Frank McDonald's article would give the impression that with the first phaseof the Metro due for completion by 2007, the arrival of the bulldozers to demolish suburbs is imminent. This is simply not correct, writes John Henry
'It's election time - a time when journalists often find it hard to resist the impulse to provoke politicians, sometimes at the expense of accuracy.
In his article of Tuesday, May 7th, Frank McDonald writes about Metro, the €7.2 billion light rail network planned for Dublin, and the impact it will have on housing density along its corridor.
The single most misleading sentence reads: "The demolition of suburbs along the route of the Metro is a prerequisite for the project."
Frank McDonald says this sentence was changed during the newspaper production process. He says what he actually wrote was: "The demolition of suburbs along the route of the Metro is a sine qua non of making it work."
Whether or which, (and leaving the appropriateness or otherwise of Latin phraseology to internal Irish Times debate), in the DTO's view this creates one clear impression: that houses will have to be demolished wholesale along the line of the Metro before it can be put in place. This has no basis in reality.
And with the first phase of Metro from the airport to Shanganagh due for completion by 2007, you might think the arrival of the bulldozers is imminent. That is simply not correct.
Let's be clear. The DTO view is that redevelopment will follow the line of the Metro, as it is already doing with Luas, and as has happened to some extent along quality bus corridors. But to suggest that this will take the form of "demolition of suburbs" is untrue at best, and, at worst, verges on scare-mongering.
In fact, we anticipate that the redevelopment will be driven by property-owners themselves as they exploit the potential for higher-value development which the Metro will facilitate. No more. No less.
Then there is the issue of capacity. Mr McDonald is correct in saying that Metro will have a capacity of up to 50,000 passengers per direction per hour; he points out that the highest level of demand on any corridor at the moment is 15,000 people an hour. This poses the question: Why all the extra capacity?
The answer is that the Metro infrastructure, track etc, allows for a capacity of up to 48,000 passengers an hour on parts of the network. The plan is to put that infrastructure in place, but to step up the number of carriages, increasing actual capacity as demand grows. If demand is 20,000 an hour, we cater for 20,000 an hour. In fact, within a short time of the full Metro being in place, patronage of the city centre section will be approaching 20,000 passengers per direction per hour.
We might also pose the question to Frank McDonald: Quality bus corridors carry some 3,500 people per direction per hour; Luas will carry about 6,500 per direction per hour. How else will 20,000 people an hour be carried, if not by Metro?
We believe the high capacity of the Metro system will be the key to its success - for the first time providing a real alternative to the car and leading to a significant shift to public transport.
Finally, Frank McDonald charges the DTO with being "reticent" when it comes to explaining the impact of Metro in terms of urban density. In fact the opposite is the case.
The DTO has consistently argued with enthusiasm that the provision of new public transport infrastructure, such as Metro, provides fresh opportunities to begin to reverse the low density urban sprawl which has bedevilled Dublin and contributed hugely to the ever-increasing number of cars.
We are already working hand-in-hand with all seven local authorities in the eastern region to achieve this at local level through Integrated Framework Plans focusing on local population centres.
The fact is that in density terms, Dublin has a "footprint" three times the size of any other European city of comparable population.
Frank McDonald has in the past complained - and rightly - about low density sprawl. Now he appears to be complaining about Metro on the basis that it will lead to higher density. At election time you just can't win.
John Henry is chief executive of the Dublin Transportation Office