Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)

It is with huge regret that I raise the issue of the organisation of bus routes in my area here in the Dáil Chamber with the Minister of State. It is something that, between the NTA and the operators of those buses, should not come to the floor of the Dáil. We know BusConnects has been controversial in many places where it has rolled out. It has proven so in the latest phase, phase 7, in the areas of Finglas and Glasnevin that it has impacted. From 19 October, the 9, 83, 140, 40 and 40b were replaced with the new bus routes 23, 24, F1, F2 and F3. While the consultation was done over an extended period, there was dissatisfaction with the routes.

As in any change process, some people will be happy and others will be unhappy, but there are a number of very simple changes that could have been made to address the issues. However, in the three weeks since the implementation occurred on 19 October, the routes alone are no longer the issue. There has been an absolutely calamitous roll-out of the service over the past three weeks - one of those weeks being the midterm week, when many children were away from school and not using the service. Whatever about people getting used to new routes or trying to find new ways of getting to work or arranging their school runs and so on, the reduced frequency on these routes is now the biggest issue. When you put the failure of certain buses to turn up on top of that, people are waiting, on average, between 30 and 40 minutes, according to the emails I have received. I have received nearly 100 emails in the past three weeks on this issue.

For example, the new 23 and 24 routes have a reduced frequency. Instead of the bus service being much more frequent, at 10 or 15 minutes, we are now down to 20 minutes. If one of those buses does not turn up, in the morning times children go out for a 8.10 a.m. bus and are not getting that bus until nearly 8.40 a.m. or 8.45 a.m.. They are late for school despite having been at the bus stop for an hour. I am talking about a 15-minute journey here. This is something that should not occur because there is demand for that service and the frequency should be there to meet it. I am getting reports of bus stops with 15 to 20 people waiting on buses. When the bus arrives, there is no room for people to get on. This is happening very early in the route. It might happen at the second or third stop on the route.

The NTA should be able to resolve these issues with the provider, in this case Dublin Bus, but I am really disappointed with the response of the NTA. It has not reacted to what is clearly an issue around service delivery. It has not reacted to the bedding-in problems and tried to address them. From the feedback of the constituents who have been in touch with me, they are very dissatisfied. This is basic stuff. People plan their day around the bus service. This bus service worked for many years but now, as a result of the changes, there are people being late to work and missing connections and there is the core problem of the routes not servicing the areas that were previously serviced. I will cover that in a moment. At the very least, if Dublin Bus and the NTA are going to implement new services, the frequency should be appropriate to the demand. There should not be extensive numbers of people at bus stops. There should not be limited space on a bus early in the route and there should not be missing buses. A very basic provision of services is needed.

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