Dubliners will wake up this morning to the offer of a free ride and family entertainment on a new, multi-million euro tram system. The gleaming silver and glass coaches with clean, contemporary lines will give public transport in the city an attractive and modern image.
Commuters along the Sandyford/St Stephen's Green Luas line will hope the provision of a rapid and efficient service will allow them avoid traffic gridlock and leave their cars at home.
Years of delay, disruption, confusion and overspending are coming to an end with the Luas project. The initial plan envisaged a Ballymun/O'Connell Street line, but that was dropped in 1998. The Sandyford/St Stephen's Green line opens for service today and its operators, Connex, hope to carry about 9 million passengers a year, with trams running every five minutes at peak times. Tickets must be purchased in advance and defaulters face on-the-spot fines. The Tallaght/Middle Abbey Street line will begin to carry passengers in August, with the same frequency of service and a target of 13 million customers. The full potential of the service will not be realised, however, because the Government decided in 1998 to link the two lines by way of an underground tunnel. That tunnel has not been built. And commuters hoping for an integrated public transport service will have to await the delivery of an underground metro system that will, hopefully, make the necessary connections. The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said he expects such an announcement within weeks.
Of necessity, public transport has taken second place to the car in this State. But growing affluence and traffic congestion forced successive governments to rethink. In the early 1990s, Ireland's application for EU structural funding did not include any public transport projects, but progress has been made since then in upgrading the rail and bus systems. In spite of that, spending on public transport lags behind our EU neighbours on service, efficiency and price.
Private car usage in European cities is inefficient and expensive. Traffic congestion causes delays, reduces productivity and generates pollution. Transport by bus, tram and rail is increasingly favoured by European authorities and penalties are imposed on single car users. Bicycles are also favoured. We have a long way to go before an integrated public transport system, including park-and-ride and bicycle facilities, makes our cities properly user-friendly. The Luas is, hopefully, a step in the right direction but government planning for future projects must be more rigorous and cost-effective.