If the Luas is to be as successful as Strasbourg's tramway and not a failure like Sheffield's, it will need to be fully integrated with rail and bus services in Dublin, a transport expert said yesterday.
Dr Aoife Ahern, lecturer in civil engineering at UCD, said she was aware that the Department of Transport was working on this, but she warned that the plans "could take years to materialise".
Delivering the latest in the Urban Institute Ireland's public lecture series on planning for Dublin, Dr Ahern said expectations for the Luas were too high, given the failure of most new tramways in England to meet their targets.
"Nine years after the launch of the Sheffield light rail system, it still has a 48 per cent shortfall in its original passenger target figures," she said. And part of the blame was attributable to the lack of integration with bus services.
Deregulated bus services competed with rather than complemented the light rail systems - except in Croydon, where buses provide feeder services for light rail rather than operate in competition with it. "If the deregulation of Dublin Bus goes ahead, then this may cause problems because bus companies will be in a position to offer the public tickets at a much cheaper price than the Luas company will," Dr Ahern warned.
This could be avoided if deregulation was handled in a limited way to ensure buses cannot compete with the Luas, she said. But if there was price competition between the transport systems, she believed the Luas "will not work".
Stressing the need for bus and light rail to be complementary, as they are in French cities, she said timetables should be co-ordinated so that passengers could transfer smoothly from one to the other, using the same ticket.
"One would have thought that plans would have been finalised by now," Dr Ahern said. However, with just two months to go before the Luas opens its doors to the public, "there is still no sign of completion on this issue".
The Luas was not the panacea for Dublin's transport problems, but she said it would provide "an efficient, modern form of public transport that is much needed in a city where public transport has been so poorly developed".
The AA's public affairs manager, Mr Conor Faughnan, said he believed the Luas "will have an impact over and above any QBC [quality bus corridor]" because it would be "an iconic development for public transport in Dublin".
He predicted the Sandyford line would be "over-subscribed as soon as it opens". There were concerns about the Tallaght line, in particular whether the Red Cow crossing would work.
