Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 May 2004
357 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Transport when his Department commissioned the new study into the Dublin Bus market; the terms of reference for this study; when he hopes to be in possession of the study; if the review of the 1932 Act is dependent on the outcome of the study; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14613/04]
View answerThe Secretary General of my Department wrote to the chairman of the Dublin Transportation Office on 23 March last, asking the office to carry out a review of the bus network in Dublin. The terms of reference for the review are as follows. The terms of reference set a target of January 2005 for the completion of the review, but the office has stated that it is likely to take some months longer to complete. The review of the Road Transport Act 1932 does not depend on the outcome of the bus network review.
I wish to outline the terms of reference for the strategic review of the bus network in the greater Dublin area. The purpose of the review will be to provide a strategic framework for the development of bus services in the greater Dublin area, having regard to the policy context provided by A Platform for Change, the national spatial strategy, the strategic planning guidelines for the greater Dublin area and their statutory successor, local authority development plans and relevant integrated framework plans. The review will focus on the short to medium term. The short term refers to the period until the end of 2006, at least until the end of the current national development plan, and the medium term refers to the period at least until the end of 2010 and possibly to the end of the next plan period, which will be in 2012 or 2013.
The review will make recommendations on the reconfiguration and development of the bus network with regard to the need for continuing expansion and improvement of public transport services in the greater Dublin area; the likely impact of the development of rail-based public transport; changes in land use; and other factors that the study team considers relevant or the study steering group directs. The review is not intended to produce a full bus network operational plan. It should be sufficiently detailed to provide a satisfactory framework for such a network plan; to provide a quantitative assessment of the range, amount and intensity of services required on all the main public transport corridors, both radial and orbital, and how they should be phased in over the period covered by the review; to give a clear understanding of how the bus network should be reconfigured and developed in the short to medium term; to quantify the broad financial and other resource requirements; and to identify any material operational and other issues requiring consideration and decision.
The review will take account of the bus network strategy appraisal for the greater Dublin area, published by CIE in June 2000. The review will be expected to start from first base rather than simply to update the appraisal. The work on the review will be undertaken by the Dublin Transportation Office, supported by consultants and overseen by a steering group. The review will be completed not later than the end of January 2005.
