Littlepace bus service changes
The Deputy objects that BusConnects will replace the direct daytime 70 service with a connection at Blanchardstown. The Minister says replacement routes will provide more frequent services and retain direct peak-time links.
The proposed scrapping of the 70 bus service under BusConnects represents a downgrade in public transport for Littlepace residents. This is a direct commuter service into the city centre, operating with reasonable frequency at peak times and then once per hour during the day. Under BusConnects, peak-time services would remain direct but during the day, they would be replaced with a connection at the Blanchardstown centre. I met the National Transport Authority, NTA, a month ago and it said the community will have access to a more frequent service. However, this is coming at the cost of a direct service. The community should have the final say on this.
It is its service, not the NTA's. The NTA should learn from similar outcries in communities such as Chapelizod and Finglas and meet the residents now. Otherwise, we are heading towards the same pattern of community resistance and frustration at decisions being imposed instead of discussed. I ask the Minister to encourage the NTA to meet residents now while trust and goodwill remains, not after they have been lost.
Comment on this
A core objective of BusConnects is to have a better network, with a more frequent service that reduces journey times and provides better service for people. My understanding is that under BusConnects, the 70 route will be replaced by other bus services, including the L64, which will provide an all-day frequent service to my constituency, in Dunboyne, Clonee and Blanchardstown, and the peak-hour P64 service, which will provide a direct service between those places and Dublin city centre. It is being launched among other services. Where this has applied in other areas, we have seen that it means people having to change buses and not having direct routes. I appreciate the challenges that might create for constituents who do not have a direct route and I will ask the Minister for Transport to engage with the Deputy, with a view to perhaps engaging with the NTA. The service is not due to be introduced until 2027, so obviously there is time to engage further with it.