David O’Connor lectures at DIT and co-runs the MSc in Transport and Mobility, a new multi-disciplinary programme in transport planning. Follow him on: www.twitter.com/doccer

Photo by Caroline Brady

Nothing, if not a lot going on!

From the sublime (the Phoenix Park Rail Tunnel opens for service) to the ridiculous (consultation opens on a not-very-necessary Merrion Gates flyover), with plenty to chew on in between.

It’s not often that something as radical and major as the publication of detailed (and mostly very good) designs to provide proper bus and cycle priority on the Liffey Quays has to compete for headline attention.

Not in the traditionally glacially slow world of Dublin transport, anyways.

To the above items we may well return. Yet the biggest deal in town, in the past few weeks, went largely unnoticed by most and certainly made few headlines in the weekend or daily editions.

By comparison to many other European cities, Dublin is not blessed by openness and accountability in terms of how we plan and operate our transport systems. A welcome fig leaf is the streaming of the proceedings of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport (no less than those for the Dublin City Council Transportation Strategic Policy Committee).

A week ago, various agencies and representative bodies were invited before the Oireachtas committee to talk to the topic of “A Vision for Public Transport for the Greater Dublin Area”.

Firstly, for a forum of this import, it must be regrettable that the Oireachtas Transport Committee neglected to invite any public bus-service operator, or any representative of the travelling public, to a discussion about public transport in the city.

Nonetheless, there was plenty to note.

Anne Graham, CEO of the National Transport Authority, gave the opening deposition. The authority has recently been commendably outspoken in the need for increased investment in public transport. At a research conference, hosted by DIT last August, Graham showed frustration at continued funding of roads projects at public transport’s expense.

At the Oireachtas committee, addressing parliamentary members directly, the NTA CEO had a clear and distinct message, and also hinted at an important shift in policy direction.

The NTA’s Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) sets out a capital-investment plan costed at €10 billion to 2035. That’s €500 million each year over the 20-year plan horizon.

At current government expenditure rates, Graham explained, the GDA is undergoing a funding shortfall of €300 million per annum. Moreover, much of that funding is earmarked for expensive rail projects with long lead-in times.

Traffic demand is growing largely in line with economic growth. No sign of “peak car” here then – the persistent and irrefutable trend across rest of the Western world, where advanced cities have learned to grow economically, without inducing additional traffic demand.

With Dublin’s growing traffic levels, according to the transport chief exec, it cannot wait for these mega-projects to be delivered. Instead, she said, “work must commence immediately on improvements to the bus infrastructure across the region in order to meet the growing demand and offer an attractive alternative to car drivers”.

That is the stark reality. And, if followed through on, it may yield consistent dividends for everyone across the city region, never mind the NTA, which will only be measured against how well it delivers a functioning city-wide transport network.

The Transport Strategy, though comprehensive and pointed in the right direction, has a bit of “something for everyone in the audience”. It is also lacking in sufficient ambition to reduce Dublin’s carbon footprint while improving mobility for all.

The NTA appears to be now recognising the increasingly urgent and pertinent role of the “Core Bus Network”, a key element of the Transport Strategy that seeks to upgrade and develop the existing 16 “Quality Bus Corridors” approaching the city.

Graham went further on this under questioning. The NTA also wants to bring forward the development of quality “radial routes” and well-designed “bus-to-bus interchange points”.

This would be a seriously good move, following current best practice in other smart cities world-wide.

Not only does clear demand exist for this kind of network, our bus system has capacity and can outperform any metro system, once planned properly, on performance and cost.

According to the NTA statement, only 30 percent of our Quality Bus Corridors actually run on dedicated bus lanes. While it’s a healthy thing that they are able to relate this fact, what people really care about is their own time and comfort.

One thing the NTA might do in this regard is to focus less on infrastructure provision and more on “Level of Service” for public transport. Establishing level-of-service parameters across all of the key corridors — orbital and arterial — and continually improving on them over time will not only yield potentially the best returns, it will do so at the lowest costs.

So, at relatively low cost and in a realistic time frame, the NTA might be able to work towards a city-wide public-transport network that increases mobility for everyone and makes Dublin a healthy, sustainable place to live. Doesn’t sound too bad, really, when you think about it.

There’s another reason to favour increased emphasis on the core bus network. The overall Transport Strategy purportedly has a “Benefit to Cost Ratio of 1.5:1”. That means for every €1 invested, the economy will grow by €1.50.

That’s nearly as risky as it gets without saying “better off doing nothing”.

Now, most of that risk is likely to be loaded in the long-term, expensive, big-dig rail items. So much so that one wonders if these can be proven cost-effective at all. Metro projects often double, even treble in costs.

Continual, planned improvements in public transport level of service, coupled with investment in walking and cycling are proven internationally to yield the best returns on investment.

Lastly — above points notwithstanding — the NTA didn’t give the only engaging presentation of the Oireachtas committee session. That goes to Gerry Madden, managing director of TransDev, which operates Dublin’s Luas tram service.

To ensure a sustainable future, he said, Dublin needs only four things: reduced traffic levels in its city centre; an effective multi-modal public transport network; a serious commitment to meet our climate responsibilities by reducing transport-related carbon emissions; and all of our agencies to work in a spirit of genuine collaboration.