Results 9,061-9,080 of 10,460 for speaker:Gerry Horkan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: It is always members who are first to speak in the committee but I will let Senator Clifford-Lee in as soon as the members have been exhausted, along with Deputy Paul Donnelly. Our next contributor from within the membership of the committee is Deputy Duncan Smith. He has ten minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: I thank Deputy Smith. Our next contributor is Deputy O’Rourke, who has ten minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Is this the Blanchardstown campus?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Is Senator Clifford-Lee okay? She got her answers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Very good. Deputy Matthews indicated that he wants to come back in. He is not here at the moment, however. I will come back in on a few points and then bring in Deputy O'Rourke. There were a couple of things I was not sure about. Is RTPI being run now by the NTA?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: It is real-time tracking now as opposed to that level of estimated guesswork previously.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Okay. I had not heard the term "lost kilometres". We are saying it is 98%. Is it not 2%? Obviously, that is the terminology, which is fine. That clears it up. How can we be happy with lost kilometres of 98%? It is really that the kilometres not lost are 98% and the lost km are whatever the difference. That is fine. I will touch a little bit on the concept of more 24-7 buses. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: This is not to tweak Ms Graham's thinking or tease her consciousness on this, but the Luas is not a 24-hour service.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Ms Graham might look at buses that trail this unless people want the Luas to run 24 hours a day. Maybe that is another proposal. Until it is a definite proposal, a lot of people will be affected. The 11 route is not a spine service and never will be. However, it would probably work very efficiently at night-time because it would not have all the congestion it has during the day. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: They are not all getting to chair the transport committee so I am trying to get in first.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Obviously, there is a funding element. We are talking about modal shift. Many people are buying and using cars because the services that might be available at peak time are not available for them. People who are going into healthcare services or working late would love to be able to get a public transport service. The modal shift we are all aspiring towards, certainly, from a Government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: People are using their cars because there is no alternative at 3 a.m., 5 a.m., 6 a.m. or 7.30 a.m. On many routes, the bus service does not get people to work by 8 a.m. to change and do all the things they could do that they cannot do if they are getting there at 10 a.m.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: The demand is probably not really there yet for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: As we talking about demand, does the NTA have statistics - maybe this is for Dublin Bus or Go-Ahead Ireland - on how many times a bus has to go past a stop because it is full? Is that tracked? A bus might get to a certain place. I recall a time when I was on a bus going to the airport and I could see people waiting for a bus that was full. There is not much the driver or passengers can do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: What kind of numbers are we at now? Is it 5% or 25% of services? Obviously, there are certain times of the day or week, for example.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: How long is that list or how many are on it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: There are 20 services that are frequently or regularly-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: -----presenting with capacity issues. We all know there are routes that are not overly used and it is probably somewhere in between. Those high-capacity routes are probably okay because they have such high capacity on them - we would probably all like to have the 145, 155 and 46A routes outside our door - and then there are ones that are very much PSO routes that do not get an awful lot of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Are parts of the city worse than others?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services in Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow: Discussion (29 Nov 2023)

Gerry Horkan: Is it that the N11 is kind of a victim of its own success? It is like a magnet. It is almost like the Luas in that it sucks people in and then it is full.