€1 bus fare part of Labour's transport policy

Labour in Government would reduce Dublin bus fares to just €1 for adults and 50 cent for children, while increasing the size of the Dublin Bus fleet by an extra 500 buses, the party said yesterday.

Announcing a policy document on proposals to speed up traffic flow in the capital, party spokeswoman on transport Róisín Shortall said average peak-time bus speeds had dropped to 12.8km/h (8mph), while at "pinch points" speed can drop to as low as 4.8km/h (3mph).

Ms Shortall, who was accompanied by the party's enterprise spokesman Ruairí Quinn, and Meath councillor Dominic Hannigan, said almost 200,000 vehicles crossed the M50 heading for the city every morning, a feature which was not sustainable.

A government of which Labour was a partner would establish a network of six park-and-ride sites, she said.

Commenting on the proposals, Mr Quinn said they were not the totality of Labour policy on transport, but were a workable improvement which could be implemented immediately.

The policy document, entitled Getting Dublin Moving, made the following recommendations:

• The completion of the current 13 bus corridors between the city and the suburbs which they were intended to serve;

• The fast-tracking of park-and-ride facilities on the outskirts of the city with an express bus service;

• An ending of the current tax relief-based travel pass and its replacement by a directly subsidised "freedom card" which would be integrated with Luas, Bus Éireann and train services;

• The introduction of a €1 per trip fare for adults with a 50 cent fare for children.

Ms Shortall said the introduction of the "freedom card" would remove an anomaly that saw many Bus Éireann passengers pay much higher rates for travel of a similar distance to that of passengers on Dublin Bus.

She instanced Bus Éireann passengers in Ashbourne, Co Meath, who pay more than Dublin Bus passengers in Celbridge in Co Kildare for comparable bus journeys into Dublin.

She said the 13 quality bus corridors had been completed to various degrees, of between 29 per cent on the Howth Road and 87 per cent on the Stillorgan dual carriageway. Labour would ensure that these were fully completed and would ensure that others were developed quickly.

She told reporters that the party would also prioritise the introduction of integrated ticketing. She also maintained that Dublin Bus fleet numbers had increased by just 20 since 2001, when they stood at 1,062.

The party would ensure the provision of the additional 500 buses "immediately", she said, and would also ensure the Dublin Bus network remained intact.