Second Phase of Bus Network Review Must Be Implemented

Cllr Catherine Murphy tabled a motion at the October meeting of Kildare County Council’s  Leixlip Area committee in which she sought an update on the bus network review.

The review was conducted by Dublin Bus on behalf of the Department of Transport in which they sought to establish the bus needs in the Greater Dublin Area.   Subsequent to the publication  in March 2006 additional buses were eventually  provided  15 of which were dedicated to the Lucan Road Corridor;  which includes Celbridge,  Leixlip,  Maynooth and Kilcock.

The second phase of the report  (2006 to 2009)  Seeks to commence the progressive reshaping of the bus network including:

• Substantial increase in cross city services
• Limited stop/express services from outside the M50
• Self contained networks in some of the larger towns
• A number of high frequency orbital services
• Further buses are required to cater for growing demand for the period 2008 – 2011. Current estimates suggest almost 225 additional buses (over and above the 200 required in Stage 1).

(source http://www.dublinbus.ie/about_us/dublin_bus_network_review.asp)

According to Cllr Murphy we cannot afford not to make the investment given that the bus is the workhorse of the public transport system.   Currently we are required to purchase carbon credits  as a penalty for our growing levels of emissions.   Car Parking at train stations and near bus routes are inadequate to meet demand,  the provision of additional car parking would be expensive,  feeder buses would  have the potential to make better use of the  existing parking capacity.   The level of traffic makes our towns and Dublin City and County inefficient for both commuters and business.   Investing in the bus network would have tangiable returns.  Kildare County Council are to make contact with the Department of Transport seeking progress on the second phase of the bus review.

Motion Cllr Catherine Murphy

The netowk review of bus services carried out in 2006 identified the need for feeder bus ervices as –part of the second phase for improved bus services.   Given that this may require public funds for its full implementation we ask the Department of Transport what plans if any can be ecpected for the deliver of these necessary facilities,  which would have the benefit of improving linkages between the North Kildare towns;  improving the uptake of existing bus and rail services;  reducing the need for car parking at rail stations for those in a position to avail of such services.

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Posted by catherinemurphy on November 3, 2008. Filed under Celbridge,Kilcock,Leixlip,Maynooth,Traffic & Transport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.