Vol. 566 No. 2
177 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Transport the plans he has to attract passengers to public transport; the plans he has to introduce a congestion tax; the incentives he plans to introduce to encourage the greater use of public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12509/03]
There are a number of strategies and plans designed to attract passengers to public transport based on the transformation of existing public transport structures and major investment programmes. These include the National Development Plan 2000-2006, the transport strategy for the greater Dublin area, A Platform for Change, the strategic rail review, the Cork area strategic plan and other local land use and transport plans. Furthermore, the national spatial strategy highlights an important role for public transport particularly by improving links between the gateways and hubs and developing enhanced services nationwide.
Central to the success of my transport plans are measures to tackle congestion and of course there are already good examples at local authority level where steps are being taken to alleviate traffic problems. Bus priority, parking restraint measures, traffic calming, walking and cycling are just a number of the measures which have been taken but clearly much more needs to be done to overcome congestion. The Dublin Transportation Office has commissioned a study on demand management for the greater Dublin area due for completion by the end of this year, which will assist the Government and the GDA local authorities in strengthening the response to growing travel demand and problems such as long distance commuting. The current phase of the study involves public consultation and I am awaiting the outcome of this study before issues such as congestion pricing are examined at Government level. In the meantime we will continue to make progress on investment and development of our public transport system in areas such as the Dublin suburban rail network, inter-city rail services, Luas, quality bus corridors and structural and regulatory reform to ensure the best possible service delivery to the customer within available resources.
178 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Transport the reason for the high cost of fares on public transport compared to the cost of fuel for similar journeys by car; and his plans to reduce fares in order to encourage travellers to switch from private to public transport. [12518/03]
The primary focus of investment in public transport under the national development plan is to expand the capacity of the network to respond to the demand for such services. Fares on public transport have decreased significantly in real terms in recent years and there is no evidence to suggest that current fare levels are a deterrent to the increased use of public transport.
