John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith linn ar maidin chun an cheist seo a fhreagairt. The Galway transport strategy was launched with great expectation in 2016. It was heralded to develop an integrated transport system where infrastructural development and improved services would be integrated, giving commuters a greater option rather than simply relying on the car all the time. Regrettably, very few of the projects mentioned in this strategy have been completed. There have been some, such as a new pedestrian bridge across the River Corrib at Salmon Weir, while a small number of cycle routes and stage 1 and stage 2 of the Galway cycle network have been progressed and Ceannt station is under development. Some of the projects are going through the planning process at the moment. The N6 project, the Galway city ring road, is going through the planning process, as is the Dublin road bus corridor. Some have been granted planning but unfortunately have not progressed due to judicial reviews, most notably the cross-city link. In general, Galway citizens will say the strategy has had minimal impact. That is borne out by study after study on the impact of traffic on Galway. The most recent, a Department of Transport study, reckoned the cost of congestion to Galway city will reach €107 million in 2030, far more than other regional cities. Other aspects of the strategy included a park-and-ride strategy, which unfortunately has not progressed, and an enhanced new bus network, the implementation of which has regrettably been deferred to 2027.

Part of the city with the poorest public transport provision is the Knocknacarragh area. It is a heavily populated area. Many parts of it have no direct public transport option for the people living there. The Western Distributor Road runs right through the Knocknacarragh area into Rahoon. It is a spinal route with about 15,000 people living in spurs off the Western Distributor Road. Of that new proposed bus network that I mentioned earlier, seven of the ten proposed new routes are expected to traverse the Western Distributor Road at some point. We are also led to believe by the National Transport Authority, NTA, that it is examining the development of a park-and-ride facility in Cappagh, which is right at the end of the Western Distributor Road.

Currently, the progression of the park and ride and the new bus network will bring buses to an area where there is no bus priority, where those buses will simply join the traffic. I can see the option not being as amenable as it should be were there bus priority measures in place. The Galway transport strategy in 2016 foresaw that the Western Distributor Road would evolve into a dedicated public transport spine including bus priority lanes and a core cycling corridor. In 2020, the NTA provided some funding to Galway City Council to advance a project for the development of bus lanes along as the Western Distributor Road. However, that did not amount to much. Last year, the NTA and Galway City Council proposed the development of segregated cycle lanes along the Western Distributor Road. I was on the council at the time and that was much welcomed. Part of my contribution at that time on the council was to urge the local authority officials to combine the development of the cycle lanes with enhanced bus infrastructure on the Western Distributor Road as this would give people a lead to the 2016 ambition for the road to develop into a public transport spine. Unfortunately, when the Part 8 for the cycle lanes was published, there was no reference to enhanced bus infrastructure on the road.

This is a serious missed opportunity. I believe that we will now develop the cycle infrastructure, and as I said it is very welcome, but we will end up shortly going back and taking out that infrastructure again and hopefully putting in the bus lanes, whereas we should combine the projects now.

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