The National Transport Authority (NTA) spent only €97 on enhancing existing bus services in the Dublin West constituency in 2022 followed by nothing the following year, it has emerged.
Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney was prompted to ask if the €97 was used “to replace a wing mirror on a bus”.
The figure was highlighted in a parliamentary reply to Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Emer Currie. The NTA also revealed it has developed a “business intelligence” tool using Leap card ticketing data to identify late and “ghost buses” for priority intervention.
Commuters have complained about “late buses, disappearing buses, full buses” and “ghost buses”. The latter complaint refers to buses that are listed on screens at bus stops but then disappear as they are expected to arrive.
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Ms Currie said that between 2020 and 2024, “€17 million was spent on launching new orbital bus routes in Dublin West while just €1.6 million was allocated to improving over a dozen existing commuter bus services”.
The constituency encompasses the Phoenix Park area, Castleknock, Ongar, Blanchardstown, Mulhuddart, and Clonsilla, among other places.
In 2020, €1.25 million was invested in existing bus services in her constituency. “This dropped to €1,865 in 2021, a measly €97 in 2022 and nothing, that’s zero, in 2023. This is despite growing demand, an increase in population and new residential development.”
When the €97 spend on existing bus routes was raised in the Dáil, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien told her: “I have no idea what that was. As the Minister of State Canney said, it might have been to replace a wing mirror on a bus. Without being facetious about it, further investment is unquestionably needed.”
Ms Currie described the €97 spend as “shocking” and said she was “frustrated that they allowed the funding to go so low”.
Investment in existing bus services across all of Dublin dropped from €7.845 million in 2020 to just €5,887 in 2021. It rose to €38,581 the following year, to €2.4 million in 2023 and €4.58 million last year.
The Dublin West TD acknowledged a promised €500,000 this year to address punctuality and reliability issues on the 37, 38 and 70 routes.
“But it’s not enough to meet demand in established communities and the growth of new estates,” she added. Ms Currie outlined that 4,000 new homes were built in parts of Mulhuddart and Hansfield, but “very limited bus enhancements” were implemented.
The difficulty was “not just because of the technology and congestion on our roads”, she said. “It is a deliberate policy to invest in new orbital routes over existing services. That’s not fair on commuters.”
While welcoming the new “business intelligence” tool being used to identify where capacity issues are experienced, she said “they should have been working on capacity issues two years ago”.
The NTA will use the new tool to identify a priority list of routes requiring intervention. However, it said the “introduction of these changes will be subject to the availability of resources, including funding, drivers and buses as well as operational readiness”.
Ms Currie said the upcoming budget needs to provide adequate funding to the NTA to support new and existing services, the continuation of cheaper fares and the expansion of free public transport for children under nine years old.
The NTA has been contacted for comment.
