Sir, – I am lucky to have the choice every weekday of taking a single direct bus (every 15 minutes) across Dublin city to get to work, or of using slightly more frequent buses (every eight minutes) but having to change bus on O’Connell Street. I’ve used both options, but I normally go for the one involving an interchange.
If we had an underground system then I would expect to have to change trains – and I would expect a reasonable walk (and climb) to do so. However, using the bus, I have a few metres to walk between stops. Neither is perfect for all people, but that’s the nature of transport.
We need more buses, but getting them to link up in the city centre will not work – bus congestion and the associated pollution are already issues. The Bus Connects plan seems like a very sensible one to me as a regular bus user. I will no longer have a direct route to work, but I don’t care because there will be a better service in general. The plan is not perfect – and nobody has claimed it was. If we rejected every possible bus system because of flaws, then we wouldn’t have any. – Yours, etc,
ALAN KENNEDY,
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Dún Laoghaire,Co Dublin.
A chara, – Some proponents of the proposed transport plan for Dublin seem adamant that bus travel times will be quicker. Perhaps, if they are referring to the travel times of the buses. If this ludicrous plan isn’t scrapped, I suspect that the people right across the city will find getting from home to their destination and back to be more arduous and time-consuming than it is now.
Any new transport plan for Dublin should be focused on serving the needs of people and communities across the city and surrounding areas. Neither the bruised ego of consultants nor the potential for further privatisation of routes in the future should be considerations. – Is mise,
SIMON O’CONNOR,
Crumlin, Dublin 12.
Sir, – Bus passengers will now be obliged to take more than one bus not just to get to the city centre, but to another part of a route, but can – we are told – conveniently “hop” from one bus to another because there will always be one available. They will, of course, have to walk from a bus-stop on one route to a bus-stop on another; but that – we are also told – will not be a problem as bus-stops can be relocated. There are huge implications for school children, college students, workers, older folk attending hospitals, clinics and a significant number of people recovering from illnesses and injuries, some of whom can manage one bus journey but not more. They cannot take one bus and literally “hop” on to another. Parents of younger schoolchildren may not be very happy at the idea that their children may have to cross busy intersections to move from one route to another. An unfortunate consequence of the plan will be that fewer people will use public transport.
The plan has major policy implications. These are a matter for the Minister for Transport and his department. It is up to him to decide if this radical plan will proceed any further. Is there any need for it, considering that it is inappropriate for a city such as Dublin? It should not proceed solely because it has been recommended by the National Transport Authority. It would be interesting to hear the views of the relevant Dáil committee. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK HOWARD,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.