I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Alan Kelly, to the House. Before calling on the Minister of State to make his opening speech, I wish, on behalf of Senator Barrett, to welcome the group of economic students from Trinity College Dublin who are in the Visitors Gallery to hear our debate on smarter travel.
Smarter Travel: Statements
I am delighted to come before the Seanad today to set out the Government's commitment to smarter travel and sustainable transport and to reinforce that the choices we make regarding travel are the responsibility of all of us. It is vital that we all recognise and appreciate the value of smarter travel and a sustainable transport environment and the need for all of us, commuters, Senators, Deputies, Ministers and everyone else, to be active contributors to it.
As Minster of State with responsibility for public and commuter transport, I am responsible for the Government's smarter travel agenda, under which we principally aim to reduce reliance on the private car by increasing use of public transport, walking and cycling. I am glad of this opportunity to briefly explain the thinking behind the Government's smarter travel policy and to set out what we hope to achieve, working with our partners in local authorities, agencies and other Departments. The vision and targets for smarter travel are undoubtedly ambitious. By 2020, we would like to see mode share for car commuting drop from 65% to 45%. Smarter travel also contains a commitment to create a culture of cycling in Ireland. This commitment was cemented with the preparation of Ireland's first national cycle policy framework which aims to ensure that by 2020, 10% of trips to work are made by bicycle.
Working towards these key targets, the Government is committed to ongoing support of smarter travel and this year agreed a five-year multi-annual budget of €65 million for sustainable transport. There are a myriad of reasons to support the smarter travel agenda. Reducing car use will reduce our emission levels to help us to meet our international obligations and will also reduce our energy dependence. From the point of view of Ireland being a good place to do business, a less congested road network improves the movement of goods and people and means towns are not blocked with traffic, making them more attractive places to live and do business. Increased cycling and walking increases the health and fitness levels of the population and makes for safer streets and more liveable communities. We all know that walking and cycling are better for our health than driving and that using public transport cuts congestion and is better for the environment.
However, between workers and students, around 400,000 people travel 4 km or less to work, school or college by car every day - distances that are amenable to cycling or walking. Even if just these commuters shifted to walking or cycling, urban traffic congestion would be a thing of the past. Our economy would reap benefits from improved efficiency in movement of goods, it would mean lower overheads for everyone due to time savings, and it would provide a welcome extra boost foe competitiveness. Many Senators are from outside Dublin and I ask them to consider cycling when making journeys in the city during the week. I have challenged Senators on that before and would like to see progress on it. Senators can use Dublinbikes, which has been a phenomenal success.
Smarter travel is the transport policy for Ireland that sets out how the vision of a sustainable travel and transport system can be achieved. The smarter travel programme does not just set out a vision for better travel choices but also provides funding for information and improved facilities for cyclists, walkers and public transport users to make it easier for us to make the right choices. My Department is delivering many of the actions set out in the strategy, which aims to have over 200,000 additional people walking and cycling to work by 2020 through a number of programmes aimed at delivering significant modal shift. The national cycle network, active travel towns and smarter travel areas are just some of the programmes being delivered by my Department to support sustainable travel.
With regard to the active travel modes, since I have taken office, my Department has allocated over €10 million to local authorities for cycling infrastructure, such as cycle lanes, bike parking and cycle greenways. Projects that have been completed include the Grand Canal cycle way in Dublin, the extension of the great western greenway to form a continuous off-road route from Achill to Westport and a range of smaller scale projects, including new cycle lanes in towns around the country.
Developing a national cycle network is one of the objectives outlined in the national cycle policy framework. In line with the Government's commitment to support the cycle policy, I have placed significant importance on developing cycle routes that will act both as local transport infrastructure and as recreational and tourism facilities. I launched a national cycle network funding scheme in March of this year. There was real enthusiasm from local authorities about the funding scheme, and a total of 51 projects were submitted for consideration. In June it was announced that a total of €7 million will be invested in 18 of these projects between now and the end of 2014. To give some examples of the type of projects being supported, Westmeath is to be funded to develop 13 km of route along the Royal Canal, extending the existing route. Routes are being developed along former national roads in Roscommon and Offaly, making good use of road infrastructure bypassed by motorway. In Louth a new 6 km greenway is to be developed along an abandoned rail line near Carlingford and in Meath the council is being supported to develop the first phase of a route along the Boyne Valley. It is an exciting project. Each project has the potential to contribute greatly to the economic development of the areas where they are being developed. I am hopeful the €7 million investment will yield significant benefits and, as with the success of the great western greenway, lead to continued investment in such routes.
Another key programme under the smarter travel initiative is active travel towns. Active travel towns is a multi-annual programme that will provide funding for small and medium-sized towns in Ireland to develop walking and cycling infrastructure and behavioural change measures to encourage their use. I have announced investment of €5 million in these projects between now and the end of 2013. We have moved away from focussing just on individual projects and more on comprehensive and complete integrated strategies in towns.
Securing our national cycle policy target of 10% of all trips to be made by bike by 2020 will require a focus to be placed on population and employment centres where safe, convenient alternatives are available particularly in undertaking short journeys. The principal objective of active travel towns is to achieve a modal shift from the car to either walking or cycling in a short time.
I announced the launch of three smarter travel areas - Limerick, Dungarvan and Westport - in February, following a national competition run by my Department. These three areas produced excellent proposals for delivering a transformation in sustainable travel, involving schools, businesses, communities and wider stakeholders. The smarter travel area programme will run for five years and is a real opportunity both to demonstrate nationally the benefits of investment in sustainable travel and for local authorities to learn what works best in Irish smarter travel.
The smarter travel areas include a range of measures to encourage people to travel more sustainably, including provision of high-quality facilities for walkers and cyclists, encouraging car sharing and e-working, promoting school and work travel plans, and promoting the individual and community level benefits of smarter travel. My Department remains committed to exploring a range of mechanisms to secure public bikes schemes in other cities, building on the success of the Dublinbikes scheme. It is one of the most successful in the world. We are currently developing, along with the National Transport Authority, a procedure for expressions of interest in scheme sponsorship to further the process of engagement with potential private sector funding. I have also tasked the National Transport Authority with progressing the extension of the current Dublinbikes scheme. The scheme is among the most successful in the world, with the most bike usage of any city.
In the current economic climate, we are unlikely to be able to build any shiny new towns but we can do much to improve the quality of life in existing communities through sensitive development of transport infrastructure, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists. The funding allocated by the Government to smarter travel will do much to improve our infrastructure but a major challenge will continue to be persuading people to use these facilities. To that end, my Department funds, and in some cases runs, a number of schemes to promote and encourage smarter travel, including the successful annual bike week to encourage more people to take up cycling, the travel flag of the green schools programme, which is proving successful in securing behavioural change - often to walking and cycling - on the school run, and smarter travel workplaces, which helps employers to work with their employees to bring a smarter travel focus to workplace commuting.
Other areas outside the smarter travel brief but which nonetheless contribute to enhancing public transport and the smarter travel agenda include initiatives such as the Leap card and the student Leap card, which was launched in the past two weeks, the real time passenger information signs for bus journeys, the national journey planner and investment in public transport wifi. These are all highly successful initiatives undertaken by the Government to enhance the attractiveness of public transport. Major progress has been made in using technology to promote public transport. The agenda will be followed thoroughly in my portfolio.
I am pleased to announce the Leap card is growing all the time. With over 145,000 cards sold and 1.2 million journeys being taken per month using the Leap card, I am satisfied with its progress. It is a major success and will be developed further in the coming months with other products and services. Over 450 real time passenger information signs, giving people access to live bus information, have now been installed in Dublin. There are 45 in Cork city and it is proving so popular that an additional 150 will be installed in the greater Dublin area and 50 in Galway, Limerick and Waterford. I look forward to further investments in wifi and the national journey planner, a one-stop information source for all public transport users. I encourage Senators to use the information to get around Dublin and beyond and to promote the national journey planner. It is great technology and everyone should be aware of it and use it.
I have given Members an overview of the importance of the smarter travel programme and how we are setting about working towards making Ireland's transport and travel more sustainable. I look forward to hearing Members' views on it and I welcome their contributions.
I welcome the Minister of State to familiar surroundings. It is the first opportunity I have had to wish him well.
The Acting Chairman mentioned that the Minister of State was a Member of this House before. As I am a new Member, our paths did not cross. These are most exciting developments and I wish the Minister of State well. The energy in his script is impressive and pleasant to see.
I wonder what we can do about schools. AA Roadwatch tells us that traffic is lighter when schools are on holidays and the roads are clogged up when they return. How can we get more children to cycle and walk to school? The difficulty pertains to parents' fears about safety.
Should we have even lower speed limits in the vicinity of schools? Perhaps cars and lorries could be excluded from the zones outside schools for the half hour or so when the children are going to school in the morning. It would be more difficult to achieve this in the afternoon because the pattern for returning home is more varied.
I agree with the Minister of State on the success of the Dublin Bus scheme. We have done some research on it and noted it is one of the most successful.
There are concerns about safety, including people not wearing helmets. However, I gather the literature on this is not conclusive. I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, to the House.
Consider the promotion of cycling and the Westport–Newport development. Anywhere there is an old railway line, as between Sligo and Claremorris and between Tralee and Fenit in north Kerry, should be considered. Such developments, modelled on that between Westport and Achill Sound, can be highly successful and ought to be encouraged. The success of the Dublin bike scheme confirms that.
Wherever we have bus lanes or quality bus corridors, we should open up the market. The corridors comprise a useful facility. Many motorists wonder why nothing is happening on the inside lane when there is spare capacity. If Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann do not use the lanes fully, why not allow somebody else to use them?
Smarter travel has an economic dimension. When there was a monopoly, the bus from Dublin to Galway ran once per day. Now that there are three competing firms, there are up to 45 services per day. Young people, in particular, enjoy this form of travel. As competition in the bus market, as in air transport, has reduced fare prices, we can develop the bus service far more as an alternative to the car. In the past, the Department responsible for transport was very conservative. It keeps out new entrants. New entrants are the lifeblood of every sector in the economy.
The Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, is from Donegal and knows the immense contribution that small, independent bus companies make to the travel service between Donegal and the National University of Ireland, Galway, and between Donegal and Dublin. I have in mind former Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon's view on the Swords Express bus case that the Department was protective of Dublin Bus and that it doubly discriminated against new entrants. New entrants, or the start-ups about which the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, speaks, are needed in transport. I am very impressed by the success of the open market for bus services between Dublin and Galway. It is a good incentive not to take the car.
On the massive use of cars for short journeys of 4 km or less, we must consider walking and cycling. The 4 km target is very important.
One of the schemes that seems to have incurred high costs and which has been slow to develop is the building of a cycleway the entire way from Howth to Dún Laoghaire. I heard a really high cost mentioned, such as €45 million. Much of the infrastructure is in place in areas such as Clontarf. It would be interesting to see how we can speed up the process. It seems to be a very good project and it was not mentioned in the Minister of State's speech. The cycleway would open up views of Dublin Bay, which would be very attractive and promote cycling by separating cyclists from trucks and lorries. It would promote cycling as a very attractive alternative.
One of the successes of the Dublin Port tunnel was its removal of trucks from the city. It has certainly made cycling in the city very much safer, which is to be commended. There were some terrible accidents when trucks turned left and could not see the cyclists on the inside. The successful safety improvement is a commendable result of public policy.
We can say, with a slight caveat, that there are buses up and down the country that could be used more if we were not so strict in regulating market access. Every other initiative mentioned in the Minister of State's speech is commendable, going in the right direction and good for the environment. Initiatives are promoting walking and cycling, resulting in health and other benefits, as mentioned by the Minister of State. The scheme in question is well worth progressing. I assure the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Dinny McGinley, that I will be supporting it from these benches.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Dinny McGinley, to the House. He is fresh from his celebrations in County Donegal as a consequence of the county's fantastic win. I call Senator O'Neill. It is a little premature for the Senator to be discussing an all-Ireland victory.
Is the Acting Chairman wishing me, as a Kilkennyman, the best of luck on Sunday?
I certainly am.
On behalf of Fine Gael, I am delighted that the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, came to the House. I noted his speech. I welcome back to the House the Minister of State, Deputy Dinny McGinley, whose county won the Sam Maguire. He is present to engage with Senators on smarter travel.
I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, for the significant progress made in persuading people to choose a more sustainable transport mode, such as walking, cycling or public transport. This is no easy task in a country such as Ireland where the weather often makes the car a more attractive form of travel. However, I am struck by the amazing and welcome success of the Dublin bike scheme, as pointed out by the Minister of State. The scheme is expanding all the time. It is incredible the way that people living in this city have embraced Dublinbikes. This shows that smarter travel is more than a nice theory and that it can deliver real and tangible changes.
Society has changed a great deal considering the way people have embraced exercise, such as running, and taken up walking as a means of getting from A to B. This is a very welcome cultural change. The success of the Luas since its inception shows that if quality public transport options are available, people embrace them.
I would like either of the Ministers of State, Deputy McGinley or Deputy Kelly, to update us later on the Leap cards. They are an amazing success and I am delighted the student version has been launched. Are there plans to expand the card nationally?
My observations on the various successes to which I referred, such as Dublinbikes, the Luas and the Leap card, are all based on my living in Dublin during the week when the Seanad is sitting. It is obviously more difficult to deliver the kinds of changes in question in the countryside, as I know well as I come from rural Kilkenny.
I welcome what the Minister of State said on smarter travel funding. I hope the funding is maintained in these stringent times. I would be very interested to hear how the Minister is getting on with his plan to integrate local public transport services in rural areas. I have spoken many times about the importance of maintaining a local transport system. Fine Gael has long been committed to the concept of reliable sustainable transport services for rural communities. This is reflected in the programme for Government, which states the rural transport network is vital for rural communities as a reliable and sustainable transport service. It states we will maintain and expand the rural transport programme with other local transport services as much as possible.
Senator Barrett implied that where there is competition on routes, there is value for money. If I purchased a return train ticket from Kilkenny to Dublin tomorrow morning, I would pay €32. However, if I purchased a ticket online, I would pay €9.99. This must be changed and there should be more access. If people obtain value for money, they will use public transport.
I am very familiar with the local rural transport provider in my area, Ringalink, which provides services in Kilkenny, Carlow and south Tipperary. The service is particularly important to elderly people, especially those who live alone and may not be in a position to run a car. Their only means of getting to a shop or town to see a doctor, for example, is to use the rural transport service. I am very conscious of this cohort. Those of us who represent rural constituencies need to be mindful of the needs of the vulnerable, especially the elderly.
I welcome the Active Travel towns concept. I look forward to its expansion to other areas if funding is released. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, for his commitment to preserving rural transport and achieving a more modern and efficient system of transport in rural areas through the integration of services. I would very much welcome an update on how this project is proceeding. I recognise it will be a monumental task on which I have no doubt the Minister of State will deliver.
As Senator Barrett pointed out, the Minister of State may be in a position to brief the House on public service obligation tendering for bus routes.
I know that the Coach Tourism & Transport Council of Ireland has been lobbying for an approach that would involve competitive tendering for bundles of bus routes when the tendering process opens up in line with EU law and the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 is amended. I am aware that public consultation is taking place and perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, or the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, could give us an indication of the Department's thinking on when the tendering might begin. Has an approach been agreed? How many private companies are hoping to avail of new contracts as a result of the new measures?
I am conscious that we are in the lead-up to a budget. The economic situation left by the last Government means that it is a difficult period to be in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. However, to the credit of the Ministers of State, particularly the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, initiatives like smarter travel, which are not a burden on budgets, are being pursued. Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, could give us a flavour of other incentives that are planned for the near future. I note the presence of students from Trinity College Dublin and welcome them to the House.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, to the House. I was delighted to hear all the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, told us and the amount of work that is taking place. I did not realise how much was going on. I was asked last year by RTE to present a programme called "Tracks and Trails" dealing with where I live in Howth. I think I was only the second choice - Gay Byrne was the first choice. During the series, what thrilled me was the amount of tracks and trails around the country. As it is the second of six slots, 12 programmes have been broadcast. I discovered that a large number of people now walk around Howth. The tracks and trails around Howth were originally established by people who lived there and just wanted to revitalise them. They did a great job and Fingal County Council has supported it.
I agree with the overall aims of smarter travel, which sets out the Government's vision of achieving a sustainable transport system, including a reduction in car use and a shift to public transport and other means of transport. However, I wish to raise some alternative issues. Is it possible to introduce one price for a bus and a DART ticket? That is what happens in other European cities such as Vienna, where one can travel in one direction and the ticket lasts for 90 minutes. That would make it much easier for the customer to do business and would speed up things as people would not have to look for change. That would be a very easy and sensible thing to do.
What I cannot understand is that while the Government wants to get people using public transport, the transport companies are always granted an increase in fares whenever they want it. Senator Barrett spoke about competition and we saw what happened with competition on the Dublin-London air route. We also saw very interesting figures on the Dublin-Galway bus routes so many things can and are taking place on that basis. One sees, however, the ease with which bus companies can put up their fares because every time they ask for a rise, they seem to be able to get it.
When my son-in-law told me four years ago that he was going into the bicycle business, I wondered where he got this confidence from. He has been very successful because he judged correctly that there would be a big increase in bicycles and bicycle use. One of the big problems with getting people to use bicycles is the massive risk of theft. It is practically impossible to own a bicycle and use it every day given the risk of theft or vandalism. What about the solution they have come up with in France, namely, the bicycle park scheme? It is a bicycle storage system that can be accessed with three types of season ticket for residential, commuter or occasional use. Using tickets or travel cards, it provides secure parking using an automatic anti-theft system. The bicycle park can be installed on roads or in car parks and retail units. Could we attract or install such a system here? We can learn from what others are doing.
An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for an artificial ski slope and major tourist development planned on an environmentally sensitive site adjoining the Dundalk race course. I know Senator Jim D'Arcy will be interested in this matter. The Irish Times reported that, in its ruling, An Bord Pleanála cited the smarter travel scheme in rejecting the project. However, this development would have brought 1.15 million visitors to Dundalk by car. We must be a bit more honest about our situation. I do not know the details of the development but I raise the general point that we are an extremely under-populated country. There are 60 million people in England, which is around the same size as the Republic of Ireland. Here, the population is 4.5 million. We have much more room for development and given that we are so spread out, the car is the only transport for most of the country. While we are talking about smarter travel, let us not become anti-car. An Bord Pleanála's ruling on the Dundalk development said it would be too car dependent, but let us be realistic. We are in a recession and we must consider a much more realistic viewpoint. It is not popular to say this to certain people but it might be a bit different for the unemployed person in the north east.
We rightly acknowledge Germany as the biggest and most powerful economy in Europe. That is fundamentally founded upon its extensive and quality road network and its ability to transport goods at high speed around and outside the country. They have little problem with unrestricted speed on autobahns. Meanwhile, we have modern, EU-funded motorways populated by extremely safe and modern cars and we are restricted to 100 km/h. We have gardaí hiding behind bus shelters on the Stillorgan dual carriageway and a toll on everything, including our own goods transported by trucks when they pass the M50 toll on our main artery. This is a barrier to trade. It is nice to think that everybody will toddle along on the formidable Brompton bike but if we are to compete, we need efficient transport, including motor vehicles. I have seen retailers in local town centres around the country - such as in County Donegal - face extreme difficulties because they are losing business to out of town shopping centres. We must find some way of encouraging people back into towns. Part of the reason local town centres are struggling is that people are unable to comfortably shop and fill up their cars with shopping due to a lack of parking. Where parking is available, wardens and clampers are around all the time. We need to keep commerce and competitiveness in mind when we allow this.
I agree that we must plan for the future but we must also be more realistic in our attitude to the car than we are. I fully support what the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, is doing under the programme for Government with smarter travel. The examples he gave us were eye-opening because I did not realise so much was going on. However, there needs to be a recognition of the need for cars. Let us not become anti-car. Let us make sure that we encourage people to walk and cycle and also encourage bus and rail transport, but that we do not become anti-car on that basis. We have a great system and I am delighted the debate is taking place today. I wish it every success.
Senator Harte has six minutes.
May I share three minutes with Senator Kelly?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, to the House. The concept of smarter travel has been pushed very actively by the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, recently. He announced funding under smarter travel for Letterkenny cycle lanes when he was in the town a few months' ago. A cycle route through Donegal will also be developed and people will be actively encouraged to get out of their cars and on their feet or bicycles.
I listened to an interesting debate on Radio Ulster while I was coming from home. Bus corridors are being introduced in Belfast and people are being encouraged to go around the city rather than through it. The public reaction was that everyone wanted to drive their cars into the city. A transport specialist from Galway said he passed 40 cars in the morning, every one of which contained one person. We have gone past that and have embraced the cycle and bus lanes in this country. We understand the benefits of them. People can develop the mindset that they must start walking and cycling. The cycle scheme in Dublin has been fantastically successful. A former Lord Mayor, Councillor Andrew Montague, pushed for that at the time.
At the time he did not realise how successful it would be and I understand that an extra couple of thousand bicycles will be ordered for Dublin. We should encourage large urban areas, such as Letterkenny, Sligo and other towns, to provide a similar scheme on a smaller basis. When tourists see that bicycles are available they do not want to see the town on foot or by car; they want to cycle out to see the outlying area. Smarter travel is important from a health and a tourist point of view. Everyone can walk and jog. Jogging is like sex - one does not have to be good at it to enjoy it. Everyone can jog at some pace.
On a point of order-----
The Senator to continue, without interruption.
I will allow the Senator have her say later. From a health point of view, everyone should be active. This is linked to preventive health issues. We have an obesity problem and are heading in the same direction as many Americans who have weight problems, which can lead to diabetes and heart disease and are a huge cost for the health service. If successful, the smarter travel programme not only gets people walking, it helps tourism and helps to cut future health bills. Money invested in smarter travel will pay dividends in the future. Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, will endeavour, through the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Kelly, to have the bicycle hire scheme extended to Letterkenny.
I welcome the Minister of State to the House and hope he is winding down from the celebrations of the past week. However, knowing Donegal people, I think the celebrations will continue for months.
The aim of smarter travel is to get us to think about how we travel and our travel choices. It is about considering how our travel decisions impact on ourselves and others. We all know that walking and cycling are better for our health than driving and using public transport. It reduces congestion on the roads and is better for the environment. We need to use this knowledge to inform our choices. Do we need to drive to the local shop to pick up the newspaper? Do we need to drive to work or could we cycle? If we have to drive the children to school, could we share a car with other parents? If we need to go the airport, could we use the bus? As the Minister of State said, between workers and students, approximately 400,000 people travel less than 4 km per day to either school, college or work. These are distances that can be reached by walking for 20 minutes or cycling for six or seven minutes. If these commuters shifted to walking or cycling, urban traffic congestion could be a thing of the past, the economy could reap the benefits from improved efficiency in goods movement, lower overheads for everyone due to time savings and provide a welcome extra boost for competitiveness. The Dublin bike hire scheme has been a major success, albeit I almost knocked a cyclist yesterday. However, the scheme needs to be rolled out to many towns and cities throughout the country.
Smarter travel is a transport policy for Ireland that sets out how the vision of sustainable travel and transport system can be achieved. For example, the greenway from Westport to Achill island has been a huge success and is being used by thousands of people every year. It has been a tourism boost to west Mayo. As there is evidence of more people taking up walking and cycling there is a need for more investment in cycle lanes. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Kelly, for the investment in cycle lanes in counties Roscommon and Leitrim. It is encouraging that the scheme is growing and I hope it continues to grow. I compliment the Minister of State on his innovation in the area.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, and the debate. We have had previous debates on smarter travel. It is an evolving process but one which politicians from all parties welcome. Progress has been made and I hope will continue to be made. When we think of smarter travel, from the perspective of the public it must be reliable and cost effective. Senator Barrett or Senator Quinn referred to the cost of fares by the broader CIE group, Iarnród Éireann. In one sense it reminds me of VHI, which has simply one solution to economic difficulties and the cost of providing its service, which is to increase the cost to the consumer. There is never a tackling of the cost issue at base level or an attempt to provide service at a cheaper rate. It simply responds to every difficulty by increasing the price of train and bus travel. If the smarter travel concept is to expand we must ensure it is an economic option, particularly in hard pressed times. The cost of fares must be central to the argument.
The Minster of State would know better than me that, perhaps, there was a time when the level of subsidy to the State travel companies was more substantial. Around the same time there were food and other subsidies where we saw certain social problems in need of Government intervention. Obviously we do not have the resources or the political will to do so now but every effort must be made to ensure the cost of travel is kept to a minimum because it impacts on a person's wages and economic well-being. There is also the ongoing debate about welfare versus work. We are informed that there is a significant number of people for whom it does not pay to go to work; the cost of travel is part of the equation and we must continue to focus on it.
I support the progress made in the Dublin bike hire scheme but it needs to expanded in so far as that is possible across the country.
In regard to smarter travel, I drive around some of the streets and roads in Dublin and outside on the way to and from Cork where I see 24 hour bus lanes that are not used for 16 or 17 hours of the day. Is that smart travel? I have seen bus lanes during hours closer to peak hours which do not have full occupancy while simultaneously there is a huge backlog of vehicular traffic. If we believe in smarter travel we must address that issue.
The motorist and the car cannot be pushed out of the debate. There is nothing inherently wrong with being a motorist or owning or using a car for social or leisure activity. The streets and roads in Dublin are in an horrific condition. There was a time when potholes were associated with counties Cavan and Monaghan and rural areas but the condition of some of the roads in Dublin is worse than the worst of the rural roads and certainly investment is needed.
The issue of public service obligation tendering and competition was mentioned by Senators Barrett and O'Neill. There is no economic activity which has not benefited from competition. Sometimes we have a tendency to go from one extreme to another. From historical knowledge of the air travel industry, if we had been over-protective of Aer Lingus and had said no to Ryanair and blocked Michael O'Leary and others from entering the market, the average citizen could not afford the cost of a Dublin-London air ticket. Therefore, competition worked wonders for the airline industry. That concept, perhaps, with a degree of regulation and goodwill on both sides, needs be introduced urgently to the broader transport equation.
I know the group has a national lobby organisation. We have all heard from some of the coach operators and the private bus operators from time to time. Rightly or wrongly, they have pointed out certain routes and services and claimed that they can provide them at a reasonable economic cost. These are routes which are not provided. We should have the political will and flexibility to allow some routes to commence allowing private operators. Perhaps it could be done for a trial period to see how the system works.
Travel, transport and economic activity are all part of the equation and are essential for the recovery of the country. We need to expand the sector and competition will help. I welcome the debate and the Minister of State's initiative. We must think beyond the Dublin or Cork bike schemes because we need to work on many more aspects of smarter travel.
I was a member of Dublin City Council when the Dublin bike scheme was introduced. We all acknowledge that it has been a huge success for the city and the city council. As previous speakers have said, the scheme should be spread throughout the country and further in Dublin. There is a significant cost attached to each station but the scheme, once in place, would greatly benefit people in the area. It would also help to alleviate the congestion problems in the city.
I agree with Senator Bradford's comment. We live in a country where it rains like hell as it has done for the past few days. It is great that people are encouraged to use bikes. It is great that they use bikes regardless of the weather but it is unrealistic to expect us to always cycle. We also need to ensure that the roads are in good condition and travel is not prohibitively expensive. Once travel, especially in rural areas, is expensive then older people can become isolated. Older people have free travel in many cases but let us think of the people who have not reached 65 years of age yet live in rural areas. In recessionary times - or at any time - the cost of travel can be a significant barrier and is something of which we always need to be mindful.
I attended the Galway Races this year. I brought my car because I could not rely on public transport but I do not mean any offence to the Acting Chairman. The city has 24-hour bus lanes but they are empty for many hours. We need to examine the problem. I appreciate the aim is to get people off the road. Galway city springs to mind when I think of bus lanes because the current situation grates on me as I travel there quite a bit. It is nonsensical to have completely empty bus lanes when there are miles of tailbacks. It beggars belief.
I wish to comment on buses that get us around generally and school buses. We had an interesting debate on the matter yesterday. I concur with Senators Bradford and Barrett that there is nothing in the country that would not benefit from open competition. Bus Éireann does a reasonably good job and I cannot deny that it transports children to school. The idea that it is the only company who can conceivably do it and is a safe pair of hands for the school transport system seems to be non-progressive. We need to open all of our transport systems to public tender. Aircoach and City Link operate - I am probably not supposed to mention commercial enterprises - so well and competitively in the market and make an argument for opening the school bus transport system to competition. I would like the Department to work on the initiative and thank the Ministers of State for attending.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the matter. I apologise for missing the speech made by the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, but I have read it and it contains a lot of positive content. I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, to the House again.
There has been €7 million provided for cycle lanes to enhance and develop a culture for cycling here which is most welcome. Being parochial, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, for providing €450,000 to create and build a cycle lane between Ennistymon and Lahinch. I am delighted to advise him that Clare County Council is at an advanced stage in terms of small bits of land being acquisitioned as required. I hope that the scheme will make significant progress towards the end of the year.
Tourist areas will benefit from creating and fostering a cycling culture. We can look at what has been achieved in Mayo and the success that the Government and the local authority in Mayo have had in creating the cycleway or greenway between Westport and Achill. Mayo now has a distinct advantage when attracting a certain type of visitor, a health conscious visitor, who wants to do something healthy such as walking and cycling. Other European countries place a much greater emphasis on both pursuits. Germans, in particular, are health conscious and when they come to Ireland or holiday here they want to do healthy things and the €7 million investment will be repaid in quadruple and quickly.
In County Clare we hope to develop a positive, fresh, sustainable and healthy tourism market. With the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher and the buy-in by the local authority, landowners, farmers and so on, a number of green walkways are being developed around the Burren. That, together with the organic farming at Burrenbeo, all work towards the type of Ireland that we can sell to tourists successfully. I hope that walkways and cycleways will be established in north Clare. I hope that they will create a link between places like Doolin, the Cliffs of Moher, Liscannor, Lahinch and Ennistymon. We can use them to our advantage in terms of marketing the product. The one natural resource that we have is our landscape, scenary and fresh air which gives us a competitive advantage. We do not have oil rigs - at least we do not have them in Clare. As we do not have gasfields, gold, silver, zinc or any of those resources, we must play to our strengths. Our strength is the environment and its unusual and unique landscape. If we can get people onto bikes then there will be a significant benefit to be gained.
I have read the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly's speech and his proposals for smarter transport are innovative. In terms of developing public transport, we want to see more people using public transport as opposed to motor cars. Its biggest problem is reliability and commuters want to know when buses are delayed and when they will arrive.
I hope that the Senator does not mind me cutting off his time but the Minister of State is on a tight schedule and I want to allow Senator White to make her contribution.
I have no doubt that the Senator has an important contribution to make but I will not be long.
I am not sure of the name for a particular unit that displays bus times and when the following buses are due.
It is called real-time passenger information or RTPI.
Yes. The signs are a positive development. I am delighted to say that they are manufactured by an Irish company based in Ennistymon, County Clare. Is the Acting Chairman happy now?
I thank the Senator. The final speaker is Senator White.
I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on his excellent speech. There is no doubt there has been a tremendous improvement. With the opening of the new motorway from Dublin to Belfast, it now takes approximately an hour and 40 minutes to get to Belfast. It takes less than three hours to drive from Dublin to Cork. It is obvious to everyone how the quality of life has improved with the new roads and dual carriageways. It is a pleasure to get from A to B so quickly.
My husband and I spent almost a month travelling in our car across France, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and Germany. It was an amazing experience due to the efficiency of the road network through central and eastern Europe. One could appreciate the different cultures. It was absolutely beautiful. However, I take this opportunity to put it on the record that, in my experience, Senator Barrett from Trinity College is the most experienced person with regard to the issue of transportation in Ireland. I have been listening to his observations on transport in the past year and he, more than anyone else, knows what he is talking about.
The tragedy about Ireland is that it took 40 years to build a bypass around Newbridge, County Kildare. At a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Wall from Kildare spoke about how the quality of life and the businesses of towns in Kildare that have been bypassed have improved, rather than the opposite. As people thought there would be a negative impact on the towns that were bypassed, it took 40 years to bypass Newbridge. Why do we do everything so slowly? It took many years to allow competition in the transport sector so people could get a direct bus to Dublin Airport. It is amazing. Why did it take so long to allow direct bus competition with CIE? That is the tragedy.
Senator Barrett said it is healthy and good for young and older people to travel by bicycle. The Minister said that 400,000 people travel 4 km or less to work, school or college every day by car. These distances are very amenable to cycling or even walking. I cycled one day from Dundrum to Leinster House and I found it very intimidating where there was no clear cycle path. To be honest, I felt my life was in danger when cycling down Leeson Street and turning on to St. Stephen's Green. Senator Barrett wondered why we did not impose very low speed limits in certain areas in order that cyclists would be safer on the roads. It is a simple thing to do, and no one would object. Why can we not make the decision to lower the speed limit and do it? Dublin is not like other European cities which really cater for cycling. We do not do so at all. There is a challenge in that regard for the Minister of State from a health and safety point of view and in terms of people getting healthier. Obviously, getting out of our cars is the right thing to do, but we should be more energetic in improving the situation. The narrowness of our roads does not allow us to build dedicated lanes, as there are in other countries.
I wish the Minister of State well. There is a great opportunity before him to make improvements quickly, rather than waiting 20 or even 40 years to make things happen.
It is good to be back in the House in which I once served. In fact, some of the best debates I have heard were in this House.
The Minister of State might still have the initiative to come back.
No, not at present. I thank all the Senators for their contributions. I hope they will forgive me if it is not possible to respond to all the questions that were asked. They were very constructive. The majority of people are very supportive on this subject. It is smart and makes sense. The collective changes we are making, when they all come together, will have a huge impact on society. In that context, if anyone has individual questions, they are free to write to me. That is also true of any recommendations as no one has a monopoly on good ideas. If they write to me with recommendations, I will reply to them quickly.
It is heartening that Senators recognise the Government's smarter travel policy and the important role our investment, even though it is constrained, plays in progressing this policy. In response to Senator Barrett's comments about schools, he raised some valid issues. It is something we are examining in the Department. There is a successful ongoing programme relating to schools. There is the travel flag and we also promote bike week and cycle to school day. Indeed, I visited a number of schools where I cycled in with the children. However, I accept that it is something we must push further. There are ancillary issues and what my Department will be doing is progressing it closely with local authorities to ensure the infrastructure in local areas combines to facilitate children being able to cycle to school. Obviously, the quicker one intercepts children and gets modal change by getting them thinking about walking and cycling, the better. I intend to progress that area.
I thank the Senators for the comments on the bicycle scheme. The scheme in Dublin has been phenomenal and we are looking at extending it. I am also very confident that we will be able to consider rolling it out to other cities during the term of the Government. I am working very hard on it as it is something I am anxious to progress in the coming years.
There were a number of comments about the Leap card, which has been a huge success. The Leap card is a phenomenon. It has been rolled out and a number of products and services with it will come on stream in the coming year. People should be supportive of it. I ask every Senator to get a Leap card. I ask everyone who does not have one to get one. Perhaps the Cathaoirleach would carry out an audit to find out how many Senators have a Leap card and use it around Dublin. That would be a very good exercise. It is going to be a fantastic product. Senators should be aware that the roll out of smart cards and integrated ticketing across the world has taken a considerable amount of time. It is an intricate process. One launches products, one stabilises and then one moves on and launches more products. One cannot put everything on it at the same time. I am absolutely satisfied that we are well advanced in the roll-out of this card. I take a personal interest in the roll-out and the technology behind it. I come from a technology background and I am very happy with its success.
The real time passenger information, RTPI, signs are a phenomenon. What they have done and are doing for public transport is incredible. I lived in Cork as well as Dublin for many years. Knowing when the bus is coming is half the battle. These signs - the information can be looked up on one's phone or online - and knowing what time the bus is coming makes one's journey planning much easier. It is similar with WiFi. People are making the modal change to using public transport because they can do business while they are on the train or bus. That is critical. The roll-out of WiFi will be increasingly important in the coming year and we are looking forward to good developments in that regard.
Another thing I ask the Senators to promote in their work is the national journey planner, which I launched a couple of months ago. It is fantastic technology.
With this planner a person could travel from Donegal to west Cork, plotting a route across all transport modes. It should be publicised more and no better a group to promote it than the Senators. It is also a fantastic tool for tourists. Having been a manager in e-business in Fáilte Ireland, I have discussed this because I took a keen interest in ensuring it could integrate its systems with the planner.
It is essential we realise we all have a role to play in shifting to smarter travel as legislators by ensuring our planning and fiscal systems promote and encourage sustainable transport and by making smart travel choices as individuals and promoting them in our communities. I take this opportunity to commend Senator Bacik for promoting smarter travel in her own small way in the House by setting up the all-party Oireachtas cyclist group to encourage Senators and Deputies to cycle to work. We in Leinster House as much as everyone else must realise that achieving the shift to smarter travel means we must make smarter choices about our own personal travel habits. The impact of our personal choices on national travel patterns is easy to underestimate. Traffic congestion in Irish towns and cities is for the most part caused by people travelling to work by car and driving their children to school. In the Dublin region, 100,000 people drive 4 km or less to work, a phenomenal statistic. Even starker, 45,000 drive two kilometres or less to work. At national level, no less than 420,000 workers and students travel by car under four kilometres to their destinations every day. That is the key target market, the people we must influence. Many of them are young people, those who can make changes.
All of the statistics and trends show there is significant potential for change. As I have outlined, the Government is investing in infrastructure to support smarter travel and is actively promoting public transport and the active travel modes. The major challenge in the promotion of smarter travel, particularly active travel, is to encourage people to change their behaviour. Every transport choice should be thought out. No one disagrees with the idea that increased walking and cycling is a good thing, for other people at least. We must work together to challenge people to make better transport choices and to make it easier to make those choices.
I am not calling for a ban on cars. Many journeys, particularly in rural areas like my own area, could not be easily made on foot or on a bicycle or public transport. There are, however, journeys that could be switched and we must challenge ourselves and others to make better transport choices. We must encourage people to make journeys by walking or cycling and where that is not feasible, consider walking ot cycling to a bus stop or train station instead of using a car. We must look in particular at young people going to school and college and those going to workplaces that are nearby. For longer journeys, the train, tram or bus should be the first consideration, with the car being the last choice, rather than being the default choice.
I thank Senators for their contributions. I will be taking on board a number of suggestions from various Senators and will be happy to take questions or recommendations in the Department from anyone on any area of smarter travel policy that Senators feel would be worthwhile.
I ask the Minister of State not to forget the transport issue in east Galway about which I have been speaking to him.
Could I ever forget about it?
When is it proposed to sit again?
At 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 2 October 2012.