Does anyone know what's in the programme for Government on public transport?

AngryLips

I've seen talk about walking and cycling infrastructure, but that's sustainable transport but not public transport

Peregrine

There will be no extra money and no new public transport projects. As we were before.

AngryLips

Such a disappointment from a Green government

magicbastarder

Transport Infrastructure
In relation to new transport infrastructure, the Government is committed to a 2:1 ratio of expenditure between new public transport infrastructure and new roads over its lifetime. This ratio will be maintained in each Budget by the Government. In the event of an underspend on roads, this will not impact on public transport spending.
Essential road and public transport maintenance and upkeep budgets will be fully protected to ensure continued public safety and connectivity.
We will continue the investment programme in public transport to improve our bus, light rail, commuter, and inter-city rail network across our country.
We will develop and implement the existing strategies for our cities, such as the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy, the Galway Transport Strategy, the draft Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, as well as strategies being developed for Waterford and Limerick, and other projects progressing through planning.
Specifically, the Government will prioritise plans for the delivery of Metrolink, Luas and other light rail expansion, DART expansion and interconnector and Bus Connects in Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick.
We are committed to maintaining the existing road network to a high standard and funding safety improvements.
We will continue to invest in new roads infrastructure to ensure that all parts of Ireland are connected to each other.

Public Transport
We will:
· Review fare structures to ensure that public transport is as accessible as possible, supports the delivery of services, and incentivises off-peak travel.
· Task the NTA to produce a park and ride implementation plan for each of the five cities to help reduce congestion and journey times. These will integrate car parking facilities with public transport and cycling networks and will include the provision of secure lockers for bicycles.
· Develop and implement a Sustainable Rural Mobility Plan. This will introduce a public transport service standard under which all settlements over a certain size in terms of population, combined with employment or education places, will have a service connecting them to the national public transport system. Local Link will play a key role in this development. This service standard will be informed by the Connected Ireland research being carried out by the NTA.
· Recognise the importance of Local Link and in particular its potential for public transport linkages between rural areas. We will review the operations and funding of Local Link within nine months and we
will expand the service to attract three times as many passenger journeys.
· Prioritise public transport projects that enhance regional and rural connectivity, in line with the National Planning Framework, for additional funding in the lifetime of a reviewed and extended National
Development Plan.
· Establish a Working Group to utilise the modelling capacity of the NTA and commuter and travel data held by the CIE Group of Companies, the Central Statistics Office, NTA and other stakeholders to identify existing and potential demand for public transport and work to match demand with available services and new services, where appropriate.
· Ensure a national integrated public transport system with an integrated timetable, one tag-on ticketing system and coordination between bus and rail timetables of all operators.
· Establish a National Public Transport Forum involving all stakeholders and commence Section 17 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act to establish the Dublin Transport Advisory Council.
· Explore potential synergies between different forms of transport and transport-related services funded by the State via different departments and agencies.
· Accelerate sustainable transport plans for schools. We will complete the review of the School Transport Scheme to seek better outcomes and reduce car journeys. The School Transport Scheme should work in liaison with the Safe Routes to Schools Programme.

Rail
We will protect existing services by continuing to ensure that the level of payment required to operate the Public Service Obligation fleet is adequate to maintain and improve service capacity and frequency.
We will:
· In line with the commitment in the National Planning Framework to balanced regional development, prioritise rail projects in Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford on existing and unused lines.
· Continue to fund safety works and capital improvements to the rail network, expand the Irish Rail fleet and progress the electrification of rail services to decrease journey times and emissions.
· Commission an economic evaluation of higher-speed rail links between our main cities.
· Improve cycling and storage facilities at stations and on trains, where possible.
· Enhance suburban and commuter rail across the country.
· Consider the report on the future of the Western Rail Corridor and take appropriate action.
· Ringfence funding to ensure swift train platform lift repair and upgrades, and to ensure accessibility.

Buses
We will:
· Protect and expand regional connectivity and connectivity between towns and villages in rural Ireland.
· Address pinch points for buses and expand priority signalling for buses and Real Time Passenger Information.
· Give greater priority to bus services by expanding Quality Bus Corridors, and consider the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit Services.

Peregrine

AngryLips wrote: »

Such a disappointment from a Green government

It's mostly a FF/FG government. Greens even spent hours trying to get a few million more for rural buses. FG said no. Even most of the new spending on walking and cycling will be borrowed.

It's not the worst thing for public transport if DART Expansion, MetroLink and BusConnects gets finished and Luas expansions get designed for the next government. Legislative changes like remit of the NTA and bus lane cameras would be pushed through (although, the second probably would have happened anyway) with a minister that actually cares about transport. I would prefer more capital spending but this government looks very conservative on spending.

magicbastarder

saying 'we will spend X on cycling' is one thing.
promising a specific and new project is quite another; i dunno if it'd be pre-empting the planning process, but i would guess they would be wary about announcing something will proceed if it hasn't already cleared a lot of hurdles. and if it hasn't yet cleared those hurdles, it probably wouldn't happen in the life of the government anyway.

AngryLips

It's a disappointing showing for PT in the PfG. Most of the stuff mentioned is aspirational. The low hanging fruit like railway to Navan, more stations for suburban services around the major cities, or additional dual tracking and more passing loops are not mentioned.


Is this going to be another five years where nothing substantial is delivered for public transport? That's what it sounds like.

magicbastarder wrote: »

· In line with the commitment in the National Planning Framework to balanced regional development, prioritise rail projects in Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford on existing and unused lines.

Curious to see what this looks like in terms of reality...