Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 24 Jun 1999

Vol. 507 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Public Transport.

Ms Shortall

Given that we have been talking about a light rail system for Dublin for more than ten years and we have yet to see a metre of rail laid or a single tram acquired, it is not surprising that public scepticism among the people of the city and county has increased significantly, with more and more people doubting that the project will ever go ahead. The bungling, delays, rejection of consultants' reports and U-turns which have been such a feature of the Government's handling of the issue have increased public scepticism against the background of a traffic problem of such magnitude that it is no exaggeration to say that the city and county are in danger of grinding to a halt.

It is a year since the Government decided to reject the consultants' report favouring the overground option and we still do not know if it will be technically feasible to put in place an underground section. Even if all targets are met, it will still be the best part of five years before any light rail system will be operational in the city. It is clear that we cannot allow the traffic situation to continue to deteriorate until light rail is available. Urgent remedial action is now required.

While the Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy O'Rourke, has been dithering, week by week the situation has been getting worse. Traffic congestion that was once the norm for an hour at peak time in the morning and evening is now experienced throughout the day. Even on relatively short journeys at peak time there are now delays of epic proportions.

The key to dealing with the traffic problems in the short term rests with the proper development of the bus service. Bus services will remain the only public transport option for the vast majority of Dublin people for the foreseeable future, but contrary to the public perception the level of subvention for Dublin Bus, at about 3.8p per passenger journey, remains one of the lowest for any similar sized city in Europe. Much of the Dublin Bus fleet of vehicles are clapped out, mechanically unreliable and unpleasant to travel in. A sum of £30 million, less than the cost of one underground station, would allow Dublin Bus to acquire about 175 additional buses, which would make a huge difference to the quality of public transport in the city and county.

The combination of poor service, relatively high fares and chronic traffic problems is forcing more and more people away from public transport and into their cars. This, in turn, worsens the traffic problem, further slows down the buses and particularly inconveniences people who have no alternative to public transport. The vicious circle must be broken.

The pricing and ticketing policy of Dublin Bus must be looked at. This is an integral part of any solution to Dublin's traffic problems. It is not good enough for the Minister to wash her hands of this issue. Every time a parliamentary question is tabled on this issue, the Minister tells us that ticketing and pricing are matters for Dublin Bus.

Part of the reason buses are so slow is that boarding is very slow. This is because most people are still using cash rather than prepaid tickets. When prepaid tickets were first introduced there was a substantial incentive to buy them. A ten journey ticket of £1 fares could be bought for £8, which involved a substantial saving, but the economic incentive has been gradually whittled away and there is now no saving to be made from buying a prepaid ticket. This is crazy.

The social and economic costs of crawling traffic and congested streets are well known. The solution requires an efficient public transport system with economical fares. This cannot be achieved on the level of subvention currently provided for Dublin Bus.

Last year new car registrations in Dublin reached a record level of 62,000. The city just cannot continue to absorb this number of new cars. We will have to consider introducing disincentives to discourage people from bringing cars into the city centre, but this can only reasonably be done when there is a reliable, efficient and economic public transport system. Unless we set about ensuring this now rather than wait for Luas, the situation will undoubtedly continue to get worse.

I call on the Minister to take responsibility for her job. She is charged with ensuring that Dublin has a proper public transport system that works. At the moment it does not work. The quality of life for people living and working in the city is being seriously undermined because of traffic congestion and the lack of public transport. The cost of doing business is increasing continually. I call on the Minister to take charge, to do her job and ensure that a proper level of subvention is provided for Dublin Bus to enable it to provide an adequate service.

Mr. Jacob

I thank Deputy Shortall for raising this important matter. The Government is committed to the integrated development of public transport in Dublin. We are determined to ensure the ongoing improvement in bus and rail services and we are making real progress in the implementation of the enhanced light rail system. This is not a vague aspiration but one which has been clearly articulated and is being steadily implemented with the support of Exchequer and EU funding. For the first time Exchequer funding is being provided directly for specific projects such as bus purchases and railway development. Direct Exchequer support will continue.

The bus service is the backbone of the public transport system. Quality bus corridors have been introduced and more will be completed over the coming years to enhance the priority, speed, reliability and overall quality of service which buses can provide on key routes in the greater Dublin area.

To ensure that adequate capacity is provided on these and other routes, approval has already been given for the acquisition by Bus Átha Cliath of 150 additional buses. Already almost 60 of these buses have been delivered, with the remainder being delivered in phases throughout the year.

In addition, Exchequer and EU funding is being provided to speed up the introduction of accessible buses. Trials on low floor double deck buses are scheduled to start next month. I expect that the company will be in a position to start ordering only low floor vehicles from next year.

It is important to note that investment to date and the proposals for future development are being undertaken against a background of co-ordinated and detailed planning. The Dublin Transportation Office will shortly be making recommendations on its blueprint for the next few years. This will take particular account of the strategic planning guidelines and, in relation to bus services, is expected to include measures such as a substantial increase in the bus fleet, further development of quality bus corridors and improved bus priority, the introduction of a wider range of orbital routes which will cross the existing orbital routes and provide a better web of services matching customers' travel requirements and the provision of more local and feeder services.

In addition to bus services, major investment has taken place in DART and suburban rail. Infrastructural works to extend the DART service to Greystones and Malahide are almost complete and the Maynooth line is being upgraded.

One of the most significant actions taken by the Government was its decision to proceed with an extended and enhanced light rail network. Rapid progress has been made in getting the necessary authorisations to enable construction work to commence. My colleague, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy O'Rourke, signed the order for the Tallaght to Abbey Street section and CIE has placed an order for the 20 trams needed for this route. The full cost of these trams is being met from Exchequer funding.

In addition to Exchequer funding for investment, Exchequer funding is also made available to CIE for the provision of socially necessary or desirable public transport services which cannot be provided on a commercial basis. The allocation of the subvention to the individual operating subsidiaries within the CIE group is currently a matter for the board of CIE. The allocation this year to Bus Átha Cliath is £9.244 million, an increase on the 1998 figure of £8.895 million. The subvention to Bus Átha Cliath enables the company to maintain, and in some cases expand, its services to cope with the increasing public transport demand and, thereby, give people an alternative to using private transport. My Department has been in negotiation for some time with CIE for the introduction of public service contracts as a replacement for the annual lump sum Exchequer subvention to CIE.

The Bus Átha Cliath contract will detail the quantity and quality of public transport services to be provided in the greater Dublin area for which the State will make a specific payment. The contract approach will provide for a direct link between Exchequer payments and the services to be provided by the individual companies in return. They will also set out clear performance standards in respect of these services and allow for performance measurement. It is envisaged that the new system, with an emphasis on the delivery of quantifiable output, will facilitate and encourage better performance by the companies. It is expected that the negotiations on the contracts will soon be completed and the contracts brought into operation this year.

While a great deal has been achieved in recent years, much more remains to be done. Identifying the capacity requirements and securing the funding needed to achieve them are only part of what must be undertaken. Substantial amounts of money need to be invested and we need to ensure that we achieve maximum benefit from these investments. It must be done in a planned and co-ordinated way. We are, therefore, continuing to plan for the future.

Significant effort has gone into planning for the future. This Government can be relied on to provide a properly planned and co-ordinated response to the transport challenges in our major urban areas. We will set out a clear strategy to address these problems in the forthcoming national development plan. In doing so we will take into account proposals from agencies, such as the DTO, and the recommendations contained in the strategic planning guidelines. Our record to date shows that we are committed to investment in our transport system.