Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 430: To ask the Minister for Transport the total number of buses in the Dublin Bus fleet in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24074/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I have been advised by Dublin Bus that the total number of buses in the Dublin Bus fleet in each of the past five years is as follows:

While the number of buses in the fleet has remained static at 1,062 since 2001, the company has replaced mini and single deck buses with higher capacity double deck buses, thus increasing the overall passenger carrying capacity of the fleet.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 431: To ask the Minister for Transport if he will make a statement on the DART upgrading project; and the increase in capacity, frequency and hours of service that will occur, together with costings and a timetable for the completion of works. [24075/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Iarnród Éireann has informed me that the DART upgrade project, at €176 million, is the largest investment in Iarnród Éireann's Dublin rail services since the DART services began in 1984, and will deliver a 33% increase in peak capacity on the service by the end of this year, completing a process which will have seen peak capacity on the service doubled since 2000.

This is being achieved through lengthening platforms to accommodate eight car trains, renewing overhead lines, enhancing the power supply to operate eight car trains, developing sidings to accommodate the expanded fleet, and improving accessibility in stations both for mobility-impaired customers and rail customers generally. In addition to the DART upgrade project, €80 million has been spent on 40 new DART carriages to allow eight car trains to operate.

Works have been taking place across the DART system since October 2003. In order to minimise the impact on customers, and ensure that the core Monday to Friday service was unaffected, whilst delivering the urgently needed additional capacity as soon as possible, Iarnród Éireann designed the work programme to ensure that interruptions to services were confined to weekends, which is off-peak for the DART.

Existing weekend works on the southside will be completed by mid-September 2005. The current phase of the DART upgrade works which will deliver the facilities for new services are anticipated to be completed by the end of 2005, with completion of minor works and tidy up during January 2006. While allowing for this substantial increase in capacity on each train, this phase of the project will not, and was not intended to, change the frequency or hours of service of the DART trains.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 432: To ask the Minister for Transport if he has plans to change the regulations in regard to bicycles being allowed on LUAS tracks in central Dublin in order that cyclists can avoid being exposed to unacceptable levels of risk on the Liffey Quays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24076/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I do not have any plans to amend the present road traffic regulations for cyclists and LUAS tracks.