John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is close to midnight, and I very much appreciate the Minister of State coming to the House to take this question of behalf of the Government. As the Minister of State will probably be aware from his own constituency, continuous changes as part of the BusConnects project and changes in bus schedules continue to be rolled out by the NTA. Some of them have rolled out in my constituency. I was alerted to the potential impact of some of these changes recently, notwithstanding the public consultation that took place a long time ago. We will come back to that in part two of my contribution.

For the first time, I carried out an online petition to assess the impact and the public response. I expected approximately 100 or 200 people to respond. Today, almost 3,500 people have signed that petition and today alone 180 people signed it. It has been 3,500 people in the last week.

Some of the comments I have received in emails and social media probably illustrate it better than any kind of long-winded contribution I could make. With the Minister of State’s indulgence, I will therefore cite a number of them. This is from a young student:

I am finding it really hard to get space on the new S6 bus both to and from school in Stillorgan from Nutgrove, Rathfarnham. It is full or just so packed in morning and afternoons. It is just horrible. I am thirteen and it is just claustrophobic. Please put on buses. We can see they are every ten minutes in the middle of the day and only two come between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. in the morning. I cannot get the S8 as many of them are cancelled. I signed John Lahart’s petition and I read many other people are annoyed too.

Here is another one:

I emailed you last week to thank you for your attempts to keep the 175 bus route. I am coming back to you today, day three, with an update on the replacement service. Yesterday evening, after his 7 p.m. lecture finished in UCD, it took my son one hour and 40 minutes to get home to Knocklyon. This was at non-peak times. This morning, he took the number 15 to the stop near a particular pub and waited over 40 minutes for the S6. While he waited, three S6 buses were cancelled. So much for the more frequent service. A lot of people walked away. Others waited. By the time the bus arrived it was so full there was standing room only.

Here is another one:

Can you please answer why at 6.55 a.m. and here I am checking buses and realising there will not be an option for my three kids to get in on time, so I now have to drop them in by car and then drive on to work in the city?

Here is another one from a young man named Eoin:

Here, just so you know I am after standing at the S6 bus stop for 40 minutes with three buses in a row not coming. Everyone here is furious.

Here is another one:

As was entirely predictable, there was chaos this morning. There were only three S6 buses between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Entirely insufficient. Children were left standing at bus stops as the S6 went past full, as every parent in this area knew would be the case. At a time when we are being urged to use public transport, the public transport options for families in this area whose children who attend particular schools are being reduced.

Here is another one:

My children attempted to take the new S6 this morning at 7:40 a.m. at Nutgrove Rathfarnham in the direction of Blackrock. It was full. See image attached. Moreover, the S8 was full at 7.26 a.m. at Taylor’s Lane in the direction of the N11. Finally, the interconnecting buses numbers 14 and 16 were also messed up and some cancelled. It was a fairly stressful morning to say the least for our children and ourselves.

Here is another one:

I am sending you an e-mail regarding BusConnects. I live in Whitechurch in Rathfarnham. From Sunday, number 61 will be withdrawn, as will the number 175 and 75. These three buses are the buses that served our particular area.

Here is another one:

These buses also cover City West to UCD, but since the consultation, over 5,000 new residents to this area moved in in the past two years. 27 new apartment blocks on the way.

Here is another one:

My daughter will now have to use two buses to get to UCD and also extend her journey time significantly. The other route as well was to IADT in Dún Laoghaire.

That is the background and that is part one of what I want to say to the Minister of State.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I would be very grateful if he could go back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to tell him this. I say this particularly in the light of one of the points the Minister of State made regarding what the Government has been doing with fares to encourage people to abandon their cars and use public transport. I refer particularly to young people. One of the comments I did not read out or complete was from a parent who said that we are coming into exam season for these students. They want a public transport system that they can rely on. I read through approximately two thirds of what had been said to me. I told the Minister of State about the petition, which I will pass on to the NTA.

One of the reasons I raised this Topical Issue, and as I said, I am grateful to the Minister of State being here, is because I raised this matter with the NTA, I wrote to the NTA and I have not heard back from the authority. That is my first point. The operator of these buses, as outlined by the NTA is Go Ahead Ireland. Some of the schedules the Minister of State raised are for buses that are due every ten minutes. Clearly, however, the evidence from commuters over the past few days is that has not happened. I am aware that there are pros and cons. I am supportive of many of the aspects of BusConnects. I was very involved in making significant changes in relation to it. The Dublin Commuter Coalition on one of the social media platforms accused me of wanting to scrap the 175 and the 75 replacements.

My petition was really clear, in that I wanted to save their connections on those routes to UCD and IADT specifically. I understand the need for changes, and also that connections are bringing good things. I know, for example, that much of my constituency lies between the red and green Luas lines, and for the first time there will be bus services connecting people from that gap to both of those green lines. That is to be very much welcomed. I know there are other people who have made some very positive comments about some of the aspects of the changes.

However, I am critical of the communications. The Minister knows the metro-style map that is being used. A lot of people find that map really challenging to read, and I think the NTA could look at providing some assistance to people and a bit of education around how to read those maps. They can be quite challenging and complex for people who are not used to them. I thank the Minister of State again for taking the topic.