The Green Party has pledged to spend three times more on public transport than roads should it be part of the next Government.
Launching its transport manifesto - 75:25 Transport Vision - transport spokesman Ciarán Cuffe said the party would abandon the proposed motorway to Rosslare Port, in favour of spending on more buses, Dart Underground and Metro North.
Mr Cuffe said he did not think spending on the Rosslare motorway, at about €10 million per kilometre, was justified by the amount of traffic at Rosslare. He said other roads which had not progressed beyond the planning stages would also be cut.
“The Greens advocate investment in environmentally sustainable transport modes. This means investing in public transport rather than building new high spec roads”.
Mr Cuffe also said the Greens would amalgamate HSE transport services with the school bus and rural transport services to produce an integrated service with cost savings.
The former minister of state at the Department of Transport said he did not see the point of a bus operating once in the morning to take children to school and once in the afternoon to bring them home. The HSE spends €80 million per year on transport services, with a similar amount being spent by the school services, he said.
Former Green Party minister Eamon Ryan said economic circumstances meant “that we must do more with less”. He said the Greens in power would deliver “a smart, reliable bus service in our towns and cities; extend light rail and bus rapid transit services; work to achieve safer roads and cleaner cars” among other projects.
The party said it would :
- Prioritise Metro North, which Mr Cuffe said was “shovel ready”
- Prioritise the Dart Underground interconnector between Docklands and Heuston
- Advance phase 2 and phasing for phase 3 of the Western Rail Corridor
- Advance planning for the Navan rail project.
