Those who support the Government's decision on Dublin's Luas system hail it as a triumph of vision. Its critics see it as an abdication of responsibility and a refusal to take on powerful commercial interests. But supporters and opponents are agreed on one thing. The time scale for any substantial relief of the capital's traffic crisis has been lengthened. The next three to five years will be hell on the streets of Dublin.
An additional 300,000 motor vehicles will be registered in the Dublin area between now and 2003, adding to the congestion. And while disruption will be diminished by the decision to run Luas's city-centre section underground, many areas within the canals and in the suburbs will suffer badly when work on the new system gets under way.
Things are set to get much worse before they begin to get better. The capital faces clogged streets, gridlocked traffic systems, rising rates of respiratory and other illnesses and spiralling economic losses. The original Luas concept, on its own would not have solved all of these problems, it is true. But those in authority, having opted for a solution which will take longer to apply, have surely an obligation now to apply whatever interim remedies may be workable.
The administrative responsibility here lies with the Dublin Transportation Office. But the political responsibility rests with the Government. The DTO has no financial autonomy worth speaking of while the responsibility and authority for elements of Dublin's transport system continue to be spread across a variety of agencies and departments. The DTO is expected to present a plan to Government by the end of this month setting out a series of proposals to effect short-term relief. But on past performance it is difficult to believe that it will be met with anything more than lip-service.
No solution will be found to Dublin's crisis without massive development such as the port tunnel and the completion of the c-ring motorway. But with or without such developments, future traffic management must depend on two operating principles. There must be a significant shift from private to public transport and there must be unremitting enforcement of traffic regulations.
If there was never a plan for Luas - whether above ground or below - much could be done on both these fronts with the right political will. Enforcement levels are pathetic, notwithstanding assurances from the Garda that this campaign and that campaign are in operation. Double and treble parking, abuse of buslanes, ignoring yellow-box regulations and so on are rampant. Tow-away units deal with only a minute fraction of offenders and do not operate at all in suburban areas. If the DTO's best card over the next few years is an expanded Operation Freeflow, we are in even bigger trouble than we thought.
Proper enforcement could work wonders. So could the deregulation of the city's taxis fleet; so could the provision of adequate late-night buses and DART services; so could the introduction of taxation incentives, such as those described this morning by the Environment Correspondent of this newspaper, aimed at reducing private car use and offering incentives to users of public transport. The introduction of premium taxation rates for private motors which want to use certain roads at certain times could transform the situation.
Not a shovelful of earth would have to be moved to achieve any of these measures. Not a yard of tunnel would have to be dug. All that is required is the issuing of the relevant instructions to the civil servants. The bitter truth is that the political will and the political courage to do it are not there.