Camera-based enforcement of bus lanes, cycle tracks and junctions will be required to assist gardaí to ensure the benefits of the BusConnects programme are not eroded, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has said.
The Department of Transport has requested that the NTA establish a working group to examine the issue and bring forward recommendations, with a report due to be provided to the department “later this year”.
Planning consent applications for 12 bus corridors, under the BusConnects scheme, have been submitted to An Bord Pleanála by the NTA for its consideration.
‘Camera enforcement’
In submissions to An Bord Pleanála, the Dublin Commuter Coalition said there was no provision for enforcement cameras proposed as part of the project. “Without a plan for camera enforcement, the effects of the improvements proposed in this scheme will not be seen by bus users,” it said.
It added that existing bus lanes, bus priority lights, bus gates and turns are “abused every day” in Dublin due to the “near-zero level of enforcement”.
In response, the NTA said with the State having incurred “the very large expenditure” required to deliver the BusConnects programme, it is “vital to ensure that sufficient enforcement is in place such that the benefits of that investment are not eroded by widespread breaches of the restrictions applying to bus lanes, cycle tracks and junctions”.
“To effectively ensure this outcome, camera-based enforcement will be required to augment the on-street activities of An Garda Síochána,” an NTA spokesman said. “This type of arrangement is in place in many jurisdictions internationally, where camera detection of certain breaches of regulations is linked to the automatic issue of fixed penalty notices.”
The Road Safety Strategy Action Plan 2021-2024 sets out the need to further develop camera-based enforcement by the gardaí, including at junctions and for the management of bus/cycle lanes.
Following the report from the NTA’s working group, the “subsequent steps for implementation, including addressing any legislative issues that may be identified, will be determined by the Department of Transport”.
Cycle tracks
The BusConnects programme, which plans to overhaul the bus system in Dublin, has two main components: creating 230km of dedicated bus lanes in tandem with 200km of cycle tracks and redesigning the bus network.
The aim of the project is to increase the level of bus services in the capital and provide a more coherent service that will eliminate overlapping routes and improve journey times.
Five out of the 11 planned phases of the network redesign have been implemented, while the rollout of the remaining stages is being affected by a shortage of bus drivers, “with some planned phases having to be postponed due to these shortages”, the NTA said.
Last week, health and environmental groups said that at recent public meetings in Dublin and Cork in relation to BusConnects, political support for the scheme had been “lukewarm at best”.
