Seanad debates

Wednesday, 3 November 2021

10:30 am

Photo of Gerry HorkanGerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It did. Perhaps Senator Boyhan should cycle too. It would probably be of benefit to us all to get a bit more exercise. That modal shift should not only be to public transport, although public transport is very useful. Although Senators Boyhan and McDowell probably do, many people may not remember the furore over the quality bus corridor for the 46A taking over a lane of traffic of two lanes in Donnybrook in 1998 and 1999. That was the most unbelievable achievement. I believe Owen Keegan was director of traffic for Dublin City Council at the time. People thought it was never going to happen, but it did and nobody would say that we should go back and take that transport corridor out of Donnybrook now. People also said that nobody would use the Luas, but the Luas was not there. The minute it opened in 2004, enormous numbers of people were sucked into it because they got a reliable and frequent service. It was more a question of the reliability than the frequency. People did not need to worry about a timetable. They just went down to the station. On a weekend, it might have been a wait of ten or 12 minutes but it was also often a wait of three, four or six minutes. It has been very popular. The public want to buy into public transport but it has to be there, by which I mean it has to turn up. It also has to be reliable and relatively cost-effective.

The fastest way for me to get to Leinster House is to cycle. Walking to the Luas, getting the Luas and then walking to Leinster House takes twice as long as my journey time on a bike at rush hour. We need to get all of those journeys of less than 2 km, 3 km or 4 km. My journey is approximately 6 km. We need to facilitate anyone who can cycle but, to do so, we need to make sure they are secure. One of the biggest barriers to me cycling is not knowing that, when I park the bike at the other end, it will still be there when I come back to it because there is so much bike theft and we do not have enough cycle parking.

I could go on for a lot longer but I am conscious of time and want to let Senator Cassells in. From a climate change perspective, I was disappointed to learn in our meeting with the NTA and TII that the upgrade of the Luas green line is being shelved or deferred. Senator McDowell might be quite happy about that because he was certainly concerned by what was to happen in parts of Dublin Bay South but the Luas green line was at capacity before the pandemic and this needs to be looked at. Charlie Haughey introduced free travel for older people and it worked out very well. Séamus Brennan removed the peak travel times restriction. Older people love that freedom they have. The more public transport, the better. We need to get people out of their cars and that involves getting people cycling and walking as much as getting them on public transport.

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