The Dublin Transport Authority is likely to be fully established and functional by the middle of this year, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey TD said.
The Department has placed an advertisement in newspapers seeking a chief executive for the authority.
The setting up of the authority has been long-mooted, but the most significant move towards setting it up came when the Act establishing the transport authority was passed by the Oireachtas earlier this year.
Mr Dempsey told The Irish Times that the authority being set up would lead to the overdue reform of the 1932 Transport Act.
“I expect to have it up and operational by the middle of this year, once this chief executive is in place. It has the capacity and the potential to transform the provision of transport in the greater Dublin area.”
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label dublin transport authority. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dublin transport authority. Show all posts
Monday, 26 January 2009
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Councillors angry over impact of transport authority
NEW Dublin Transportation Authority (DTA), due to start work next January, will have the power to veto planning applications, direct local authority spending and instruct authorities to compulsorily purchase land, Dublin City councillors have been told.
Councillors reacted angrily yesterday to a report from the city's director of traffic, Michael Phillips, about the impact of the DTA on the council's powers, and said the DTA was seeking to interfere unduly in council business without giving councillors adequate representation.
Councillors will not be represented on the board of the DTA. Two councillors from the Dublin Regional Authority will be represented on an advisory council to the DTA. However, councillors from the four Dublin local authorities will be vying for these positions.
Mr Phillips told councillors the DTA would be able to stop the council from granting planning permission if it felt the objectives of the DTA would be compromised.
The DTA would also be able to make amendments to the city development plan.
Currently, only councillors can amend the development plan.
The DTA could tell the council where to site bus stops, cycling facilities or parking within the city.
It could also direct the council to compulsorily purchase lands and carry out works, and will be able to step in and carry out work if the council fails to do so.
This could mean that if the DTA decided a quality bus corridor was to be created, the council could be ordered to acquire people's front gardens, Tim O'Sullivan, executive manager in the council's traffic department, said.
The DTA will also have an input into the council's finances, and will be able to direct the council as to how it must spend revenue collected from such sources as parking meters.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said the DTA was being established as a HSE model and would be a "disaster" for the city.
"All parties were united in calling for a DTA but this is the worst of all worlds. There is absolutely no democratic accountability.
"It's the HSE for transport, and the worst con job perpetrated on the people of this city since the affordable housing debacle."
Sinn Féin councillor Larry O'Toole said he was concerned by the lack of input from councillors.
The DTA had become a "top down" organisation, and there was a danger that public transport in the city would be privatised.
OLIVIA KELLY
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Councillors reacted angrily yesterday to a report from the city's director of traffic, Michael Phillips, about the impact of the DTA on the council's powers, and said the DTA was seeking to interfere unduly in council business without giving councillors adequate representation.
Councillors will not be represented on the board of the DTA. Two councillors from the Dublin Regional Authority will be represented on an advisory council to the DTA. However, councillors from the four Dublin local authorities will be vying for these positions.
Mr Phillips told councillors the DTA would be able to stop the council from granting planning permission if it felt the objectives of the DTA would be compromised.
The DTA would also be able to make amendments to the city development plan.
Currently, only councillors can amend the development plan.
The DTA could tell the council where to site bus stops, cycling facilities or parking within the city.
It could also direct the council to compulsorily purchase lands and carry out works, and will be able to step in and carry out work if the council fails to do so.
This could mean that if the DTA decided a quality bus corridor was to be created, the council could be ordered to acquire people's front gardens, Tim O'Sullivan, executive manager in the council's traffic department, said.
The DTA will also have an input into the council's finances, and will be able to direct the council as to how it must spend revenue collected from such sources as parking meters.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said the DTA was being established as a HSE model and would be a "disaster" for the city.
"All parties were united in calling for a DTA but this is the worst of all worlds. There is absolutely no democratic accountability.
"It's the HSE for transport, and the worst con job perpetrated on the people of this city since the affordable housing debacle."
Sinn Féin councillor Larry O'Toole said he was concerned by the lack of input from councillors.
The DTA had become a "top down" organisation, and there was a danger that public transport in the city would be privatised.
OLIVIA KELLY
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Parts of central Dublin could be car-free next year
PROPOSALS TO ban all private cars and vehicles from parts of Dublin city centre could be implemented within a year, it has emerged.
The Dublin Transportation Authority proposals to allow only public transport into O’Connell Street, Westmoreland Street, College Green and Dame Street are being fast-tracked by the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, which claims they could be in place a year earlier then the original 2010 suggestion.
As reported in The Irish Times last March the plans would see cross-city traffic diverted onto a proposed new bridge between Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street. The Oireachtas committee has also recommended another bridge further down the river Liffey at Macken Street.
The committee will now report to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey that the car-free proposals should be implemented as quickly as possible. It will suggest a target date of April 2009.
The proposals were originally drafted to accommodate work on Metro North, due to get under way in 2011, but the Oireachtas Committee believes they can lead to a shift towards permanent use of public transport, particularly buses.
Committee chairman Frank Fahey TD said that the only way to convince the public to take buses was to free up the centre of the city for them to operate efficiently.
Mr Fahey said figures produced by Dublin Bus that showed it takes 50 minutes at rush hour to get from Mountjoy Square to St Stephen’s Green concentrated the minds of the committee.
“You can’t have a reliable bus service until you first make bus priority the objective,” he said.
“The whole idea is to provide a high-frequency bus service and we’re satisfied that, if we do that, people will use it.”
The committee has proposed that the number of buses operating on Dublin’s streets be increased by 350 from 1,180 to 1,530 within two years. The buses would be sub-contracted from private operators by Dublin Bus.
It has proposed that the Railway Order, which the Railway Procurement Agency uses to free up land, be extended to fast-track the development of more quality bus corridors.
The committee’s proposals were also influenced by meetings with other bodies with responsibility for transport in Dublin.
“All the findings in this report are based on the discussions we had with these various groups. We are quite satisfied that the proposals within this report are possible and can be implemented” he said.
The report also includes proposals for more cycling, and workplace travel plans, which would encourage employers to draw up proposals that would get their employees out of their cars and on to public transport.
The Minister for the Environment John Gormley supported the plans. “I do know that the new sustainable transport initiative which is out to public consultation envisages more buses that come on time, that are comfortable, and more cycleways as well. It is an integrated package which would lead to a more pedestrian-friendly city,” he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The Dublin Transportation Authority proposals to allow only public transport into O’Connell Street, Westmoreland Street, College Green and Dame Street are being fast-tracked by the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, which claims they could be in place a year earlier then the original 2010 suggestion.
As reported in The Irish Times last March the plans would see cross-city traffic diverted onto a proposed new bridge between Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street. The Oireachtas committee has also recommended another bridge further down the river Liffey at Macken Street.
The committee will now report to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey that the car-free proposals should be implemented as quickly as possible. It will suggest a target date of April 2009.
The proposals were originally drafted to accommodate work on Metro North, due to get under way in 2011, but the Oireachtas Committee believes they can lead to a shift towards permanent use of public transport, particularly buses.
Committee chairman Frank Fahey TD said that the only way to convince the public to take buses was to free up the centre of the city for them to operate efficiently.
Mr Fahey said figures produced by Dublin Bus that showed it takes 50 minutes at rush hour to get from Mountjoy Square to St Stephen’s Green concentrated the minds of the committee.
“You can’t have a reliable bus service until you first make bus priority the objective,” he said.
“The whole idea is to provide a high-frequency bus service and we’re satisfied that, if we do that, people will use it.”
The committee has proposed that the number of buses operating on Dublin’s streets be increased by 350 from 1,180 to 1,530 within two years. The buses would be sub-contracted from private operators by Dublin Bus.
It has proposed that the Railway Order, which the Railway Procurement Agency uses to free up land, be extended to fast-track the development of more quality bus corridors.
The committee’s proposals were also influenced by meetings with other bodies with responsibility for transport in Dublin.
“All the findings in this report are based on the discussions we had with these various groups. We are quite satisfied that the proposals within this report are possible and can be implemented” he said.
The report also includes proposals for more cycling, and workplace travel plans, which would encourage employers to draw up proposals that would get their employees out of their cars and on to public transport.
The Minister for the Environment John Gormley supported the plans. “I do know that the new sustainable transport initiative which is out to public consultation envisages more buses that come on time, that are comfortable, and more cycleways as well. It is an integrated package which would lead to a more pedestrian-friendly city,” he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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