Playing fast and Luas with our transport system again

NOBODY disputes that people living in rural Ireland have legitimate gripes when it comes to broadband coverage, inadequate infrastructure and Garda stations being shut down. But it is worth mentioning that it isn’t exactly a barrel of laughs for Dublin residents, either.

Unsurprisingly, the housing crisis is now particularly bad in the capital. But it is also galling to see how the traffic situation has

been in such a chaotic state for years now. Anyone used to driving towards, around or out of the city will be only too familiar with sitting in a stationary vehicle for lengthy periods.

It didn’t require a rocket scientist to work out that the simplest way of alleviating the rush-hour gridlock was to encourage more commuters to use public transport. The problem was, however, that the bus, rail and tram networks simply weren’t up to the task.

At long last, the recent introduction of the Luas Cross City service should have improved the situation. No such luck, though. Last Wednesday, the first of seven new bigger trams made its debut. But signalling sequences and the fact the tram is longer than the span of O’Connell Bridge meant its last carriage ended up blocking early-morning traffic on the quays.

Granted, we all accept there will be teething problems associated with projects such as this. But a newspaper report over the weekend revealed the duration of mid-morning bus journeys heading to the south of the city has increased by up to 110% since the new Luas service was brought in.

So there we have it – yet another plan that has all the hallmarks of something sketched out on a beer mat at closing time. People in Dublin are every bit as used to it as the rest of the country.