PRESS RELEASE - 6 November 2019
Dublin Commuter Coalition has expressed its strong disappointment at the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, after his admission that he has no plans to allow the National Transport Authority (NTA) to carry out the enforcement of bus lanes using a camera based system. The NTA had stated previously that it is seeking a change in legislation to allow it to enforce bus and cycle lanes through fixed and on-board cameras.
The Coalition considers this the Achilles’ heel for BusConnects — a much needed €2bn investment in the bus network and infrastructure — and further evidence of the Minister’s lack of sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on the bus network daily. Without extensive enforcement of bus lanes, the core principles of interchange and super high frequency will be destroyed.
Chairperson of Dublin Commuter Coalition, Kevin Carter, said “Our public transport system will never be up to par if the NTA is not given the power to install camera based enforcement on its buses. This is but a further example that our Minister for Transport is only interested in one type of transport: the private motor vehicle.”
Public Relations Officer of Dublin Commuter Coalition, Feljin Jose, called the current level of enforcement carried out by An Garda Síochána as “ranging from poor to none.'' He added “Last month, it was announced that bus-mounted cameras would be used in New York to enforce bus lanes. Similar systems have already been in place around the world for many years, with Belfast enacting a system recently while we still rely on under-resourced Gardaí to catch them in person.”
There remains the possibility that An Garda Síochána will run the camera based system, but without the funding and resources, they will struggle to cope with the thousands of offences a camera system will catch.
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