With the General Election only a few days away, it is time to take a look at what each party is offering in terms of Transport Policy, how they measure up, and how realistic they are to be delivered within the lifetime of the next Government should they successfully be part of it.
We will be basing our review against our own Dublin Commuter General Election Manifesto, which we believe are both needed and achievable within the lifetime of the next Government. One of the major frustrations of the 33rd Dail is that despite advancing a number of major projects through planning, we did not see a single shovel in the ground for BusConnects, MetroLink, Dart+, or Luas projects in the last five years.
In the interest of fairness, we have listed these in order that the Parties released them, However we have ranked them based on our opinion of their transport policies and commitments should they enter the next Government.
Fianna Fáil
First out the gate was Fianna Fáil and we were quite disappointed by their ‘Fully Connected Ireland Strategy’, which spends more time talking about cars and roads than public or active transport.
Their sustainable transport objectives are rather vague, with no clear commitment to deliver key infrastructure projects within the lifetime of the Government. Furthermore, ‘publishing an evaluation of BusConnects’ seems like a rather odd commitment considering there are Bi-Annual Progress reports published by the NTA about the various milestones and both the successes, and challenges of BusConnects.
You can read the most recent report from July here:
Needless to say, but we will anyway… BusConnects routes see significant increase in demand over their predecessors with overall satisfaction being overwhelmingly positive.
We are happy to see a commitment to invest in light rail, expand local link services and develop sustainable transport options, but that would be the absolute basic statement we would expect from any political party, and rather disappointing from one that was a member of the previous Government.
As for Roads, we certainly like to see an increase in average speed cameras throughout the Country, but Ireland currently has a grand total of four average speed cameras right now (Port Tunnel, N5, N3, & M7), and a commitment to install nine more by early next year.
We’re going to give Fianna Fáil the benefit of the doubt, and assume they meant tripling of the 13 speed cameras either existing or planned to 39, but 26 average speed cameras over the lifetime of the next Government is setting expectations extremely low, Much like our opinion of their Transport Policy.
Green Party
The Green Party held the Senior Transport Ministry throughout the 33rd Dail, and it’s quite clear from their manifesto that it is a key area of focus for the Party, committing to finishing what they began should they be returned to Government again.
The Greens are dedicating 50% of the Apple Tax money; €5 billion to deliver major transport projects across Ireland’s five major cities. They also want to introduce a ‘Climate Ticket’, which would reform the current Tax-Saver ticket, which is now only useful in incredibly niche circumstances, however there does not seem to be an indication as to what that new ticket would look like or cost.
In our own Commuter Manifesto, we called for the introduction of a €1 per/day ticket that would access all forms of Public transport. We would hope that the ‘Climate Ticket the Green party intend to introduce would be of a similar vein.
We’re also happy to see an uplift in the €1m per/day spend on active transport to a total of €500m across each year, however this doesn’t seem to be linked to inflation. We have seen over the previous Government how quickly the value fell away due to the rapid growth in the building industry’s costs, so it is disappointing to not see annual adjustments within their manifesto.
The number of Speed Cameras is also present in this manifesto, The Green’s committing to 50, almost double that of Fianna Fáil but still far too low.
Other things we like within the Green Party Policy
Restoration of E-Scooters on board public transport
Town Bus & Bike Share schemes for towns of 10,000 people or more
Making Transit Stations the centrepieces of towns & cities
The Green Party Manifesto is saying a lot of the right things. but gets caught up in a lot of projects that are already in progress, and doesn’t give enough detail about some of their more interesting commitments This could use expansion, and more time bound commitments.
People Before Profit
People Before Profit made headlines as the only Party committed to introducing free public transport fares in this General Election cycle, which has been a Party policy for a number of years now. Free fares do have a positive impact in removing one of the factors leading to delays of transport services: needing to tag on/off at single points.
Free fares will definitely go down well as a cost of living measure, but it’s not something we generally support while our transport network remains so limited. If both can be delivered in parallel then it would be welcome, but the reality of this seems unlikely. It also hasn’t been found to make a significant impact on modal shift from cars where it has been introduced. It is a safe, reliable, and frequent service that will get people out of their cars, rather than removing the cost.
On active travel, PBP commit to “invest in cycling and active travel including in accessible infrastructure such as step-free crossings at all junctions and longer pedestrian crossing times.”
There are some other good commitments in the rather short Transport section of the PBP manifesto;
Doubling of Public Transport Investment
Actual engagement with Disabled People’s Organisations and representative groups in all consultation processes
Free school transport
Implementing the All Island Strategic Rail Review, including the commitment on building Luas in Cork, Limerick and Galway.
We would love to see an expanded Transport Manifesto from PBP - more detail to back their ambition of “free, frequent, reliable transport”.
Fine Gael
Fine Gael have big claims of ‘Securing your Future’ in their 2024 General Election Manifesto but like their former coalition partners… Fine Gael’s transport section is very light on actual details outside of generic references to major infrastructure projects.
One specific measure they do call for is the introduction of a Student bike scheme, similar to that of Bike-to-Work, however that would still leave pensioners, carers, unemployed and others in non-typical employment outside of the scheme. It’s great to see a commitment to include Students, but it really should have a wider-reach.
Continuing on the trend of speed cameras, Fine Gael are only committing to ‘increase the number of average speed cameras’. Giving the benefit of the doubt, we can only hope that this promise includes more than the low numbers of their former coalition partners.
The Fine Gael manifesto is also non-committal on the RSA:
“Consider recommendations from the ongoing review of the Road Safety Authority to strengthen overall road safety measures.”
Firstly, the Road Safety Authority review has already been published and can be read here:
We can assume this is an oversight in an admittedly lengthy document but only ‘considering the recommendations’, rather than ensuring we have a Road Safety organisation that actually delivers safer roads is quite disappointing.
We in the Dublin Commuter Coalition are big fans of details, but this is an element that’s missing within the Fine Gael manifesto. It’s saying a lot of the right things, but not saying much about them.
The Fine Gael manifesto also suffers from conflicting commitments; on the one hand, they want to ”make Ireland’s transport network more accessible and efficient”, whilst at the same time advocating for ad-hoc pickup & dropoff locations for Local Link which will lead to a less efficient service stopping at inaccessible locations.
When you really get into the details of Fine Gael’s manifesto, many of the conflicting items make it seem like they want to promise all things to everyone, but that’s just not how you get an efficient, safe, and reliable transport network. For that, you need to prioritise active and public transport.
Labour
Straight out of the traps, Labour's manifesto is ambitious; calling for the delivery of at least 15 new Luas lines by 2040
The GDA Transport plan, which runs until 2042 has only four Luas projects included in it; Finglas, Lucan, Poolbeg, & Bray. Whilst we love that level of ambition, with the way the current planning system works, and the inevitable legal challenges, it’s not realistic to see 15 new lines by 2040. Labour would need to implement sweeping planning changes, and massively speed up the Courts system so that Judicial Reviews were completed within weeks of being submitted. None of the approved Bus Connects corridors have broken ground yet, and the Strand Road Cycle track has been in a legal nightmare for almost the entire length of the previous Governments lifetime. We don’t think the delivery of 15 new Luas lines over 15 years is a realistic promise any political party can make right now but we’d certainly love to see it attempted.
This ambitious goal also lacks any milestones within the next government. With extremely ambitious goals like this, the previous coalition believed that it’s incredibly important that there are commitments to specific, tangible goals that can be completed within the lifetime of a single Dail term. A single LUAS line brought to the procurement stage of construction is obviously less impressive than 15 LUAS lines - but it’s much more useful than another strategy document, or 15 feasibility studies.
Labour are also calling for a €9 climate ticket alongside free travel for those under 26. As with PBP, an effective cost of living measure, but free public transport hasn’t been found to help much with modal shift and we’d much rather see them invest in their 15 Luas lines than to reduce fares so significantly.
We do like that the Labour Party has made a strong commitment to delivering the new road safety entity focusing on truly delivering safer roads. The campaign to disband the RSA has been successful, but steeped in tragedy with rising year-on-year road deaths. It is essential that the next Government design a new agency that actually achieves the targets laid out in Vision Zero.
Some of the things we really like:
A car scrapage scheme linked to E-Bikes & cargo bikes
Dedicated transport policing unit
ANPR cameras for bus lane enforcement
Mandatory pedestrianisation targets for towns over 10,000 population
Bike grant scheme for those outside typical employment
Regular updates to the Cycle Design Manual
The transport policy within Labour’s manifesto is robust, well detailed, and clearly lays out that an effective public & active transport network is a priority for them. It’s certainly one of the best manifestos among the political parties.
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin’s Transport policy for Dublin is…. How do we put this…. ‘Absent’ might be the best word.
“Finally, Sinn Féin would deliver for Dublin. We would prioritise progressing
the Metrolink project”
That’s it. that’s all they have to say on Dublin, no mention of Luas, Dart, or BusConnects. We have to say, for a party hoping to lead the next Government, they’re not even giving a courtesy nod to Transport. Worse still, Sinn Féin intends to lower the cost of Petrol and Diesel as part of a cost of living measure, which will further incentivise private car use.
One good thing we can say about Sinn Féin’s manifesto is where they point to their detailed School Transport policy, which would gradually reduce the catchment area to 1km. This will be a huge help to rural communities, but should go alongside a school cycle network which would relieve a lot of need for dedicated school transport.
Needless to say, we’re less than impressed by Sinn Féin’s General Election Manifesto transport plans.
Social Democrats
The Social Democrats, like Labour, and the Green Party have a decent manifesto, that does more than pay cursory lip-service to on-going transport plans. One unique call within the SocDems manifesto is to extend the range of the 90 minute fare to 120, widening the range to accommodate more of the Greater Dublin Area
Their policy also commits to increasing the active transport spend to 15% of the budget and intends to begin the process for the Green Line upgrade to Metro Standard, a vital upgrade for the new community going into the Cherrywood area of South County Dublin.
The Social Democrats manifesto also acknowledges the importance of a directly elected mayor in transport planning, which would help alleviate many of the local challenges we have seen with transport infrastructure projects.
Unfortunately the policy is light on detail in other places. Unlike Sinn Féin, who’s one saving grace is their School Transport Policy, the Social Democrats simply call for a policy on school transport in their manifesto without expanding on what they would implement.
Things we like in the Social Democrats Policy:
Bike Libraries in every community
Connecting the various bike share schemes under the NTA
Creation of an online platform to upload footage to Gardai
Independent Ireland
One of the major glaring errors of the Independent Ireland Manifesto is that they have misspelled Transport in the heading of the relevant section.
Arguably the most ambitious and headline grabbing transport manifesto commitments during this General Election campaign, Independent Ireland are calling for a Luas in every County. They will also deliver a feasibility study for all 26 counties’ new Luas projects within the first two years, should they successfully enter Government.
Now, we’re as big a fan of the Luas as they come, but there’s some Counties within Ireland that have such small populations and town centres, that light rail is not the best solution for transport. Expansion of Local Link would be a far better short term commitment, alongside commuter rail, than a Luas in each County though it’s certainly a flashy title. The commitment only to delivering a feasibility study is also disappointing - Galway, Dublin and Cork have seen feasibility studies already for new LUASanna, and a more useful commitment would be to bring these projects to planning, procurement or construction.
Outside of that, Independent Ireland’s call for lane widening in a misplaced effort to make roads safer. Wider lanes have a secondary effect of making drivers feel more comfortable at faster speeds,if we’re going to be creating more road space in rural Ireland, then that should be used to deliver footpaths and cycle lanes where there are none. rather than focusing on space for cars.
Unfortunately that’s as much as the Party has committed to in their transport policy, it’s very short, but it generates a lot of discussion.
Aontú
Aontú are the only party that don’t have a dedicated Transport section within their party manifesto, which says a lot about their dedication to improving public & active transport in Ireland should they successfully join the next Government.
Like Sinn Féin, Aontú are committed to reducing the price of petrol & diesel as a cost of living measure. Alongside that, they want to remove road tolls, both measures which would unfortunately incentivise driving by making each journey cheaper.
In fairness to Aontú, they do acknowledge that the planning system is causing delays to transport projects, especially in Dublin but we do wish they had spent a bit more time applying the ‘Common Sense’ they consistently call for to develop a transport policy ahead of a General Election.
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