Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 26 Oct 2000

Vol. 525 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Dublin Quality Bus Corridors.

Mr. McDowell

Gabhaim buíochas leat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, as ucht an deis seo a thabhairt dom plé leis an gceist seo. Tá an-áthas orm go bhfuil an t-Aire Stáit anseo. Tá súil orm gur féidir linn dul chun cinn a dhéanamh sa díospóireacht ghearr a bhéas againn inniú.

This issue involves a change in road traffic regulations, which must be done at national level, to allow motor cyclists to use the quality bus corridors which are becoming a common feature in Dublin and other large towns.

The last time I was on a motorbike was about 20 years ago when I was given a lift on one to an anti-nuclear demonstration in Carnsore. The journey scared the wits out of me and I have not been on one of the machines since. However, for those brave souls who use this form of transport, we should do as much as possible to ensure that they do so in safety.

Where quality bus corridors have been put in place the road space available to the rest of the traffic is reduced and is aligned in narrow lanes which just about accommodate a vehicle. The result is that there is even less space available for motorcyclists. Rather than travel close to the footpath, as they would have done in the past, they now travel in the centre of the road and are obliged to weave in and out through the traffic. This came to my attention when a particularly zealous garda who was carrying out his duty and enforcing the law at Fairview Strand in Dublin seemed to be making a point of bringing to book motor cyclists who were using the bus lane.

We can easily imagine the frustration of motor cyclists. They have a lane which is used by buses and pedal cyclists but which is clear most of the time. This has obvious advantages for the motor cyclists who can clearly see where they are going, travel in a straight line and get to where they are going relatively quickly without having to weave in and out through traffic. It is also of benefit to the rest of the traffic. Other car users can easily see a motor cyclist. At the moment couriers, for example, typically weave in and out of the spaces between cars and this causes difficulties for motor cyclists, drivers of private cars and pedestrians.

Deputy Hayes tabled a question which was responded to by the Minister of State a few weeks ago, but the response was disappointing. The Minister of State pointed out that the matter is one for regulation and that the UK authorities recently conducted pilot schemes to study the safety benefits of the use of bus lanes. I suggest to the Minister of State that if we are to rely on pilot schemes they should at least be Irish pilot schemes. I urge him to consider the possibility of running a pilot scheme in this country. Our road conditions, traffic conditions and the volume of traffic on our roads are different from the UK. I do not know where the UK pilot schemes were done but there are serious differences between the way we organise traffic and public transport in this city and the way it is done in many UK cities. If we are to rely on the evidence of pilot schemes we should carry out one in this country rather than rely on evidence from abroad.

When this matter first came to my attention I took it through the democratic machinery of Dublin Corporation and, not surprisingly, I got the support of councillor colleagues. More significantly, the proposal also got the support of the corporation management and traffic engineers. We are now in the bizarre situation where the representative and management levels of Dublin Corporation believe this is a worthwhile thing to do but it cannot happen because someone in the Department of the Environment and Local Government has decided, based on evidence from abroad, that we should not do it.

I urge the Minister to look again at the request I hope he has received from Dublin Corporation, to consider the merits of the case – I believe it stands up on safety grounds – and, if he is so minded, to introduce a pilot scheme so that we can assess the safety benefits to all concerned.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy)

I thank Deputy McDowell for raising this important matter. Bus priority measures are now acknowledged internationally as an important instrument of urban transport management. There has been extensive investment in such measures, grant assisted by the Dublin Transportation Office, in the Dublin area. A new funding mechanism has been put in place this year by my Department to accelerate traffic management initiatives in major urban areas outside Dublin. The primary purpose and focus of bus lanes and quality bus corridors is to facilitate mass transport in urban areas. Responsibility for the provision of bus lanes and for determining the hours of operation rests with the individual road authorities concerned. In the case of Dublin, proposals for quality bus corridors are being implemented by the Dublin local authorities in conjunction with Bus Átha Cliath and under the co-ordination of the Dublin Transportation Office.

Access to bus lanes has been restricted to buses, large public service vehicles and, in relation to with-flow bus lanes only, taxis. Pedal cyclists have also been afforded access to with-flow bus lanes, primarily in view of road safety considerations. Requiring pedal cyclists to ride in the main traffic lane, with buses passing on their near side, would increase their exposure to accident risk. A more proactive promotion of pedal cycling as a transport mode has been advanced through the more recent introduction of quality bus corridors which are commonly provided with associated dedicated cycle tracks for pedal cyclists.

I am advised that current traffic management is still against access to bus lanes for motor cyclists. This is not necessitated on road safety grounds in the same way as for pedal cyclists and could compromise the safe cycling environment for pedal cyclists which bus lanes and quality bus corridors aim to provide. Accordingly, there are no proposals to extend the use of bus lanes to other vehicles, including motor cycles.

I understand the United Kingdom authorities have adopted a position against allowing motor cycles to use bus lanes. A guide to traffic management to assist buses in urban areas, Keeping Buses Moving, published by the Department of the Environment in the United Kingdom in 1991, which examined the issue of allowing motor cycles to use bus lanes, reported that motor cycles have more power than pedal cycles and can main tain their position to a larger degree in the traffic stream and so are not at risk in the same way. More recently, I understand the United Kingdom authorities have introduced several pilot schemes to study the safety aspects of the use of bus lanes by motor cycles to both motor cyclists and pedal cyclists alike. These studies have proven inconclusive and the United Kingdom authorities are maintaining their policy that motor cycles should not be allowed to use bus lanes.

Against this background the maintenance of the status quo in the matter by the Irish authorities is both prudent and reasonable. I will give consideration to the Deputy's suggestion that practical pilot tests be undertaken here.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.20 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 7 November 2000.