Agency now offering free Luas parking to disabled drivers

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) has backed down on its decision to charge disabled drivers for parking at park-and-ride sites.

In a separate development the RPA said it was now definite that the red line to Tallaght would not start this month as planned. A spokesman said the most likely date for commencement of Tallaght services would be the end of September.

In a statement yesterday the RPA said its about-turn on the disabled driver charges came about because it and tram operator Connex had been gauging customer reaction to its service.

The statement continued: "Luas offers maximum accessibility for disabled people due to the absence of steps and barriers. By offering free parking for customers who have disabled stickers, Luas is ensuring that a possible deterrent to getting out and about has been removed."

The RPA said trams on Dublin's green line were now operating at five-minute frequency. It also said the absence of serious accidents defied international experience when new tram systems were introduced.

In an appraisal of the service since start-up just over a month ago the agency said the processing speed of ticket machines had also been improved, to alleviate queues which resulted in some passengers missing their tram.

More than one million passengers have now used the service since its introduction on June 30th - 700,000 of them paying for the privilege, and 440,000 during the initial free period.

Mr Ger Hannon of the RPA said fine tuning of the traffic signals on the red line was under way as were detailed discussions with the contractor about seating at stops and testing of tram frequency.