Dáil debates
Thursday, 8 February 2024
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Public Transport
3:50 pm
John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for being present to take this matter. As he knows, Citywest, which is in my constituency, was meant to be a planned and phased, mixed and relatively modest residential development area. In fact, an area plan was advised for it just over ten years ago. The decision by the previous government to introduce strategic housing development areas, which essentially ran a coach-and-four through normal planning regulations and protocols, and overrode local area and county development plans, has meant that Citywest has developed rapidly, with great density and height, in the past two or three years. One of the reasons or factors used as a supporting argument by developers applying for planning permission there is that developments are adjacent to the red line Luas. This is used as a reason to provide very little private parking in developments, which has led to a plethora of issues with parking, including people asking residents with driveways if they can rent a space in those driveways. This is well accounted for in local media. There is also the forced parking of cars along national secondary routes because there simply is not adequate provision of parking.
Public transport, therefore, is key and was looked on as a key reason for enabling the granting of dense and high-rise developments with a very transient population in Citywest. In the past number of months, the very vibrant and hard-working Citywest Community Council, led by a very dedicated chair and committee, has raised with Transdev and the National Transport Authority, NTA, the issue of Luas trams that are outbound, particularly from the city, destined for Citywest and Saggart, actually stopping at Belgard in Tallaght and not continuing on to Saggart. This forces passengers to disembark and to wait and queue until the next red line tram bound for Citywest and Saggart comes along. This is not acceptable late at night, never mind at other times during the day, especially for particular cohorts of our society, including students and young women.
The response of Transdev to Citywest residents' association regarding service disruptions was quite interesting. On 3 October, Transdev stated that cancelling of services is the last option exercised when responding to any problem on the line. It also stated that occasionally, due to operational reasons or during times of service disruptions, Saggart trams are redirected to Tallaght to regulate the line and reduce delays. The problem is this is never flagged. Someone can get on a tram in the city or between the city and, for example, Red Cow, get on the red line expecting it will bring him or her to Citywest, but it is not announced that the service to Citywest is cancelled. Sometimes, trams do not show up.
This matter has been raised. The chair of Citywest Community Council was with me in Buswells Hotel when the NTA made a presentation. The council raised this issue with the NTA, which stated it would revert, but despite repeated emails and correspondence the NTA has not reverted. This needs to be addressed. Trams need to go where they say they are going and where timetables say they are going. This situation does not seem to happen on the green line. Will the Minister of State ask Transdev whether there are any plans to extend the length of tram, similar to the green line, which has substantially longer trams than the red line, to help accommodate the increasing number of people who want to use the red line?
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Lahart for raising the important topic of the inadequate and inconsistent Luas red line services to Citywest. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I will clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the NTA. The NTA works with public transport operators, which deliver the services and have responsibility for their day-to-day operation.
That said, I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options. Public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal.
To support this objective, under budget 2024, a funding package of approximately €613.463 million has been secured for public service obligation and Local Link services. This package includes funding for the continuation of the 20% fare reduction on PSO services, the extension of the young adult card on both PSO and commercial bus services to include 24 year olds and 25 year olds, and the continuation of the 90 minute fare until the end of 2024. Funding has also been secured to support the continued roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services this year. As Deputy Lahart is aware, the Government is committed to improving public transport services and is backing that up with a commitment to significant infrastructure investments on the network.
I understand that intermittently throughout 2023 there were issues affecting Luas performance on the red line. These issues arose primarily due to tram availability and driver absences. Tram availability is primarily related to the Luas operator and maintainer being able to keep up with preventative and corrective maintenance on the 40 red line trams, and the 27 known as peak vehicle requirement, PVR. If a tram has not gone through the preventative maintenance cycle, it cannot enter service. Driver absence on Luas is typically in the region of 5%. However, at times in 2023 it was higher than 12%.
The combination of these factors unfortunately had a negative impact on service provision on the red line service last year. However, I am advised that so far in 2024 the Luas service has performed well in terms of tram availability. I understand that there was also a disruption of services on sections of the Luas red line in August and September 2023, which were mainly due to signalling faults at Cookstown. I am advised the root cause of the issue was identified, and there has been no re-occurrence of this technical fault since 9 September 2023.
However, I reassure Deputy Lahart that Transdev is working towards a strategy of enhancement of Luas services. This includes work on timetable improvements, exploring the potential for shuttle services and the replacement of the red line fleet. These changes are subject to funding and the availability of the required maintenance personnel. I understand that Transport Infrastructure Ireland is currently considering a Luas fleet renewal programme, and they have initiated a market consultation on this process. I am advised the fleet renewal programme, which will extend over a number of years given the procurement and subsequent tram building and commissioning phases, includes a proposal to increase the number of trams assigned to the Luas red line which runs from Tallaght to the Point and from Saggart to Connolly Station, covering 21 km of light rail track with 34 stops. I also reassure the Deputy that the Department of Transport, the NTA and Transdev are working to ensure the optimised deployment of resources across the public transport network to match changing passenger demand patterns.
4:00 pm
John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Chair for the additional latitude, which I appreciate. Some of the items the Minister of State has brought to us are really good news. The first is that Transport Infrastructure Ireland is considering a Luas fleet renewal. It is not overdue, but it is welcome, as is the fact that it is looking at increasing the number of trams assigned to the Luas red line. I would encourage the Minister of State to bring feedback to the Minister and tell him that would be really worthwhile. I certainly support it, as I know do all of the TDs for the area. Will the Minister keep us in touch with the timelines for that?
The driver absence rate going from 5% to 12% is unacceptable. The Minister needs to know why that is happening. While he says he does not have statutory responsibility he is the Minister, and every so often he needs to call people in, knock a few heads together and ask them to explain why absences were so high last year. There are consequences to absences, which mean trams do not show up. They do not run according to timetables and people get stranded at tram stops late at night. There are security concerns. There is a highly mobile workforce in Citywest that is reliant on public transport for all the reasons I have mentioned.
In addition, the chair of Citywest community council made a point to the NTA last November and it has taken until now for the NTA to put response on the record. There is no surprise there. In terms of communications, the NTA needs to up its game. It was indicated to it that there are seven more apartment complexes almost complete in Citywest, and more to come. The provision of public transport, in particular the Luas, is vital. The improvement, extension and expansion of red line services, new trams, longer trams, bigger trams, greater capacity and more regularity is absolutely vital to this growing suburb of Dublin in my constituency.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I again thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Minister for Transport believes that expanding the public transport network and increasing service levels throughout the country will lead to a more balanced service being provided across the entire country, especially into the built-up areas at the edge of Dublin city. It is also significant to point out the growth in passengers on that line for a period during 2023. The number of passengers was 1.734 million. For the same period in 2024 it was 1.828 million, which is growth of 5.4%. That obviously also increases demand on services. On the infrastructure project I say that it is a longer term process and takes time. Design, procurement and construction of the trams will take time. However, because of the increasing patronage on these lines TII has instructed Transdev, the Luas operator, to devise a new Luas timetable to provide for additional service on weekdays and at the weekend. Providing additional services will involve recruiting and training new drivers, maintenance staff and security staff. Given the lead-in time involved in recruitment and training of staff it will be early in 2024 before the new Luas timetable becomes fully operational. That will be appreciated by a number of people. We all know that when there is crowding and a lot of passengers on the platform it takes longer for passengers to get off the line and longer for people to get back on the line. That crowding causes extra delays in its own right, so I hope the new timetable will be a help in that area.