Madam, – The news that Dublin City Council is opposing a plan to use overhead cables on the proposed new Luas line from St Stephen’s Green to Parnell Square poses a crucial question about the role of the city centre. Is it a heritage site consisting of many of our most important pieces of architecture that are to be preserved and protected at all costs? Or is it a central transport hub where bus, light rail, and train routes converge, serving Dublin’s businesses and retailers, and the city’s social and cultural life, for the benefit of local people and tourists alike, just as occurs in many modern European cities? The answer is, of course, that the city centre serves both purposes.
There is therefore an onus on city planners, the city council, and our public representatives to accommodate both public transport requirements and the city’s heritage in the development of new projects such as the city centre Luas, but also to recognise financial, technical and operational realities.
While the recent refurbishment of O’Connell Street has undoubtedly improved the appearance of the main thoroughfare, this has come at the expense of many bus passengers using city centre routes who must now cope with distances of 500-700 metres between stops, a lack of bus shelters, bus stops transferred to surprising locations (even the windy ambience of O’Connell Bridge), and, in some instances, worse interchange between services.
Regrettably, it seems that any attempt at innovation in public transport in our city centre inevitably faces an immediate challenge – for example, opposition from business groups to the College Green bus corridor, the current objections to the RPA’s Luas proposals, and ongoing debate about tunnelling.
There is an obvious need to push ahead with infrastructure improvement for public transport in Dublin city centre rather than engage in yet more discussion.
But insofar as every increment of proposed development seems fated to be contested and argued inch by inch, there is a clear need for a definitive integrated Dublin transport plan, to be delivered by the National Transport Authority, with competing views on all aspects being adjudicated on, fairly and speedily but above all conclusively, rather than on an ad hoc, project-by-project basis. – Yours, etc,