Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I want to raise the issue of capacity on the E1 and E2 bus routes, on the E-spine of BusConnects. The E1 and E2 routes go between Northwood and Bray, and between Harristown and Dún Laoghaire, respectively.

The E2 is the much-lamented old 46A. We in Dún Laoghaire miss it terribly. We have to call it the E2 now. I take the E2 bus and I am grateful for it. It is also a 24-hour service which is not to be sniffed at. I take it home from Kildare Street after late votes on a Wednesday. There is not a capacity issue after midnight during the week, but there is a capacity issue in the mornings. I receive representations about this all the time. There is a problem with capacity. I know from getting the bus in the morning that there can be times when the bus passes full. It affects people on the E1 and the E2, particularly before the Foxrock church bus stop, because each of the buses serves that part of its route on its own. If there is a ghost bus as it is known locally, or a bus that does not turn up because a driver has not turned up at the depot in Dún Laoghaire or Ballywaltrim and the bus therefore cannot leave, the next bus is so full that nobody can get on it at Galloping Green and Stillorgan, etc., on the route to town. It is a significant problem.

I acknowledge that this is an excellent service for the most part. It runs every seven or eight minutes during rush hour, morning and evening, and every nine or ten minutes during the day. It is a great service. It provides a really important link for people in the suburban areas to the south east of the city into town. I am not taking it down in that way. However, it is a long bus route. I know from talking to people and from people emailing my office that there are several instances at rush hour when the bus arrives at a bus stop locally and they cannot get on because it is full, or the bus does not turn up. That is a major problem.

I have been engaging with the Department and the National Transport Authority, NTA, on the issue. I acknowledge that a review took place in September. A review was undertaken. I understand that other buses have been added to the system and that is welcome. The problem continues, however. It is particularly the case on the E2 service, with which I am familiar. There are times when you are standing at the bus stop, but the bus is full when it comes.

We have invested a huge amount of money in BusConnects. I have supported that. It has been problematic in areas like Shankill, where I have opposed it on the basis that it will cause knock-on impacts for local communities. However, BusConnects as a project has been really positive. It has shown the commitment of the State and the Government to providing public transport that is attractive, usable and incentivised for people all over this city, so it is a good thing. If we want people to use that public transport, however, we have to make it easy, comfortable and reliable for them. The problem I have with the E1 and the E2 is that is not always the case. The bus can be rammed, first of all. We would live with that but what is much worse is not being able to get on the bus at all. When people go to their normal bus stop to get to work and an earlier bus has not arrived, it causes a backlog at the bus stop. Similarly, the previous bus stops will have been more crowded than usual. This means that when the bus arrives, it is so crowded that people cannot get on. In that situation, it cannot be okay to tell people they are not going to get to work on time today because the bus they normally get - the bus they expect to be there at a particular time with capacity to get on - cannot take them. That is not okay. Such unreliability is not fair to the people who live in these areas.

I have engaged with the NTA and I accept that a review has taken place. I am certainly anxious to hear what the results of that will be. However, can we please make a commitment to drive with the NTA to ensure there is capacity and reliability so that people can depend on that service?

See this speech in context