Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus guím bliain nua faoi mhaise dó. The chronic traffic situation we experience in Galway on an ongoing basis is getting worse. I propose one immediate solution to bring some relief which I want to discuss with the Minister and seek his advice on its implementation. The issue is the need for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to discuss the effectiveness of high-occupancy vehicles - those carrying two, three or more persons - being allowed to use bus lanes in Galway city and how we would go about its implementation. I have looked at international evidence and I suggest this to the Minister as a short-term measure to alleviate gridlock and traffic delays, including panic and danger, as I will outline to the Minister. I suggest it also on the basis that the bus system is not optimised in Galway city. The system is very poor and I have had discussions with the National Transport Authority which confirms that the bus system is not optimised. Galway City Council and the NTA will report on a major traffic study in February but immediate traffic solutions are needed for Galway city. I have prepared a website called galwaytraffic.ie in which I propose four solutions of which this is only one.

The first one I propose is a dedicated school bus system for Galway city. There are approximately 30 schools in Galway city and the traffic is better during school holidays. The situation would be better if those kids were using a bus instead of relying on parents to drive them, because mostly there is only one child per car. The evidence is that only about 3% of people use buses in Galway while 80% use cars. Those figures are confirmed by two studies carried out by Galway Chamber of Commerce and Lewis Lesley, who has a long-standing interest in this area. The other solution I have mentioned is the high-occupancy vehicles, HOVs, which I will speak about here.

There is no bus lane across the Quincentenary Bridge. In Galway, people live mostly on the west side of the city whereas most people work on the east side. There is no bus lane, which means that everyone has to go through the city centre, which is ridiculous. Of course, an engineering solution would need to be found to make that safe.

Finally, I propose a light rail system for Galway city. At least 30 cities in Europe with fewer than 100,000 people have light rail systems. It is possible and I am very aware of the peak hour passenger figures that are needed for that. I am working with the NTA on that and we are about to carry out a peak hour passenger count. I can assure the Minister that, based on the evidence I have, there is support for it.

To return to the issue of the high occupancy vehicle that I mentioned, peak hour traffic is very bad between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. Outside those times, it is not so bad. The Minister will not be surprised that at 3 a.m. the streets are empty. Immediate action is needed to ease peak hour congestion and that is why I suggest this solution, which as I say is a short-term solution in the absence of real solutions. At the moment, four out of five peak cars have only one passenger; the remaining cars have two or more. We need to incentivise this. As a pilot study, during one peak hour, cars carrying two or more passengers should be allowed to use the bus lanes.There is evidence that chronic traffic delays elsewhere in the world have been reduced by 30%.

I would not be making this proposal to the Minister if we had an adequate bus system in Galway. The NTA has pointed out to me that if we had an adequate bus system for peak hours, there should be buses running every three minutes. There are just five bus lanes in Galway city, with only an occasional bus using them. This is a waste. Can the Minister imagine how frustrating it is for people to sit in chronic traffic while there is an empty lane to the left with an occasional bus or taxi in it? I understand the importance of compliance and so on and the importance of safety in the context of how the lanes would merge. However, because the bus lanes are only in certain areas, traffic is obliged to merge at the end of the lanes in any event. I do not believe, therefore, it would cause any unnecessary dangers. The evidence also shows that this measure would be very symbolic and that it would encourage people to start talking about how to car-pool and to consider how to improve our environment. The Minister knows that Ireland is facing huge environmental fines after 2020 if we do not look at transport as a major cause of emissions. This measure could be effective in the short term, it is highly symbolic and it will start people talking about solutions. I know the Minister is going to report that there is a by-pass in the offing, but that may or may not happen. That is the history in Galway and I will conclude by putting it to the Minister that Galway needs immediate traffic solutions now. I am keen to hear his response.