Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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505. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will request the National Transport Authority to extend the public consultation period in respect of the first draft of the new Dublin city bus network BusConnects; if his attention has been drawn to the widespread concern relating the public consultation taking place during the months of July and August 2018 in which schools are closed and many regular bus commuters may be on holidays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31563/18]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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506. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the funding and engagement his Department has had with the NTA in respect of the proposed Dublin bus rapid transport service; and the timeframe for future development and work on the project. [31564/18]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 505 and 506 together.

As the Deputy is aware, the National Development Plan (NDP), published in February as part of Project Ireland 2040, identifies the delivery of the full BusConnects programme for Ireland’s cities (inclusive of ticketing systems, bus corridors, additional capacity, new bus stops and bus shelters etc.) as a key investment priority over the period of the plan. The plan provides an outline provision of €2.4 billion for the entire programme, €2 billion for Bus Connects in Dublin and €0.4 billion for Bus Connects programmes in our regional cities. 

Budget 2018 provided for over €750 million over the next 4 years to progress the initial stages of BusConnects. The costs of the various elements of the overall BusConnects programme will be confirmed as part of the appropriate appraisal and procurement processes required under the Public Spending Code.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the planning and implementation of public transport projects and programmes in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), including the BusConnects programme. 

The NTA recently published a discussion document focussed on the 16 core bus routes, pathways and cycle tracks/lanes that are emerging as the likely core bus corridors in and out of Dublin city. A second document “Dublin Area Bus Network Redesign Public Consultation Report” was published by NTA last week.

This report notes that the existing bus network in Dublin is very complex and is designed primarily around overlapping and long radial routes taking people into the city centre, but with very few orbital routes. Recent improvements to the rail and tram networks require changes to the bus services to exploit the full potential of these investments. Finally the city is growing and changing as are the bus journeys people are taking.

The report identifies 4 key strategies to address the issues with the current network: standardise service categories; simplify radial services; build frequent orbitals and grow suburban feeder networks. While there will be concerns with any change, these strategies will deliver the following benefitsfor the customer; much simpler city services; much simpler fare structure; provide more frequent all day services through new and frequent strong orbital services interchanging with local services and high frequency radial spines.

Full public consultation on the network redesign proposals, involving Dublin Bus, using local brochures, local face to face events, digital imaging of the network, on-line surveys and consultation with user groups will commence from the 16th July and will continue for 8 weeks. NTA will launch a full public consultation process on the proposed core bus corridors later this year.

In light of the NTA's responsibility in this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the Authority for a more detailed reply.  Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.