[article]Dublin Transit Authority

[Mark Hennessy]

From Todays Sunday Times

Dublin set for radical public transport plan
Richard Oakley
STATE transport agencies will be stripped of their powers and CIE will lose control of Dublin Bus under radical new plans to transform the capital’s infrastructure.

Under proposals to be brought to the cabinet within three weeks by Martin Cullen, the transport minister, a new Dublin Transport Authority (DTA) is to be given control over the procurement and operation of all public transport in the greater Dublin area.

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The DTA will incorporate the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), the body with responsibility for Luas and other light rail projects, and lead to the closure of the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO), the planning agency launched in 1995.

In what is likely to be a controversial move, the new agency will take control of services from Dublin Bus, the CIE subsidiary. This will see the company’s state aid of about €65m being channelled through the DTA. Under the changes, Dublin Bus will have to sell its services to the authority. Iarnrod Eireann, another CIE subsidiary, will also lose some of its responsibilities to the DTA.

The move will concentrate all decision making in one body instead of the current multitude of agencies, streamlining the roll-out of new infrastructure and the operation of existing services. The DTA will also take responsibility for Dublin’s traffic management, which is currently carried out by separate local authorities.

The DTA will have the power to set fares and be responsible for the delivery of all public transport infrastructure from the date of its establishment. This will include projects already in the planning stage, such as Dublin’s two metro lines and the provision of an underground rail interconnector between Heuston station and Spencer Dock.

These schemes are managed by the RPA and Iarnrod Eireann, but this will cease to be the case when the DTA comes into being.

The long-delayed plan to introduce integrated ticketing in Dublin will also become a priority for the new agency. This €30m project was being overseen by the RPA but, as The Sunday Times revealed recently, became bogged down in a feud with Dublin Bus.

Last month, Cullen indicated in the Dail that he had become increasingly frustrated with the delay and had “other options” to ensure its delivery.

The DTA’s powers will be enshrined in new legislation that the minister will attempt to have implemented within the lifetime of the current government.

Plans for the authority have been drawn up by a panel of experts appointed by Cullen after he announced the government’s €34 billion Transport 21 initiative last November. The team, led by Professor Margaret O’Mahony, has to find an internationally recognised chief executive to run the body.

Cullen’s plans are likely to be supported by opposition parties, many of which have repeatedly called for public transport in the capital to be overseen by one body amid concerns that infighting among separate agencies has delayed key improvements and reduced co-ordination of services.

Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael’s transport spokeswoman, welcomed the move.

“We have needed a transport authority for some time. It’s very important that we have one body with the powers to make all the decisions rather than the current situation where there are numerous agencies vying with each other for power and doing their own thing. At the moment everyone is paddling their own canoe and this is not in the public interest,” she said.

She said the “fiasco” over integrated ticketing showed that agencies were not able to work together and there had been other instances where public transport agencies had hindered each other from providing services.

“The agencies are in competition with each other and this prevents co-ordination. You have a case where the RPA wants to run the Luas somewhere and Dublin Bus complains it will interfere with its services and so on,” she said.

She warned that a transport authority should not be seen as an opportunity for government to distance itself from overall responsibility for the capital’s transport. “The minister will still be responsible for overseeing the authority,” she said.

[Mark]

Just finished reading it there. Interesting enough that no mention that there used to be a DTA years ago but it was disbanded. Great to see talk of timescale. Dr. Lynch, where are you now...

[Mark Gleeson]

I fear this is going to go pear shaped so quickly by biting off way to much

Notice the absence of "bus routes" and "timetables" from the piece

Taking control of the delivery of project is not a good idea, only the RPA and CIE can apply for an works order so more legal hangups. Planning and route selection should be DTA but its a bit late for that

Given the RPA didn't make any headway with Dublin Bus I can't see how the DTA is going to have much better luck unless the DoT provide financial assistance to cushion the impact of fares reform and I don't think anyone can believe the DTA will have a total unrestricted authority this has been a political football long enough

As always we continue to wait to see some real action

[alek smart]

Spot on Mark.
The real key here is yet more guff about "Hoping to bring proposals to cabinet in xxxx weeks,months,years etc....
The most pressing requirement and the one which could transform Dublins Bus Services overnight would be,as you say,The Dept of Transport recognizing that it has to carry the Financial Burden of abolishing the outmoded and archaic Fare Stage system as operated by Bus Atha Cliath.

Given that Luas was facilitated in commencing operations with yet another seperate and distinct Fare structure I remain dubious of any damn Higher Level Civil Servant understanding how fast,frequent and ridiculously affordable Buses will pack em in...especially if Pay and Display Car Park spaces are much reduced and the space given over to Public Transport instead.

Instead of continually attempting to reinvent the wheel,I just wish some Minister For Transport would actually USE the Bus Service for a while....

[Colm Donoghue]

Originally Posted by alek smart

Given that Luas was facilitated in commencing operations with yet another seperate and distinct Fare structure I remain dubious of any damn Higher Level Civil Servant understanding how fast,frequent and ridiculously affordable Buses will pack em in...especially if Pay and Display Car Park spaces are much reduced and the space given over to Public Transport instead.

Instead of continually attempting to reinvent the wheel,I just wish some Minister For Transport would actually USE the Bus Service for a while....

But the civil service ( as part of their increased productivity I suppose) facilitated luas with TWO seperate and distinct fare structures...

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Irish Times

Transport body begins work soon
Tim O'Brien

The new Dublin Transport Authority, which is to have control of traffic and public transport in the Greater Dublin Area, is to begin operating as a "shadow authority" by the autumn, according to Minister for Transport Martin Cullen.

Under proposals to be brought to Cabinet within weeks, the new organisation will assume all of the functions of the current Dublin Transportation Office, as well as responsibility for the Railway Procurement Agency - including the development of the new metro - and some of the functions of Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann.

It is also proposed that the authority will assume the traffic-management services currently carried out by Dublin City Council and other local authorities in the region. Critically, the new authority is to have the power to set fares, complete the integrated ticketing project and regulate the entire market.

Mr Cullen said: "An independent regulatory body is needed to deal with a range of issues relating to the Greater Dublin Area. The proposed Dublin Transport Authority is that body."

The plan is similar to the British development of Transport for London.

Mr Cullen said: "There are good examples from other capital cities as to how a regulatory authority works, and it is feasible to do the same in Dublin, particularly in the Greater Dublin Area."

Mr Cullen, who has already circulated his plans to the Departments of Environment and Finance, intends to seek Cabinet approval for his plans "in the next few weeks". Assuming the Cabinet approves, the legislation will be published in the autumn.

However, it is unlikely to get through the Dáil before Christmas and possibly not before next year's general election.

In the meantime Mr Cullen said he would "establish the body in shadow form" to begin co-ordination work and ensure there were no delays with the Dublin-based projects in Transport 21, the Government's 10-year transport strategy.

Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Cullen told Fine Gael's Olivia Mitchell that there was good precedent in the establishment of a shadow authority to begin co-ordinating policy in advance of it being set up on a statutory basis.

This had worked well in the setting up of the Railway Safety Authority "which had a huge impact long before any legislation was in place".

The Minister is keen that work on the Dublin metro, the linking of the Luas lines and the rail interconnector and other infrastructure should not be delayed by the drafting passage of legislation.

He said the proposals "are not preventing the quick delivery of many projects, including the new railway station in the docklands area of Dublin, four Luas projects, Metro North and all the different roads which are being started and opened on a weekly basis".

The Minister's proposals stem from the report of a Dublin Transportation Authority "establishment team" led by Prof Margaret O'Mahony, head of the department of civil, structural and environmental engineering and director of the centre for transport research at Trinity College Dublin.

Prof O'Mahony is to be the non-executive chairwoman of Transport 21.

The other members of the establishment team were John Lumsden and Pat Mangan, assistant secretary generals at the Department of Transport, and Colin Hunt, Mr Cullen's special adviser.

© The Irish Times 2006
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...TRANSPORT.html

[MrX]

I think if the government's pursuing this kind of metropolitan/regional transport authority approach in Dublin it ought to start looking at it in Cork etc too.

The public transport situation in Cork's in dire need of a serious restructure.

[why_does_planning_suck]

It looks to me like the authority will be given to the new entity when all the decisions have been made, thus pulling off a classic bertie ahern manouvre.

One thing the authority will have no say in is the pricing structure for the luas. This would have been entered in contracts signed with connex, now some other name.

Similarly with dublin bus. The current round of partnership talks will decide most , if not all , of what happens in the next 3 years for CIE.

And the rpa is going to decide the routing for the underground tram before it becomes extinct.

The authority does not appear to have the power to refuse projects , say if they dont make any sense. Like say the metro which proposes to carry 20,000 people an hour , when only around 80 thousand cars pass through the canal cordon.

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by why_does_planning_suck

One thing the authority will have no say in is the pricing structure for the luas. This would have been entered in contracts signed with connex, now some other name.

RPA set and collect the fares, Connex under contract are paid through the RPA. Connex's contract is independent of fares. What is unique here is the RPA have been delegated authority for Luas fares from the DoT

We have been all here before, the first DTA was killed in 1988, the first one even had power over parking fines!

[why_does_planning_suck]

the parking fines things makes me think of one success storey: the clampers .

Aren't they the best thing that ever happened to the city? As a child i remember for a few years my only purpose was to be left alone in a sweltering car , looking sad so that when we had to park, we would not get fined. We park you know anywhere , kerbs, corner kerbs , bus stops , etc etc.

I am still amazed that every time i choose to drive to the city i can find a space where i want to go , and relatively quickly. And those w****kers who would 'look after' your car - gone .

Long may it last!

[why_does_planning_suck]

Originally Posted by MrX

I think if the government's pursuing this kind of metropolitan/regional transport authority approach in Dublin it ought to start looking at it in Cork etc too.

The public transport situation in Cork's in dire need of a serious restructure.

I have visited cork many times and have always found the overall planning to be very sound . I think all the proposals are good and well thought out. I think you just need the money. Not a new qwango.