Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

No, not at present. I thank all the Senators for their contributions. I hope they will forgive me if it is not possible to respond to all the questions that were asked. They were very constructive. The majority of people are very supportive on this subject. It is smart and makes sense. The collective changes we are making, when they all come together, will have a huge impact on society. In that context, if anyone has individual questions, they are free to write to me. That is also true of any recommendations as no one has a monopoly on good ideas. If they write to me with recommendations, I will reply to them quickly.

It is heartening that Senators recognise the Government's smarter travel policy and the important role our investment, even though it is constrained, plays in progressing this policy. In response to Senator Barrett's comments about schools, he raised some valid issues. It is something we are examining in the Department. There is a successful ongoing programme relating to schools. There is the travel flag and we also promote bike week and cycle to school day. Indeed, I visited a number of schools where I cycled in with the children. However, I accept that it is something we must push further. There are ancillary issues and what my Department will be doing is progressing it closely with local authorities to ensure the infrastructure in local areas combines to facilitate children being able to cycle to school. Obviously, the quicker one intercepts children and gets modal change by getting them thinking about walking and cycling, the better. I intend to progress that area.

I thank the Senators for the comments on the bicycle scheme. The scheme in Dublin has been phenomenal and we are looking at extending it. I am also very confident that we will be able to consider rolling it out to other cities during the term of the Government. I am working very hard on it as it is something I am anxious to progress in the coming years.

There were a number of comments about the Leap card, which has been a huge success. The Leap card is a phenomenon. It has been rolled out and a number of products and services with it will come on stream in the coming year. People should be supportive of it. I ask every Senator to get a Leap card. I ask everyone who does not have one to get one. Perhaps the Cathaoirleach would carry out an audit to find out how many Senators have a Leap card and use it around Dublin. That would be a very good exercise. It is going to be a fantastic product. Senators should be aware that the roll out of smart cards and integrated ticketing across the world has taken a considerable amount of time. It is an intricate process. One launches products, one stabilises and then one moves on and launches more products. One cannot put everything on it at the same time. I am absolutely satisfied that we are well advanced in the roll-out of this card. I take a personal interest in the roll-out and the technology behind it. I come from a technology background and I am very happy with its success.

The real time passenger information, RTPI, signs are a phenomenon. What they have done and are doing for public transport is incredible. I lived in Cork as well as Dublin for many years. Knowing when the bus is coming is half the battle. These signs - the information can be looked up on one's phone or online - and knowing what time the bus is coming makes one's journey planning much easier. It is similar with WiFi. People are making the modal change to using public transport because they can do business while they are on the train or bus. That is critical. The roll-out of WiFi will be increasingly important in the coming year and we are looking forward to good developments in that regard.

Another thing I ask the Senators to promote in their work is the national journey planner, which I launched a couple of months ago. It is fantastic technology.

With this planner a person could travel from Donegal to west Cork, plotting a route across all transport modes. It should be publicised more and no better a group to promote it than the Senators. It is also a fantastic tool for tourists. Having been a manager in e-business in Fáilte Ireland, I have discussed this because I took a keen interest in ensuring it could integrate its systems with the planner.

It is essential we realise we all have a role to play in shifting to smarter travel as legislators by ensuring our planning and fiscal systems promote and encourage sustainable transport and by making smart travel choices as individuals and promoting them in our communities. I take this opportunity to commend Senator Bacik for promoting smarter travel in her own small way in the House by setting up the all-party Oireachtas cyclist group to encourage Senators and Deputies to cycle to work. We in Leinster House as much as everyone else must realise that achieving the shift to smarter travel means we must make smarter choices about our own personal travel habits. The impact of our personal choices on national travel patterns is easy to underestimate. Traffic congestion in Irish towns and cities is for the most part caused by people travelling to work by car and driving their children to school. In the Dublin region, 100,000 people drive 4 km or less to work, a phenomenal statistic. Even starker, 45,000 drive two kilometres or less to work. At national level, no less than 420,000 workers and students travel by car under four kilometres to their destinations every day. That is the key target market, the people we must influence. Many of them are young people, those who can make changes.

All of the statistics and trends show there is significant potential for change. As I have outlined, the Government is investing in infrastructure to support smarter travel and is actively promoting public transport and the active travel modes. The major challenge in the promotion of smarter travel, particularly active travel, is to encourage people to change their behaviour. Every transport choice should be thought out. No one disagrees with the idea that increased walking and cycling is a good thing, for other people at least. We must work together to challenge people to make better transport choices and to make it easier to make those choices.

I am not calling for a ban on cars. Many journeys, particularly in rural areas like my own area, could not be easily made on foot or on a bicycle or public transport. There are, however, journeys that could be switched and we must challenge ourselves and others to make better transport choices. We must encourage people to make journeys by walking or cycling and where that is not feasible, consider walking ot cycling to a bus stop or train station instead of using a car. We must look in particular at young people going to school and college and those going to workplaces that are nearby. For longer journeys, the train, tram or bus should be the first consideration, with the car being the last choice, rather than being the default choice.

I thank Senators for their contributions. I will be taking on board a number of suggestions from various Senators and will be happy to take questions or recommendations in the Department from anyone on any area of smarter travel policy that Senators feel would be worthwhile.