Transport section of Greens renewed Programme for Government

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Transport section of Greens renewed Programme for Government, from here...

Transport
· Ratio of expenditure in Transport will be 2:1 in favour of public transport (vs roads) in 2011
· We will work with the ESB and international motor companies to see a deployment of some 6,000 electric vehicles over the next three years.
· We will reform the bus licensing system
· Real time passenger information for 500 bus stops in Dublin and Cork by end 2010
· Planning and design to continue on Metro West and the Bray, Lucan and Cross-city Luas lines
· Integrated ticketing to be rolled out for testing early next year
· Rural transport programme to be extended to all counties
· The Eastern Bypass will not go ahead
· Vigorous implementation of the National cycling strategy
· We will develop Bray to Balbriggan cycling and pedestrian route

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From the full document...

6. Building for the Future: Infrastructure
The Government will prioritise capital spending in those areas which contribute to our sustainable development. The provision of public transport will prepare us for a postworld where oil supplies are contracting. We will build flagship modern transport connections linking people to their places of work. Properly planned public transport gives back to commuters that most valuable of commodities - time. We want to reduce journey times and congestion, which bring economic and social costs. We will
develop a first-class infrastructure for the modern age.

Plan for National Recovery: Review of Investment
We will publish a revised public investment programme by December 2009, ensuring that sustainability and climate change are at the heart of our plan for national recovery. The programme will set out our revised priorities for investment.

Transport
Having successfully focused on the delivery of major roads infrastructure in Transport 21 over the past five years, the emphasis in new projects will shift significantly to public transport. Following the completion of payments for the major motorways programme in 2011, the ratio of expenditure on new Transport 21 projects between public transport and the national roads programme will be 2:1 in favour of public transport.

This Government will continue its programme of major reforms in the public
transport area, which started with the DTA Act. This is now being advanced further with the Public Transport Regulation Bill and which will be finalised with the further proposals agreed by the parties to this Review as outlined below.

We will vigorously pursue the delivery of the Government’s “Smarter Travel - A Sustainable Transport Future” and the recently published “Cycle Framework Policy” document.

We will ensure that Public Service Obligation payments to Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, are consistent with the policy in “Smarter Travel – A Sustainable Transport Future”.

· We will ensure that consumer needs and the integrity of the public transport network are at the centre of consideration of applications for all bus route licences in future.

· We will deliver a transparent, faster, more integrated, efficient system for granting bus licences.

· We will work with bus companies to maximise the efficient and effective
utilisation of the existing fleet by ensuring the implementation of the Deloitte Report in full, nationwide, to:
o Eliminate duplication of services
o Create even headways between departures
o Reduce the “bunching” of services
o Provide reliable direct services where people are working, living and
shopping
o Improve passenger information on a real time basis and timetable information in a more understandable format.

By end 2010 we will have Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) at over 500 bus stops in Dublin and Cork in addition to having such information available on SMS and the Internet throughout the country. We will extend this RTPI to bus stops in Limerick, Galway and Waterford in 2011.

As promised in our “Smarter Travel” policy, following the completion of the rapid transport studies in Cork, Galway, Waterford & Limerick cities, we will, starting in 2010 provide a high quality integrated, accessible public transport service to within 800 metres of every home.

Rail
This Government is committed to the provision of a safe and efficient network of rail Services. Construction is nearing completion or well underway on Phase 1 of the Western Rail Corridor, the Kildare Line upgrade, Navan (Phase 1) and the Dublin city centre re-signalling project. Work will continue on the subsequent phases of the Western Rail Corridor and Navan projects for earliest possible delivery.

LUAS
Construction is nearing completion or well underway on the Cherrywood, Citywest and Docklands extensions. Planning and design will continue on Metro West and the Bray, Lucan and Cross-city LUAS lines with a view to earliest possible delivery.

Bus Rapid Transit
Following significant growth and innovation in continental cities, we expect that bus rapid transport will play an increasing role in transport provision. We will fast track and prioritise the Dart interconnector (and its associated electrification and rolling stock projects) and Metro North so that they are completed by 2016. We will introduce an allowance per tonne for rail freight by rail in line with climate change objectives.

Roads
· We will complete the Major Urban Routes (MIU) in 2010.
· We will review the completion dates and appropriate road standard of the
remaining 94 road projects at the design stage or earlier stage of development in light of the economic circumstances, falling road usage and our climate change objectives. We will ensure new design standards for national secondary routes to take account of current economic and environmental circumstances.
· This Government will not advance the Eastern Bypass
· We will continue to invest in enhancement and maintenance of the regional and local road network to protect the existing investment and service new housing, industrial and commercial development and to open up areas for tourism development by improving road access.
· We will introduce preferential parking/charging spaces for electric cars.
· We will investigate the potential for the introduction of a viable road pricing strategy, including overcoming technical and timing difficulties. Revenues should be ring-fenced for the provision of public transport and sustainable transport modes.
· We will complete our investment programme to ensure that non-national roads are properly signposted.
· We will allocate a significant portion of the budget on road improvement projects to the provision of new footpaths to allow pedestrians to walk in greater safety and comfort.

Road Safety
During the term of this Government Ireland has become one of the leading road safety countries in Europe. We will build on the strategies already in place by supporting the work of the Road Safety Authority. We will implement in full the Government’s Road Safety Strategy thus saving over
400 lives during the term of this Government.

Public Transport Reform
We will ensure that the National Transport Authority can fulfil its role as a strategic planning, procurement and regulatory Public Transport Body which will establish the service levels required and procure those services in an open and competitive manner from service providers, both public and private. The role of the directly-elected mayor of Dublin at the National Transport Authority will be central to building strategic support for transport in Dublin.

Integrated Ticketing
This Government will implement an Integrated Ticketing System to cover all modes of transport. We will develop proposals for a zonal fares structure.
A single Smart Card will be rolled out for testing early in 2010. By the end of 2010 an electronic purse “Pay-As-You-Go” will be available to all Dublin Bus and LUAS passengers in the Greater Dublin Area and the Smart Card will extend to all ticketing products by 2011. Iarnród Éireann will join the Dublin Bus-LUAS system by 2011. By the end of 2011 Bus Éireann, LUAS, Bus Átha Cliath, Iarnród Éireann and some private bus operators will be in the system.

Rural Transport
· The Rural Transport Programme has been extended to every county in Ireland. We will explore the provision of a full-scale transport system in rural areas using the network expertise of Bus Éireann, the physical infrastructure and personal resources of the school transport system and the financial resources currently being spent on transport by the HSE and the Department of Education and Science.

Aviation
· We will ensure maximum aviation connectivity and maximum competition
amongst airline operators in the interests of consumers.

Cycling
· We will reverse the CIE policy of excluding and limiting bicycle carrying capacity on interurban trains and buses and ensure all new train units have a more extensive bicycle carrying capacity.
· We will develop a Bray to Balbriggan cycle and pedestrian route, and other similar routes such as Oranmore to Barna, as major tourism and commuter facilities.

biomed32

its just a question now wether it is an empty promise on all that

crocro

from the northern ireland section...

· Conduct a feasibility study on how a future high-speed rail system could link Dublin and Belfast to the emerging UK and European high speed rail network.
· Complete the new inter-urban route between Dublin and Belfast and commence
construction on the new inter-urban route between Dublin and Derry/Donegal.
· Progress the restoration of the Ulster Canal.

from the justice section

· We will extend the network of safety cameras at national black spots and dangerous stretches of road to ensure maximum effectiveness in reducing deaths and accidents on our roads.

from the Natural Heritage section

· We will introduce a registration system for off-road motor vehicles.

from the tourism section

· We will promote the development of cycling as a growth area for tourism.
· We will introduce an All-Ireland Walkways Development Plan, mapping out
infrastructural needs and routes and maximising their use. We will pursue the
possibility of using former railway infrastructure as recreational trails for cycling etc. in partnership with Iarnród Éireann.

G_R

Why no mention of MN or Interconnector, I would of thought that they would be more worthy of a mention that MW or the LUAS lines that were mentioned

croco wrote:

Conduct a feasibility study on how a future high-speed rail system could link Dublin and Belfast to the emerging UK and European high speed rail network.

Does this mean linking to the rest of Europe via a tunnel or bridge or just connecting Dublin and Belfast. While getting a train the rest of Europe would be great, the amount of money required to do so would be astronomical, and defo wouldnt pay for itself.

crocro

dannym08 wrote: »

Why no mention of MN or Interconnector, I would of thought that they would be more worthy of a mention that MW or the LUAS lines that were mentioned.

MN & IC are in the original program for government and in progress through the planning system. It is strange that they are not even mentioned

Does this mean linking to the rest of Europe via a tunnel or bridge or just connecting Dublin and Belfast. While getting a train the rest of Europe would be great, the amount of money required to do so would be astronomical, and defo wouldnt pay for itself.

it's unlikely there will be a hsr network in the uk before 2030. the cost of a bridge or tunnel would be prohibitive. demand too low to justify. So probably a waste of time even looking into it

Capt'n Midnight

dannym08 wrote: »

Does this mean linking to the rest of Europe via a tunnel or bridge or just connecting Dublin and Belfast. While getting a train the rest of Europe would be great, the amount of money required to do so would be astronomical, and defo wouldnt pay for itself.

A tunnel to Wales could never pay for itself. Unless the toll on it was less than the ferries or airlines could charge it would not be utilised enough.

Might be better off investing that amount of money in a link from Japan to Russia and upgrade the Trans Siberean railway. Or do the Gibraltar bridge. Or a link accross the Red sea and one at Hormuz , (don't forget a lot of people go on the Haj ) Or link Corsica to Sardinia, or the Greek Islands or Aaland / other Baltic projects. Or rebuild the bridge to Sri Lanka

A tunnel from NI to Scotland would be much cheaper but even with a TGV you would be hard pushed to beat the fast ferries. Really only a runner if you unite Scotland and Ireland as a single country

aliveandkicking

dannym08 wrote: »

Why no mention of MN or Interconnector, I would of thought that they would be more worthy of a mention that MW or the LUAS lines that were mentioned

They are mentioned but bizarrely they are in the Bus Rapid Transit section. (see the second post in this thread)

We will fast track and prioritise the Dart interconnector (and its associated electrification and rolling stock projects) and Metro North so that they are completed by 2016.

G_R

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

A tunnel to Wales could never pay for itself. Unless the toll on it was less than the ferries or airlines could charge it would not be utilised enough.

my thoughts exactly. It would be pointless even wasting money looking into it IMO

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aliveandkicking wrote: »

They are mentioned but bizarrely they are in the Bus Rapid Transit section. (see the second post in this thread)

Looks like it was an editing error... all text in italics is rail, but under the Bus Rapid Transit heading...

Bus Rapid Transit
Following significant growth and innovation in continental cities, we expect that bus rapid transport will play an increasing role in transport provision. We will fast track and prioritise the Dart interconnector (and its associated electrification and rolling stock projects) and Metro North so that they are completed by 2016.

We will introduce an allowance per tonne for rail freight by rail in line with climate change objectives.

dowlingm

"Work will continue on the subsequent phases of the Western Rail Corridor"

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

(I'm madder than this but apparently there's a limit of 15/post)

Zoney

biomed32 wrote: »

its just a question now wether it is an empty promise on all that

Or as regards the roads section - a question of whether it is an empty threat!

DWCommuter

This programme is not about delivering, its about staying in power. FF and the Greens are mere prostitutes now. The opposition are just voyeurs.

All the this way, that way, jockeying for position, further condemns the development of transport infrastructure to the region of misshapen, illiogical and directionless.

Im now convinced that there is absolutely no hope for transport infrastructure under the control of Irish politics.

Chris_533976

Yeah none of this is about delivering whats best, its about staying in power. Absolutely everything, even the most stupid things, have been promised, to win votes.

westtip

Transport
· Ratio of expenditure in Transport will be 2:1 in favour of public transport (vs roads) in 2011

Don't buses run on roads? Improve the main roads ergo improve the bus services, ergo more people use the buses....especially if you have bus lanes on the approaches and run into cities and towns.....

Buses are part of the public transport mix aren't they - maybe the greens have a blind spot when it comes to buses....

Plus improve the roads and = less traffic jams (claregalway par example) and you have less fuel being wasted and improved usage of carbon fuels, by both private cars and commerical traffic, - if you want to have less cars going into cities - then thats a different story - congestion charging, good park and ride bus schemes, more bus lanes into cities and towns, reliable bus services 18 hours a day (at least) in cities and towns; tax car parking spaces within a city boundary (whoops thats anti jobs and business so you can't do that)

You see oh Greenies good roads can do a lot to improve the carbon output, but the greens see good new roads in a different light than the rest of us - to the Greens they are the enemy.

serfboard

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Yeah none of this is about delivering whats best, its about staying in power. Absolutely everything, even the most stupid things, have been promised, to win votes.

... and specifically the votes of Green party members on Saturday. Dermot Ahern was on the radio this morning saying the programme for government was a "statement of principles". Which pretty much confirms what you're saying.