THE first issue in the debate on Luas, the light rail project, is a fundamental one is an on street tramway the most appropriate form of Light Rail Transit (LRT) for a capital city like Dublin? The second issue relates to the routes selected by the Government are these the most appropriate routes, given the Government's desire to develop an integrated transport system?
In their campaign to win public support for an on street tramway, the proponents of Luas were at pains to highlight the pluses, but strangely silent about the minuses.
What is the underlying purpose of the whole LRT strategy? Is it to provide the most efficient public transport system to those citizens of Dublin with the greatest need?
Given the routes selected one leg being designed to serve one of Dublin's wealthiest suburbs providing transport to those with the greatest need would not appear to be a major consideration of the proposal. The failure to connect to Dublin Airport, a major source of passengers, and to the Sandyford Industrial Estate, merely highlights the indifference of Luas to those with the greatest need.
Given the fact that the proposed route does not connect at any point with the DART, integration also does not appear to be a policy objective.
In this regard, the repeated claims made in the official video on Luas, that tickets between the two services will be interchangeable, can now be described as "odd".
The decision to build an on street tramway through the centre of the city will also add to traffic congestion. Many people have already adverted to the disruption which will be caused by the construction of the tramway, but few have adverted to the disruptions which will be caused when it is rimpleted. This is worth considerable attention.
Because "bunching" of trams will be unavoidable, especially during morning and evening rush hours, not one but two and maybe three trams all travelling in the same direction will appear on the streets, especially in the city centre. To understand what this means, one should consider what will happen in Nassau Street, between Dawson Street and Grafton Street, when the trams, equivalent to the length of two articulated lorries, coupled together, going into the city, meet one or more similar trams, going out of the city on the other side of the road. This is scheduled to happen once every five minutes. Think about it four articulated trucks, moving in opposite directions at about 3 m.p.h. meeting in the narrowest section off Nassau Street, every couple of minutes! And the position where the tramway cuts across the streets from the Liffey to the north of the city is every bit as worrying.
There are alternatives to running trams in the city centre, but these, too, have not been publicly debated. But members of the Dail and Seanad are frequent visitors to Brussels and can easily get to another Belgian city, Antwerp. In both these cities, the difficulties experienced with on street trams led to the same conclusion in the city centre, the trams should travel underground in a so called "premetro". A pre metro can be quickly brought up to full metro status, if that should prove desirable. Indeed, Brussels has substantially built a full metro. This is surely the best solution for Dublin, also.
There are a number of advantages to an underground. Conflicting movements in congested centre city streets are eliminated, journey times shortened and much greater levels of efficiency achieved. There will be far less disruption caused to businesses during the construction phase. Such additional benefits will impose a cost, though this would be marginal compared to the losses tramway construction will cause city centre businesses.
There is a better way. The good citizens of Zurich decided the issue of the future of their public transport system precisely by selecting the decision to a vote. In their case, Zurich's citizens voted to retain an existing tramway system. However, it is my belief that the citizens of Dublin would vote for a city centre underground, initially, serving Tallaght, the city centre and Dublin Airport.
