Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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489. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if Bus Éireann will be allowed use the hard shoulder at restricted speeds to enable the avoidance of traffic congestion; and his plans for a pilot project to examine the way in which this could reduce journey times and improve efficiency with the potential to attract greater numbers to use the service. [17511/18]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Hard shoulders are generally not designed or constructed to the same standards as adjoining carriageways on the basis that it was not envisaged that they would be utilised by traffic on a regular basis.

On motorways, vehicles are prohibited from using hard shoulders, except in the case of a breakdown or following a collision. On non-motorway roads, hard shoulders provide a possible escape route in an emergency situation, are used by cyclists and slow moving vehicles, facilitate overtaking of vehicles by faster moving traffic if the slower moving vehicle partly or fully utilises the hard shoulder, allow a vehicle to pass on the inside where a right turning vehicle is stopped in the centre of the road and facilitate the stopping and parking of vehicles for drivers to pull over to check maps, use a mobile phone and other tasks.

In light of this, I have no plans to permit the use of hard shoulders by buses, even on a pilot basis, for the purposes of examining possible journey time reductions.