Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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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.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I agree there is a need to reduce traffic congestion within Galway city and county, to improve commuting times and to reduce emissions. No one would argue against encouraging higher vehicle occupancy where possible. Four people travelling in one car is a much more efficient way of using resources than each taking a separate car. However, the specific point raised by Senator Healy Eames relates to whether allowing multi-occupancy vehicles to use bus lanes would be an appropriate way to encourage multi-occupancy. The short answer is that it would not.

We must remember what is the purpose of bus lanes and why they are in place. The rationale for creating the bus lane network was to provide on-street priority for buses. The intention is to make bus services faster and more reliable to attract more people out of their cars and onto public transport. This helps to reduce congestion and pollution. The construction of the bus lane network was done at some expense to the public in order to enable this to happen. The legislation governing usage of the bus lanes is set out in the Road Traffic Regulations 1997, as amended. Under this legislation, buses and bicycles are allowed to avail of bus lanes, as are taxis in the case of with-flow bus lanes only. Cyclists were permitted to use bus lanes as they are inherently vulnerable as road users and are considered safer in bus lanes rather than in general traffic. It may interest the House to know that taxis were initially not allowed into bus lanes. It was only after the introduction of bus lanes that it was agreed to allow taxis to also use them. This was done after much consideration and was a concession based on the fact that taxis are available for on-street hire. Vehicles used by members of the emergency services - the Garda, the fire brigade and the ambulance service - in the course of their duties may also be driven in bus lanes in order to prevent delay in reaching the scenes of emergencies, transporting people to hospital, etc. Since the introduction of the bus lane network, my Department has received numerous requests - indeed I have been in this House on many occasions to discuss such requests - in respect of the need to open bus lanes to other categories of road users. Some of those requests related to multi-occupancy cars. In all cases, my predecessors and I have taken the view that extending the use of bus lanes to other categories of vehicles would undermine the original purpose of the lanes.The overriding concern in considering these applications is the carrying capacity of bus lanes. We do not want their primary role of providing bus priority to be undermined by allowing other vehicles access.

As a result, we have chosen to maintain the current restrictions on use of bus lanes. While in some cases the numbers of vehicles involved might not be large, conceding access to bus lanes to any new class of vehicles would make it difficult to argue against doing so for any other. We also need to remember that last year in this city alone, passenger numbers on the Dublin Bus network rose to 122 million on the company's 110 public service routes. In the Senator's city, the numbers using Bus Éireann's services are up from 3.5 million in 2012 to more than 4 million in 2014, a huge increase of 14%.

As the country gets back to work and the recovery strengthens, we must ensure that taking the bus to school, college or work is an attractive option, so that people leave their cars behind and reduce congestion on our roads. One of the ways to do that is by ensuring bus lanes are free flowing and journey times are as short as possible.

In light of the original reasons for creating bus lanes and the sound reasons for rejecting previous proposals to extend access to other classes of vehicle, I remain of the view that there is no ground for changing the law to allow multi-occupancy vehicles into bus lanes.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his answer, which is disappointing because I proposed a solution in the absence of adequate buses. The Minister said taking the bus to school or work is a good idea. There are no buses in Galway city to take people to school. That is the problem. That is why I said one of my solutions was a dedicated bus system. There are not adequate buses. The response of the National Transport Authority, NTA, to me was that for 2,000 passengers per peak hour, one bus every three minutes is needed. We do not have that.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Does the Senator have a question?

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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What immediate solutions does the Minister have to relieve traffic gridlock in Galway?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I can respond to that question but that was not what this Commencement matter was about. With respect, if the Senator tables a matter and asks me to respond, I will respond to it. I can respond to her broader question because I participated in a forum on how to respond to the management of traffic in Galway. The short answer from a public transport perspective is that we need to provide more buses. We have funding in our capital plan to do that, which is the very reason I do not want to change the use of bus lanes. If we increase the number of buses available across the country, which we will, it will be up to Bus Éireann to decide where to deploy those buses. As more buses become available, it is very important that we make sure to keep the bus lanes clear for the use of those buses.

The broader reason, specifically in respect of using bus lanes, is that if I were to make them available to more than one additional form of road user, the demand to make them more widely available would continue to increase. I want to have more buses using the bus lanes in Galway and elsewhere and that is why I continue to hold the view that we should keep the lanes free for current buses and more buses.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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One final point-----

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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There is no provision for that. The Minister will not be allowed to answer the point.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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I agree that bus lanes should be kept for buses-----

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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The Senator is way out of order.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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-----but where the number of buses is not adequate, that is not an adequate answer. It is fine when more buses are provided.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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The Senator is completely out of order.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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It is easy to pull them off but in the meantime, the Minister needs to consider better and more immediate solutions for Galway. I do not accept that this is in anyway a funny matter. It is a very serious issue for our city.