Great claims have been made about what the Luas system will do for public transport in Dublin. It is the biggest single public transport project in the history of the State and will cost between €700 million and £800 million, depending on which report one reads, a massive investment by any standards. Public transport is all about capacity. However, I am not certain Luas represents good value for money in capacity terms. I understand the project secured Government approval on the basis that each line would be able to carry about 7,000 passengers per hour in each direction. However, recent statements by the Rail Procurement Agency indicate the capacity of each line will only be around 3,000 per hour and that increasing it to 7,000 could only be achieved if the trams were to be run at such a high frequency as to cause huge disruption to road traffic flows in the city. It is important to put in context a capacity of 3,000 passengers per hour. This is the same as can be achieved on one high frequency quality bus corridor, which costs about one twentieth of a Luas line. Clearly, therefore, Luas does not represent good value for money for the taxpayers of the country or the people of Dublin.