Madam, - The Transport Plan unveiled by the Government on Tuesday is full of ambitious projects for the next five to 10 years but there is one glaring omission. There is hardly a reference to the humble bus - the cheapest, quickest and most cost-effective way of tackling congestion.
The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, makes vague promises of increasing passenger journeys by 80,000 a day over the next 10 years. All he offers at the moment is 20 extra vehicles for Dublin Bus instead of the 150 in the National Development Plan.
Why not provide all 150 in the next six months? The current fleet is under-capacity and cannot cope with demand.
There are no buses at all available for Bus Éireann. Maybe the Minister thinks congestion is restricted to Dublin.
Buses and bus corridors can be provided for about one-fiftieth of the cost of a kilometre of tram track and, unlike the trams, if you get the routes wrong you can just switch buses to new ones. - Yours, etc,
LIAM TOBIN,
General Secretary,
National Bus and Railworkers' Union,
54 Parnell Square,
Dublin 1.