Biggest ever number of respondents to NTA consultation
The online consultation relating to the review of the bus network in Dublin has generated 7,000 responses to date.
The consultation process was launched on June 6th when the NTA published the Dublin Area Bus Network Redesign Choices Report. The Network Review is one element of BusConnects, NTA’s plan to radically transform public transport in the Dublin region, which was published in May.
Speaking today at the Eolas Magazine ‘Transport Ireland 2017 Conference’, Gibson Hotel Dublin, NTA Chief Executive Anne Graham said:
“We launched this consultation process a month ago, and with 7,000 respondents, the reaction has been very positive.
“A lot of the work we do involves consulting with the public, but we took a different approach this time around and decided to put an online survey at the centre of the process. This made it far easier for people to respond to, and I think that has made the world of a difference in terms of the number of members of the travelling public who actually participated in the consultation.
“Of course there are always people who are more comfortable filling in a survey on paper and sending it in to us, and we have been more than happy to accommodate them too.
“The traditional approach to a consultation is where we would publish a report or a set of recommendations, and ask people to write to us to give us their views. There certainly are situations where that is the appropriate process, but we are very pleased with the outcome so far with the response to the online survey, and it’s something we will look at positively when it comes to other projects.
“The consultation is due to close on Friday of this week, so people still have an opportunity to fill in the survey. The more people who do so the better, so that the information on their views about bus services and the bus network can be factored into the redesign process and help shape the final outcome in a meaningful way.
“We will go through the submissions in detail in the weeks ahead. The responses to the survey will be used to inform the network redesign process which will produce a detailed Network Review Report that will published later this year. That report will itself be open to a further process of public consultation in early 2018 before any recommendations are implemented.”
The Choices Report has been prepared by Jarrett Walker & Associates, a US based firm which specialises in designing metropolitan public transport systems. The Report reviews the patterns of transport demand across the Dublin region and the structure of the existing bus network. It identifies certain issues with the current bus system and proposes possible strategies that could address those deficiencies.
The NTA is seeking the public’s views on the issues raised in the Choices Report and, in particular, on the possible strategies that could be implemented in the redesign of the bus network – these are set out in Chapter 5 (Strategies for a Redesigned Bus Network) of the Choices Report.
The online survey is available at www.BusConnects.ie until Friday 7th July.