Dáil debates
Thursday, 1 February 2024
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Bus Services
9:10 am
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he can provide an update on the current progress of the BusConnects programme; the possibility of integrating timetables between other forms of public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4819/24]
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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BusConnects is about expanding the network, about putting in new lanes and about delivering a better service, in particular, across the city of Dublin and in other cities. To look at the Dublin situation, I understand there are also issues here in regard to funding. There are difficulties in respect of that. The NTA is also looking to partner with some other group, and it has a list of five firms that, I understand, it is short-listing in respect of that at a cost of €350 million over the next ten years. I would like some detail regarding what all this is about because the general public feels that it is not yet getting the service it deserves.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system, providing better bus services, not only in Dublin but also in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick. It is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State, and is managed by the National Transport Authority, NTA.
In Dublin, the major infrastructure element of BusConnects comprises 12 core bus corridor schemes. These corridors aim to provide more than 200 km of enhanced walking, cycling and bus route infrastructure in the Dublin region. I am pleased that An Bord Pleanála recently granted planning permission for two of the corridors - the Clongriffin and Liffey Valley schemes - and hope that construction can start on those in the near future.
Meanwhile, new bus services in Dublin are already being delivered with the E-spine and inner-city orbitals planned to go live this year.
In Cork, following a public consultation, the new BusConnects network was published in June 2022, and it aims to provide an increase of more than 50% in bus services across the city.
Similarly, BusConnects Galway will provide a major enhancement to the bus system there. Key elements are currently under development, namely the cross-city link project and the Dublin Road scheme. The Salmon Weir pedestrian-cycling bridge was officially opened to the public last May. The bus network design was finalised last December following a public consultation, and it will provide improved services, including in Bearna and Oranmore.
Following public consultation, the NTA published the final redesigned bus network for Limerick last December, which will also result in a better bus service for the city in the years ahead. Workshops on the redesign of the city bus network for Waterford are complete. The new network will be published for public consultation by the end of the second quarter of this year, with the final network to be published in the fourth quarter.
The NTA has responsibility for the scheduling of BusConnects services and will review timetables to help ensure proper integration between various transport modes. Overall, BusConnects will transform bus services in our cities, allowing passengers to travel more conveniently, quickly and sustainably, and I look forward to its full implementation.
I also look forward to hearing more details. I did not quite understand the concern the Deputy outlined, so he might elucidate that.
9:20 am
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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We all want bus services throughout the State, especially in Dublin and other urban areas. In Dublin, where the network has been rolled out and BusConnects has happened to a certain degree, we still have a lot of difficulties, with ghost buses, buses that are full and timetables saying a bus will arrive in three minutes, whereas 20 minutes later, there is still no sign of it. There is great frustration among the public and that is regrettable because I want this to work, as everybody does.
In regard to the funding issue, which the Minister mentioned, my understanding is the NTA has indicated it wants to partner with another group, which I assume is a consultancy company or something similar, and it estimates it will cost €350 million over ten years. It accepts it does not have the level of expertise in house to do some of this work. All of us Deputies have for years had a sense, which I think the general public have as well, that in the case of several of our public service organisations, a lot of people are working there, yet when there is work to be done, a consultant has to be brought in. People wonder why that always happens and why these huge costs always arise. We need to get some detail on that.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I fully accept what the Deputy said about there being occasions when someone is left at the bus stop, the real-time information not being accurate and the bus not appearing or being full. We can never be fully satisfied with the service. We have to really improve the payments system and the online monitoring system and accelerate the provision of road space in order that we can improve bus times, and that all requires significant change.
We have to be careful, however, not to ignore the reality that what is happening is an incredible transformation in our public transport numbers. The increase last year on the previous year was something like 24%. That is phenomenal and that does not happen ordinarily. That was partly accounted for by coming out of Covid but the vast majority of the increase is due to expanded services and patronage, so the system is working.
Part of making it work is that the NTA has dramatically expanded. I do not have the exact figures to hand but we have provided all the additional staffing resources the NTA has needed, and that will continue. That does not mean we do not use consultants – Jarrett Walker, for example, is involved in Cork - or bring in outside expertise, but we do need to build up resources.
I will finish my point in my concluding reply.
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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One of the main frustrations is that the system very often does not connect. Part of the issue is that people were used to the old system and they knew which buses would bring them to a certain place at a certain time, and they find that is not working anymore and that there is not the same connection between other modes of transport, whether trains, buses and so on, as there was in the past. There is possibly work to be done in that regard to get information to people in a clearer and more coherent manner than has been happening.
It is about building a service that people can see is not only reliable but also safe, which is another issue. Safety is a serious problem for all modes of transport but especially for our buses. Many bus drivers are under huge pressure and a lot of antisocial issues have been contributing to that. As the service expands and grows and we have more late-night services, there also needs to be an eye to that to ensure there will be a safe and coherent public bus service that offers value for money. I accept that more people are using the service, which is exactly what we need, but, unfortunately, it does not seem to be working at the moment. Maybe they are teething problems, but we need to get them resolved fast.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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If we take BusConnects in Dublin as an example, we have been introducing spines that are reorganising the routes and are designed to improve connectivity, and we now have to follow up with the corridors and build the physical infrastructure to improve bus times and make conditions for cycling and walking better. The evidence is that when we put in these new spines, straighten the routes and get the connectivity, that is where patronage is jumping up. There are always teething problems. I know from my area on the southside of Dublin, where the new orbitals have been put in, that it takes a while to get to know where the route is going. We have switched there, as an example, to ten-minute services, whereas previously passengers could have had to wait for an hour. That is a phenomenal increase and improvement in services.
Going back to the NTA and its role, it is building up significant expertise. It has a statutory role in that regard in Dublin. In the likes of Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick, rather than take powers from the local authority, which has to be central and key, we need to make the sure the NTA and the local authorities have the delivery capability to get through whatever planning system or approaches they take. That is one of the structural institutional issues we need to get right and those changes will need to be made through the Dáil.
I absolutely agree with the Deputy's fundamental first point. We need to develop inhouse skills and not always rely on consultants, because that means forever paying for someone to come back the next day. When expertise is built in house, it lasts longer.