Re: Re: Irish Rail proposes Heuston to Connolly tunnel link

I think you missed my point. I take the train everyday over my car because I believe that if we are to champion a solution we should use the solution.

Traffic in Dublin/Cork/Limerick/Waterford…etc, etc is a nightmare. We are over-reliant on the car. Enough of the clichés. My point was that if reliability is the reason why people returned to using the cars then we have a very difficult battle on our hands getting the Irish commuter public to use trains.

I do not trust Irish Rail with their existing strategy. The Irish Govt has proven itself wholly incompetent in relation to large scale infrastructure development. The Luas was a very expensive joke. I do not want to see another cent spent by these buffoons. This will be a case of throwing more good money…

1. Why not make these people accountable for the vast sums already spent. Let’s start by using capacity on the commuter trains as part of the ‘metro’ dart solution.
2. Why not insist on improving tax deductions to commuters. I previously lived in Belgium, where I commuted 100Km each morning. My monthly train ticket cost 40 euros and included metro, light rail, bus and commuter rail!!!!!!!!!!
3. Why not put regional development back on the agenda. Why do people living in Drogheda or Kildare have to travel to Dublin. Why does the government not actively promote Drogheda as a good location for fdi?

@Frank Taylor wrote:

Of course functional public transport is not just measured by capacity but also by

• frequency,
• reliability,
• speed,
• comfort and
• cost.

Anyone of these factors can be enough to make someone switch back to car use.

In the case of your colleagues, they chose to stop using public transport because of reliability. Yet reliability does not have to improve to 100%: after all car use is not 100% reliable as AA Roadwatch informs us every morning.