The drivers said the NTA will not allow this as it micromanages the whole process. The No. 54A allows connectivity with Tallaght Hospital, county council and social welfare offices for people in Templeogue and Greenhills. The No. 123 allows connectivity from Templeogue and Greenhills to St. James's Hospital. Those routes are going while other routes will be overloaded.

Two questions the public asked more often than anything else were who is the NTA and is BusConnects a done deal. In all my public consultations, I gave the public all of the NTA's official material. I did not give them an unvarnished or varnished approach to it. The Minister of State claimed it is not a done deal. I told people at my meetings that the NTA is answerable to the Minister and the Minister is answerable to us. However, the Minister is not here. The public may take what it wishes out of that.

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