Bus Services

123. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Transport to retain a bus service in Dublin West (details supplied). [67775/26]

I want to make a simple, evidence-based case for retaining an all-day direct bus service from Littlepace to Dublin city centre. Under BusConnects, the 70 bus service, which is one of the most popular routes in Dublin West, will be split in two, with a direct service at peak times only and a local service during the day to the Blanchardstown Centre. Having surveyed 1,300 homes in three weeks, I got 978 responses, 98% of which wanted the daytime direct service retained. Will the NTA look again at this proposal?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter, for her work on the survey she mentioned and for engaging with such large numbers of people. As she said, this is an important service. The changes proposed for the 70 bus route are part of the wider BusConnects Dublin network redesign. One of the core principles of that work is to provide a more frequent, reliable and better-connected public transport network across the greater Dublin area. The redesign seeks to provide improved service levels and reduced waiting times for all passengers throughout the day. Under the proposed network, the existing 70 service will be replaced, as the Deputy has said, by two new routes, namely, L64 and P64. The peak-time P64 service will continue to provide direct links between Dunboyne and Dublin city centre. I am told that the L64 will operate between Dunboyne and the Blanchardstown Centre and is currently projected to run every 15 minutes. Both routes will also connect with Dunboyne rail station, providing access to rail services into the city. For journeys to the city centre outside peak periods, passengers can travel to the Blanchardstown Centre using the L64 route and transfer to one of four B spine services, which are expected to operate every four minutes. The NTA will provide more detailed timetables closer to implementation, taking into account demand levels, operational requirements and available funding. Based on current assessments, approximately five to six direct peak-time services to and from the city centre are envisaged. These changes will also be supported by the 90-minute Leap fare, ensuring that passengers making multi-modal journeys do not incur any additional costs. Furthermore, the planned development of the Blanchardstown to city centre core bus corridor will also reduce journey times and improve interchange facilities. The benefits of these new services include the introduction of significantly better all-day frequency, not just during peak commuting hours, and better network connectivity options within the 90-minute Leap fare. I will speak with the Deputy and bring her information from the survey back to the NTA.

I thank the Minister of State for that reply. The people of Littlepace know the plans inside out. Some things can look good on paper but are counter-intuitive. Nothing annoys people more than when the NTA, supported by the Government, focuses on fixing something that does not need to be fixed and decides to remove something that is working for them and gets them to work, college or appointments on time during the day. The Minister of State will recall that I previously highlighted the problems we were having in Dublin West, where popular commuter bus services required more capacity but did not receive adequate investment. He knows that I did a lot of work on the figures behind that to make the argument evidence-based. The 70 was one of those routes. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, ensured that more investment came to that service. The people who responded to my survey were overwhelmingly regular users. They said that the service is now reliable. Some 93.5% of them said that the service is now reliable. This change seems illogical. We are giving residents something they did not ask for. They just want the 70 to work well.

I thank the Deputy and appreciate where she is coming from. I hear the frustration. I appreciate the views of neighbours. As a public representative like the Deputy, I fully understand that sometimes what is proposed does not align with reality. It is important that I, having taken the question this morning, articulate and communicate the Deputy's views and those of residents back to the NTA. I am not obfuscating responsibility but, as the Deputy knows, the NTA is charged with the project. As a Minister and Ministers of State, we do not have any direct, day-to-day engagement. I will sit down with the Deputy to look at the situation and will ask the NTA to do so. If it is not broken, why fix it? We need to ensure that our overarching policy is about an enhanced bus experience. It is about ensuring that bus corridors are brought in, we have a continuous bus lane and improve active travel facilities. The points made by the Deputy are hard to go against. The travelling public who use the service in a place understand. They use it every day. I will certainly reflect with the Deputy and take her views back to the NTA.

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate it. He will know, having been a public representative for decades, that when you do a survey and get that kind of response, you have to listen to it. Out of 978 people surveyed over a three-week period, only 12 said they would have no issue with having to change buses at the Blanchardstown Centre. Some 99.1% of them described the direct service as either "extremely important" or "very important" to them. Worryingly, 60% of people said that if this change makes their journey longer or less reliable, they are more likely to drive instead. The biggest issue that they identified was increased journey time. Some 80% of people said that was the issue. I appreciate that the Minister of State will bring this issue to the NTA. I ask the NTA to meet the community. I have sent it this survey. The results speak for themselves. It is important that the NTA shows it is willing to engage with communities about issues that impact them. Nearly 1,000 people in a three-week period responded to my survey when I only dropped it to 1,300 homes.

All of us, no matter where we are from, want Bus Connects to succeed. At its core, it is about bringing new service and providing better all-day frequency and more reliability. Every day, we get complaints about the quality of a bus service, whether in Cork city or Dublin. We are not immune. As a Minister and Ministers of State, we are determined to ensure that we can deliver that. It disappoints me, as a Minister of State and a public representative, that the NTA would not meet residents. Ultimately, the NTA is the solution-maker for any issue. It will be putting the network in place. It has a duty to meet residents, community groups and whoever else in Littlepace, in this case, to sort out the matter, work, listen and have that engagement. Public engagement allows them to be informed. It allows us all to have a better outcome in the end, we hope. I commit to sitting down with the Deputy and articulating with her on behalf of the people she represents. All of us must work together to have a better bus system that will benefit the travelling public who want to use the service. If I were using a bus, which I do occasionally, and the journey became longer, I would ask whether I wanted to use it. The connectivity piece is important. The success of Local Link has been that A to B connectivity for people.