Madam, - It is hard to know whether to laugh or cry when you publish another rant from Michael O'Leary of Ryanair (September 7th). The champion of low fares seems to have a bee in his bonnet about anything the Government tries to do to sort out our ailing transportation infrastructure. In many cases I agree with him, but on this occasion I believe he is sorely mistaken.
Anyone who has flown into Dublin Airport on a Sunday evening over the past few months can easily see that public transport facilities are inadequate to cope with passenger demand. A metro line is long overdue, and the Minister for Transport is to be commended for his plans to build one.
- Yours, etc,
RICHARD BANNISTER, Pembroke Square, Dublin 4.
Madam, - While I am usually quite a supporter of Michael O'Leary, it is ridiculous to propose more roads in place of a metro. The €1.5 billion cost of the metro would hardly build 10 kilometres of Mr O'Leary's proposed "outer orbital ring road". (Perhaps using the Ryanair definition of "outside the M50", he may be proposing an "orbital" road in Mayo!)
Anyway, no amount of road can satisfy the Dublin commuter.
- Yours, etc,
MARK SUGRUE, Egham, Surrey, England.
Madam, - Michael O'Leary's criticisms of Mr Cullen's grandiose, expensive and long-term proposals to build a metro to the airport are well made. But why confine our concern to airport traffic? Is it not time to adopt a radical approach to the whole traffic problem and not just that of the airport?
If I drive into the city centre I spend a significant sum for the privilege of parking my car. If I was charged that amount or more in a "congestion charge", as in some cities including London, I would not have taken the car out of my own garage. That kind of decision by a large number of people would reduce traffic congestion, road maintenance and environmental damage. We would, however, need a reliable and very frequent public transport system.
For most areas of the city, including the airport, that merely means the purchase, by competing companies if thought necessary, of the required number of buses. The revenue collected through a congestion charge could help provide what Mr O'Leary calls "an outer orbital ring road" and easy access to additional car parking space at the outskirts instead of in the city centre.
As an ordinary person this would seem to me to provide a reasonably short-term and relatively inexpensive solution to our present problems. At least let us hear from the experts why it should not be done. In addition, let us hear more on the issue from prominent and qualified commentators such as Michael O'Leary.
- Yours, etc,
A. LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Dublin 13.