Two major investments in public transport for Dublin have recently been in the news. These are the Metro North project, a scheme estimated to cost upwards of €3bn, which would consist of a new tram route, partly underground, linking the city centre northwards to the airport and on to the suburb of Swords, and a €1bn city-wide bus upgrade called Bus Connects.

There is already a road tunnel (called the Dublin Port Tunnel) on Metro North’s alignment and it facilitates frequent express bus services to both the airport and Swords.

At the cost quoted, Metro North looks expensive for a single route and the detailed cost/benefit study is awaited.

There are also direct services to Dublin airport from all over the country, and it is the busiest bus station in Ireland, busier than Busarus

Direct buses from the city centre already deliver passengers to the airport in 25 minutes, quicker than the rail and tram services at many European airports.

There are also direct services to Dublin airport from all over the country, and it is the busiest bus station in Ireland, busier than Busarus.

The Swords Express bus route goes through the tunnel and offers commuters one of the fastest and most frequent timetables of any outer suburb.

Politicians

Various politicians have already committed publicly to Metro North even though the cost/benefit analysis is not available.

On the face of it, the Bus Connects scheme, estimated to cost just €1bn, is more promising

The same politicians are also committed, of course, to prudent financial management, but are blessed with the capacity to evaluate €3bn projects without sight of any evidential basis for doing so.

On the face of it, the Bus Connects scheme, estimated to cost just €1bn, is more promising.

It would deliver 16 new express busways on the key routes around the city and would expand capacity and improve journey times.

The details of Bus Connects have not been finalised and it is best to suspend judgement here also, until the full costs and benefits can be assessed

The bus system in Dublin is the key public transport resource and two-thirds of the city’s public transport customers use buses rather than the Luas tram and DART rail services.

Neither Luas nor DART offer service throughout the city – only buses can do so at affordable cost. The details of Bus Connects have not been finalised and it is best to suspend judgement here also, until the full costs and benefits can be assessed.

Road widening

Omelettes cannot be prepared without breaking eggs and Bus Connects would require extensive road-widening on the routes affected.

In addition to narrower footpaths and an end to on-street parking, some householders would lose a portion of their front gardens, with compensation estimated to average about €25,000.

My own humble abode is an apartment, one of eight located in a five-storey Georgian house in Dublin 4. It happens to be on one of the proposed busways and would lose 6ft off the front garden.

The front “garden”, all paved over for parking, is no less than 100ft deep, so it would be cut back to a mere 94ft (of tarmacadam).

If each resident gets a €3,000 share of the compensation from the city, this is hardly a miserable deal, especially with a more frequent bus service thrown in. Ornate new railings and an electric gate would be nice too, if available.

The inflated language is only an irritation, it is the insistent unwillingness to consider the scheme on its merits that grates

Some of the residents along the road are up in arms and leaflets are circulating.

“We are vehemently opposed to the plans for this historic road,” according to one. The road is old, but not historic. The inflated language is only an irritation, it is the insistent unwillingness to consider the scheme on its merits that grates. Where, pray, is the lane capacity for bus improvements to be located, if not on the main radial routes into the city? How can the historical accident of 100ft front gardens create a veto over the development of the transport system for the entire city?

The promoters of the Bus Connects project, a state transport planning agency, have been unlucky in their timing. Local and European elections are due at the end of May and busy candidates are already citing the anger of residents about the scheme.

Political technique

According to the Irish Times, attendees at a meeting in Terenure, convened by a local election candidate, included residents from streets well removed from the proposed busway and not directly affected at all.

They obligingly registered their anger. The political technique is familiar in both urban and rural Ireland: create public disquiet and then promise to defend the victimised citizens against the dastardly government, county council, Eirgrid or whoever. In the absence of discontent, manufacture some. Politicians from all ends of the ideological spectrum can play this game – thus you get Greens against bus transport, or socialists against taxing property.

Reflex populism has become the default position of election candidates in search of an issue.

Blanket opposition

People are entitled to public consultation, to scheme modification where feasible and to reasonable compensation for pieces of their gardens. But this blanket opposition to better bus transport in Dublin is just selfish nimbyism.