Ministerial report from Alan Kelly TD

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Minister Alan Kelly TD Minister for Public & Commuter Transport

WORKING TOGETHER

MAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORT BETTER Every Minister is faced with choices. As Minister, I have prioritised technological investment in public transport that has greatly improved the commuting experience. My focus is on practical, sensible initiatives as opposed to grandiose projects that may never be built. Furthermore, I have prioritised areas previously ignored such as accessibility, rural transport, cycling and taxis.

My commitment is to a strong, socially focussed public transport system and we are delivering this despite severe financial pressures.

Together, Labour has: ■ Transformed the commuting experience in the Greater Dublin Area by investing in technology with real-time signs, apps, integrated tickets and online journey planners.

■ Secured sponsorship for city bike schemes for Cork, Galway and Limerick.

■ Broken the log-jam around integrated ticketing and established the ‘Leap’ Card – the first integrated transport ticket for Dublin which has 350,000 users.

■ Secured the future of the State’s transport company, CIE, preventing major chaos, job losses and service cuts.

■ Stabilised passenger numbers in public transport following years of decline.

■ Created the first Real Time Smartphone App to tell you when your public transport is arriving.

■ Provided for the increased availability of on-board Wi-Fi across the public transport bus and rail fleet.

■ Fought off pressure to privatise services ensuring a minimum of 90% of the state-funded bus market will remain in public hands until at least 2019.

As a proud Labour Party member, I am working to ensure that we will: ■ Be the first Government that invest more in new public transport projects than in new roads.

■ Be the first Government to connect the two Luas lines in Dublin – Luas Cross City will be 75% complete by the time we leave office.

■ Be the first Government to deliver on integrated ticketing and expand the availability of the Leap Card to other Irish cities.

■ Make the Dublin Bus Fleet and Bus Eireann’s city fleet 100% fully accessible.

■ Establish the rural hackney licences to improve transport connections in isolated rural areas for the taxi fleet.

■ Prioritise funding to significantly increase the availability of wheelchair accessible vehicles.

■ Retain the Free Travel Pass working with Minister Joan Burton allowing vulnerable people access to transport.

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INVESTING IN SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT ■ I have managed to retain a budget of €65 million for carbon reduction measures including major investments in cycling infrastructure.

■ The Mayo Greenway, the Limerick-Nenagh Cycle Way & Canal Cycle Route in Dublin have been completed.

■ We have brought through the first Cycling Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area with plans to treble the existing cycleways in Dublin and created an integrated cycle network throughout the capital preserving land-use for cycleways.

■ The Active Travel Towns Programme for cycling infrastructure in large towns throughout the country, something I very much welcome.

■ The Dublin Bike Scheme has been a great success and we have seen it extended to the Docklands, Kilmainham and other locations.

■ We have overseen the establishment of new bike rental schemes for Cork, Limerick and Galway securing commercial sponsorship.

■ Retained the Bike-to-Work scheme.

■ Made ‘Bike Week’ a major national event.

■ We maintained Investment in the Marlborough Street Bridge for cycling/walking/Luas in Dublin.

PRIORITISING TAXI REGULATION ■ The 'Laissez Faire' approach to taxi regulation was not working and I have ended that.

■ I have initiated 46 separate actions to improve the sector for consumers and drivers.

■ Certain categories of criminals have been removed from the sector.

■ We have brought about much stronger enforcement with Gardai.

■ I introduced stricter rules and controls on 'Multiple Licenses' and ended the trading of taxi licences.

■ The first Taxi Regulation Bill in over ten years has been enacted.

■ We have introduced 'Branding' for a more professional and accountable approach to taxis regulation.

■ I have introduced a 'Penalty Point' or Demerit system for Taxis.

■ We now have a consumer-friendly 'Driver Check App' to check if your taxi driver is licensed (over 80% are on the app)

THE RURAL TRANSPORT PROGRAMME – DELIVERING RADICAL REFORMS ■ The Rural Transport Programme (RTP) will be maintained and enhanced.

■ Administration Costs have been reduced by a third in order to protect services.

■ Early next year I will oversee the establishment of 18 new transport co-ordination units (TCUs) that will be directly linked with local authorities.

■ The TCUs will keep databases of people in rural areas with specific transport needs and have the ability to sanction voluntary transport to assist them.

■ This will significantly benefit elderly people, dialysis or cancer patients to get them to and from hospital.

■ The aim of the reforms is to permanently embed the RTP into the wider public transport system so that it will be in place for future generations.

Alan Kelly TD Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport 44 Kildare Street, Dublin 2

Phone: 01 6041114 Email: ministerkelly@dttas.ie Web: www.alankelly.ie

facebook.com/ alankellylabour @alankellylabour