Ivor Callely
Question:66 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the progress to provide an improved public service transport network, especially in the Dublin area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10656/02]
Written Answers. - Public Transport.
Policy on public transport for greater Dublin area in the period 2000-16 is set out in the Dublin Transportation Office's long-term transportation strategy, A Platform for Change. This strategy aims to reduce growth in the demand for transport, particularly for private transport, and to reduce the need for car commuting by improving the reliability, availability and quality of public transport.
Progress to date is as follows. The Railway Procurement Agency, established on 28 December 2001, is responsible for the procurement of the Luas and metro projects. Construction of the light rail lines from Tallaght to Connolly Station and from Sandyford to St. Stephen's Green is progressing. The lines are still on target for completion by end 2003. The depot at Red Cow is now completed and fitting-out is taking place. Seven trams have been delivered so far and are at the depot undergoing initial testing. Work on laying a test track from the depot to Kingswood in Tallaght has begun and it is expected that track testing will commence next month. The trams are continuing to arrive at the rate of two per month. Connex has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the system and the contract for operating the system will be finalised shortly by the Railway Procurement Agency.
In January, the Government approved the commencement of the procurement process for phase 1 of the Dublin metro. The metro is being developed as a public private partnership and the Government has approved a policy framework for rail-based PPP, which will be used in the implementation of the metro project. The Railway Procurement Agency is carrying out passenger modelling and route alignment studies on the proposed metro route. The procurement process commenced yesterday with the Railway Procurement Agency issuing a notice seeking expressions of interest from potential partners in the private sector.
In regard to DART and suburban rail, maynooth service commenced in early August 2001 using 20 new diesel rail cars purchased specifically for the route; this represents more than 100% increase in service. Some 26 new DART cars are in service since November 2000 and 12 DART cars delivered in October 2001 are to enter service in the coming week; increasing capacity of the DART by almost 50% in two years. Design and geotechnical work is in progress in relation to the Kildare corridor and DART upgrade projects. Work on upgrading of Heuston Station has commenced and extra platform capacity has been provided. A new station at Monasterevin station opened in October 2001. Platforms at suburban rail stations have been lengthened and all Dublin outer suburban stations can now cater for eight-car trains. Some 80 diesel rail cars for suburban services will begin to be delivered later this year. Further construction work on Heuston Station track and signalling project, at a cost of €117 million, is continuing. Construction work has commenced on a new Drogheda diesel rail depot.
Nine QBCs are now in operation – Malahide, Lucan, Stillorgan, Finglas, North Clondalkin, Rathfarnham, Tallaght and Swords and Blanchardstown – resulting in bus journey times being cut in some cases by up to 40%. The Stillorgan QBC has shown that buses can attract people out of private cars, with peak period passenger numbers up by 150%. The Ballymun QBC is to be launched shortly and will provided increased and improved services to commuters on the northside of Dublin. Extension of the Stillorgan QBC is planned and six of the existing QBCs have already been reviewed in order to identify areas for improvement to provide improved services. To speed up implementation of quality bus corridors, a QBC project team led by the director of traffic, Dublin Corporation, is being established to speed up the QBC delivery.
An additional 242 buses and 194 replacement buses were delivered up to end of 2001. A further 53 replacement buses are proposed for 2002. In 2000, 40 new buses were deployed in the greater Dublin area and a further 34 in 2001. Further development of Bus Áras and passenger facilities is planned for 2002.
It is recognised that better integration of public transport in the city is of major importance. To this end, a total of €63.5million has been set aside to promote integration in a practical way. This will be used to provide an extra 3,700 park and ride places. This is in addition to around 2,700 places, which will be provided under existing Dublin Transportation Office plans, by the end of this year. These are mainly at suburban rail stations where sites are more readily available. I twill also be used to develop interchange facilities which will make it easier to transfer from bus to bus or from one mode to another, and to introduce integrated ticketing based on a contactless smartcard based system. The new Railway Procurement Agency has been mandated with the delivery of a national scheme of integrated ticketing for public transport, initially in the greater Dublin area. Approximately €3.7 million will be earmarked specifically for integrated ticketing in the current year.
Dublin Bus and Irish Rail are in the process of upgrading ticketing equipment that will allow for the use of smartcard technologies on the basis of smartcard technology, so that, in addition to the interchangeability of tickets between bus and DART, there will also be interchangeability with Luas.
The following will also be used to develop real time passenger information systems as part of a wider strategy in providing accessible and quality information to the public on the actual movements of bus and rail mode public transport vehicles. At the request of the Department, the Dublin Transportation Office has also established a committee to develop real time passenger information.
Ivor Callely
Question:67 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the progress on integrated ticketing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10657/02]
I have recently signed a statutory order, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, requiring the Railway Procurement Agency to procure a national scheme of integrated ticketing for public transport services with initial deployment in the greater Dublin area. In addition, I have made up to €3.7 million available to the agency for the project in the current year.
Integrated ticketing for all public transport modes is to be introduced by way of contactless smartcard technology and is being developed in consultation with the general public and transport operators.
The first phase of the project will be introduced in conjunction with the new Luas services in 2003. Commuters will be able to switch effortlessly between some Dublin Bus and Luas services without the need to queue to purchase extra tick ets. The rest of this integrated ticketing system will be rolled out within two years thereafter.
In the meantime, there have been a number of ticketing initiatives and improvements introduced by CIE to improve customer service. For example, intending passengers can now purchase Dublin Bus, Irish Rail and Bus Éireann tickets over the Internet: benefit-in-kind provisions for prepaid annual commuter tickets have been introduced for public sector workers and highly flexible bus and rail rambler tickets have also been introduced. Irish Rail, with a view to further facilitating customers, will be installing new ticket vending machines at a number of suburban rail stations later this year.