John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress being made to identify and establish bus based park and ride facilities for the greater Dublin area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37712/18]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Recent reports show that approximately 70% of people travelling into Dublin city each morning do so by sustainable transport. Well over half of all the public transport trips are by bus; some 136 million passenger journeys annually.  It is no surprise then that Bus is the main component of the planned approach to addressing our current congestion problem and to meeting our future transport needs.

As those numbers grow, and as congestion worsens, it is becoming increasingly difficult to operate a reliable bus system with sufficient capacity to cater for the needs of the region. On the busiest bus routes, bus lanes are currently only in place for less than one third of the corridor.  This means that for most of the journey, buses are competing for space with general traffic and so are also affected by the increasing levels of congestion.

Against this context, the NTA are progressing the roll-out of BusConnects commencing in Dublin. BusConnects Dublin provides the foundation to this overall transport system, with the revised bus system projected to carry the majority of passengers across the region and provide key linkages to serve the needs of Dublin into the future.

BusConnects Dublin aims to overhaul the current bus system in the Dublin region by:

- building a network of new bus corridors on the busiest bus routes to make bus journeys for passengers faster, predictable and reliable;

- completely redesigning the network of bus routes to provide passengers with a more efficient network, connecting more places and carrying more people;

- developing a state-of-the-art ticketing system using credit and debit cards or mobile phones to link with payment accounts and making payment much more convenient for the travelling public;

- implementing a cashless payment system to vastly speed up passenger boarding times;

- revamping the fare system to provide a simpler fare structure;

- allowing seamless movement for passengers between different public transport services, without financial penalty;

- implementing a new bus livery providing a modern look and feel to the new bus system;

- rolling out new bus stops with better signage and passenger information, and increasing the provision of additional bus shelters; and

- transitioning - starting now - to a new bus fleet using  low-emission vehicle technologies.

NTA are aware that maximising the potential of the BusConnects project means enabling more people to use the bus services instead of private cars. For those travelling longer distances, the optimum strategy is a park and ride arrangement, where they can make part of the journey by car, then leave the car in a dedicated car park and complete the journey by bus. For people travelling longer distances, often the optimum strategy can be a park and ride arrangement, where they can make part of the journey by car, then leave the car in a dedicated car park and complete the journey by public transport.  Bus-based Park and Ride needs careful siting of the car parks, coupled with a high frequency of bus service, to operate successfully. Ideally, the location of the parking facilities should be just outside the area of congestion and conveniently located for car users on the particular corridor

As part of BusConnects, a network of park and ride facilities will be developed at key locations along the radial road network. Indicative locations were published in 2017 on the basis that these would be subject to more detailed assessment as part of the project’s delivery and may change and that additional locations may be added. In June, the National Transport Authority published the Core Bus Corridors Project report setting out the outline of 16 radial routes, together with 200km of cycling lanes, into and out of the city. In October of this year NTA expect to publish the detailed and considered proposals for each of the 16 corridors. At that stage a full public consultation process will commence. This will allow people to provide feedback and their thoughts on the proposals and the NTA will fully engage with people along the corridors and surrounding areas. Once this phase is complete and the design finalised, NTA will turn their attention to confirming the detail of network of park and ride facilities will be developed at key locations along the radial road network.

To conclude, it is envisaged that BusConnects will deliver a bus system, fully integrated with Park and Ride facilities to ensure a seamless connection between the parking facility and the bus system,  that will enable more people to travel by bus than ever before, and allow bus commuting to become a viable and attractive choice for employees, students, shoppers and visitors.