Madam, - Michael Casey's article "Bringing traffic to a standstill" (Motors, October 29th) makes a number of comments relating to bus lanes and Dublin Bus which do not reflect the realities of what quality bus corridors (QBCs) have delivered for Dublin commuters.
Bus lanes are being put in place along key routes to enable the provision of a high-frequency, attractive service. While Dublin Bus is a strong advocate of QBCs, which are proven to increase public transport patronage, they are in fact designed and implemented by local authorities after an extensive period of public consultation and are not used only by Dublin Bus but by private bus companies, taxis and emergency vehicles.
On the Stillorgan corridor, one of a number of QBC success stories in the capital, Dublin Bus operates high-frequency services with average speeds of 20kph from Foxrock to St Stephen's Green. This excellent service, which carries over 10 million customers annually (similar to a single Luas line) has enabled the morning peak-time split between cars and buses to change from 20 per cent bus/80 per cent car to 55 per cent bus/45 per cent car.
QBCs have been successful in encouraging people to transfer from car to the bus on a number of corridors around the city and we must continue the policy of developing them with high-frequency services and reliable journey times.
More needs to be done, especially in the central area, where it can take up to 50 minutes for a bus to travel from Parnell Square to St Stephen's Green when streets are heavily congested. Dublin Bus welcomes the proposed traffic management measures which will ease traffic flow in the city centre.
Finally, Dublin Bus has not hindered competition by "flooding of routes" or any other means and has consistently rejected such unproven allegations. - Yours, etc,