Sir, - Derek Mitchell, member of the Consultative Committee Dublin Transportation Office (September 18th), challenges Garret FitzGerald's analysis of capacity six weeks earlier. To make his point, he writes of a LUAS with up to three tramcars. This would be 90 metres long over 25 per cent longer than a Boing 747. More relevantly, it is more than twice the proposed length of the station platforms.
Assuming the three car tram sets and the four minute frequency in Mr Mitchell's letter this calls for 90 operating cars, but we are told the initial order will be for less than 30. If there were enough units to operate three car sets, increasing the frequency should be more attractive to the customers and more successful in diverting traffic to LUAS (as well as creating more jobs, admittedly at extra cost). How many units are included in the cost estimates for the project? - Yours, etc.,
Belmont Gardens,
Dublin 4.