Deliberate run down of our Public Transport System by this 'Government' a thundering disgrace!

by Paul Kinsella - CPSU An Post Branch Committee Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:22 paulkinsella53 at yahoo dot com 53 Lorcan Grove, Santry, Dublin 9, Eire 085-1478100

Its been revealed in this mornings papers that the 'Government' haven't allowed Dublin Bus to buy any new buses since 2001. 2001, that 4 years ago! How fast has Dublin, and the Greater Dublin Area grown in the last 4 years? Definitely should become a big issue in the Meath and Kildare North by-elections, as many of these communities such as Dunboyne and Maynooth among others heavily rely on the Public Transport System, including the buses to ferry thousands of workers, shoppers and commuters into, and out of town every day.

by Archivist Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:06

You seem to be good at getting letters published in the press. Would you also raise the issue of the attempt to put a Mobile Phone Mast on the National Archives? See the story at the link. Please put any comments on that story.

by dunk Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:14

the government previously talked about a metro, direct line from city to airport, PLATFORM 11 formed as a reaction against this and came together as a group pushing for proper public transport. along with irish rail they proposed the "dublin integrated rail plan", which works on the principal of making a tunnel under the city from heuston to spencer dock, a major new development in dublins docklands, and then using the existing and more or less unused line that goes alongside croke park and tunnels under the phoenix park. this would allow for a freer flowing rail network and make an orbital loop for the city.
after some discussion the government came out in favour of the "integrated plan" ahead of the original metro plan, not sure how much its progressing at present

main problem is that there is a massive road lobby group, with that the government attitude seems to be "more roads, more roads"

see platform 11 for further details
http://www.platform11.org/inter_faq.html

im doing a project with these transport and other eco city issues,
what im exploring is a "greenway" for dublin, an 18 km circular loop park with the metro underground, the park would thread through a series of pocket parks, some existing some proposed, the loop would go alongside the 2 canals, and connect with the botanic gardens and the phoenix park.
its called the "botanic spine"

greenways info here
http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/walkways/project7.html

more info on "botanic spine"
http://www.dublin.ie/botanicspine/
and the online rough communication space
http://easa.antville.org/stories/960542/

this year dublin is also velo city, so there should be some bike initiaves,
http://www.velo-city2005.com/

interconnector- an integrated rail network for the city

by dunk Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:17

this years convergence festival theme 'Healthy Communities', and part of that will focus on "greening the city"
http://www.sustainable.ie/convergence/index.htm

botanic spine

spine in closer detail

by Terry Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:33

As part of the master plan to destroy Dublin Bus and so manipulate public opinion into backing privatisation, it is worth noting that Dublin Bus (management) stated recently that they planned to scrap the 48a bus route to Dundrum/Ballinteer and the 77 route to Tallaght.

The reason given was falling numbers due to the Luas. At a recent meeting over the 48a route, where approx 150 people attended, they seem to indicate that they might back track slighly over the 48a and keep the service going for another year or two.

I think it is not coincidental that if both of these routes were cancelled, it would channel more people towards the Luas.

The Luas should have been given to Dublin Bus to run and operate and that way the two systems would have been integrated well together. Instead, Dublin Bus are reluctant to run feeder bus to it and why wouldn't they, since they are a competitor now.

It is worth recalling that CIE was formed years ago precisely because there was a mis-mash of private operators running various buses and trains , none of which worked together. I assume the service must have been really appalling if it managed to generate enough political pressure for that to happen.

The government appears to have switched it's strategy of privatisation from one of doing it publicly to covertly because there is so much opposition to it. The new strategy is like that of the car companies years ago (1950s) in the USA where they bought up the tram companies in all major cities via front companies, then ran them into the ground by carrying out no maintenance and simultaneously ran major advertising campaigns promoting the virtues of cars. Likewise the government has decided to sabotage Dublin Bus through a number of mechanisms as outlined above and in the original post and then foist privatisation as the solution upon us.