DUBLIN'S PUBLIC transport problems will not be resolved unless bus drivers are more flexible about their working hours, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey told an Oireachtas committee yesterday.
With new metro and Luas lines still in their planning stages, Mr Dempsey told the Joint Committee on Transport that the bus system must form a large part of the solution to Dublin's transport woes. "If additional capacity is needed we will try to provide additional capacity, but there also has to be increased flexibility from people working the system," said Mr Dempsey.
Calls for 350 extra buses will not solve the problems of an idle fleet in the middle of the day, he said. "There's no point in having 350 extra buses . . . if instead of 1,100 buses parked on the streets around the place you'll have 1,450."
The buses had to service two clear peak periods - 7am to 10am, and 4pm to 7pm - but "that requires a flexibility to work practices that I don't believe is there currently. We will need to provide that flexibility," said Mr Dempsey.
He rejected calls to reduce the cost of the Dublin Port Tunnel to encourage cars off the city streets. The tunnel was designed to get trucks off the streets, he said, and that remains its primary purpose.
Mr Dempsey also flagged the introduction of stricter planning laws that will require developers of new homes to ensure that there is adequate transport available for residents.
"We can no longer have a situation where somebody goes into a planning office and gets planning permission for 700, 1,000, 2,000 houses and somebody subsequently says how are people going to get in and out of this place, is there any provision for public transport?
"You can't have planning and development totally divorced from transport needs. Basically, if you're going to have a development plan you're also going to have to have a transport plan, and there will be a mechanism to ensure the two of those tied together at all stages."
Mr Dempsey also defended delays to the Transport 21 programme, which has seen completion dates for projects like the Metro North and Luas lines stretch further into the future.
"There has been some slippage on a number of projects," said Mr Dempsey, "but huge progress is being made," he said. The original timetable for Transport 21 was flawed, he suggested.
Mr Dempsey said Dublin City Council was nearly ready to reveal details of how the city will cope with the construction of public transport lines over the next five or six years," he said.
"Dublin City Council is finalising its traffic management campaign to ensure the city is up and operational even with all the disruption this is going to cause," he said.
There will be big changes to traffic arrangements in parts of the city, he said.
"If this requires getting rid of cars out of the city centre, I'll be guided by the experts."