I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes:
— the increased investment in the Luas;
— the introduction of Luas Cross City;
— the extra carriages to meet demands on the Luas;
— the large number of suburbs, towns and villages in the Dublin region that do not have Luas, Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART), or dedicated public transport corridors;
— the recent National Planning Framework and National Development Plan which contains very long-term measures in public transport infrastructure;
— that Dublin is the fifteenth most congested city in the world;
— the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport’s analysis of the cost of congestion is now about €350 million per annum in terms of lost productivity and time;
— that, by 2033, this could reach €2 billion; and
— that cyclists, pedestrians, commercial traffic, private motorists and public transport users are all suffering as a consequence of city and suburban congestion;
condemns:
— the lack of forward planning to allow for the introduction of Luas Cross City;
— the latest traffic chaos in Dublin city centre and surrounding routes as a result of the above;
— the delays on the M50 at peak times, which is impacting negatively on commuters' quality of life;
— the backlogs of traffic on College Green and overall traffic in Dublin city centre, in particular the impact of the extra carriages;
— the lack of bus connections and adequate public transport corridors in large suburban areas in Dublin;
— the unnecessary bottlenecks caused on the quays due to lack of proper planning for the Luas extension;
— the negative impact on people’s lives this traffic chaos is causing;
— the delays it is having on buses bringing thousands to work on a daily basis;
— the lack of investment in extra buses to meet public demands;
— the lack of park and ride facilities on DART and Luas lines; and
— the complete lack of investment in park and rides for buses; and
calls for:
— short to medium-term policy changes to get routes into and in Dublin moving again;
— the improvement of all public service routes into and in Dublin to increase usage;
— an increase to the number of feeder buses to the Luas and DART;
— an increase to the number of buses at peak times;
— quality bus corridors and bicycle routes to be increased;
— more buses to be supplied to access Dublin city centre and decrease the use of cars;
— more investment to supply more park and rides earlier on bus routes on the N11, N3, N7 and N4;
— the electrification of the Maynooth and M3 Parkway commuter service line;
— proper demographic planning to deliver efficient and independent public transport infrastructure into and in Dublin city centre;
— immediate investment to increase carpark facilities at train stations;
— the introduction of incentives for utilising park and rides further out on bus and rail routes; and
— the usage of the River Liffey to assist with inner city bottlenecks as is done in other European cities.
I am sharing time with colleagues. I will be taking five minutes.