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Issue No.6 Autumn 2001
Public Transport is a vital public
service
By Tommy McKearney
Public transport is a little like
dieting and exercise - itıs a lot easier
to recommend to your neighbour than to practice yourself. Nevertheless, the
benefits to society as a whole and in fact to the individual as well, are
beyond doubt. Public transport is one of the surest means of prolonging
the existence of natural resources and freeing up the arteries of
communication in any country. Moreover, the experience of those continental
cities where public transport is extensively used, is that when widely
used it not only makes communication easier but also tends to protect
historic buildings and monuments from pollution and vibration damage
It is widely believed that the surest
method of encouraging people to make
the most use of public transport is to provide an efficient and economical
service. Switzerland is reputed to have one of the best services in Europe
while we in Ireland make do with something that is less highly regarded.
In order to learn more about the
differing systems of public transport, The
Other View spoke with Swiss journalist Pit Wurher and to Brendan Ogle of the
Irish Locomotive Driverıs Association.
Mr. Wurher says that there is a
broad acknowledgement in Switzerland that
public transport makes an important and positive contribution to national
well-being and is therefore viewed as a public good that has to be paid for
from the central exchequer rather than something that must of necessity make
an annual profit.
He quotes the example of Zurich, the
city in which he works, where the town
council has introduced a deliberate policy of making car parking costs
prohibitively expensive while simultaneously running an inexpensive but
superbly efficient (and regular) tram service. Pit points to the fact that a
24-hour ticket in Zurich costs a mere Ir£3:40 and the trams run to time
every 10/12 minutes between the hours of 6:00am and 3:00am. A similar
commitment to public transport is to be found throughout the country and as
Mr. Wurher explains, there is a very determined effort made to ensure that
in rural parts of Switzerland, country people are able to enjoy the same
quality of service. In less densely populated areas, mini-buses operate a
form of taxi service from train stations to outlying areas.
Ireland, in contrast, is not so well served by its public transport service.
Brendan Ogle, a train driver himself and secretary of the ILDA trade union
branch says that public transport in Ireland is in an abysmal state.
"Where we have public transport
at all, it seems centralised, in the
doldrums and extremely badly managed. It is inadequately funded and where
funds are being introduced they are being badly used and apportioned.² he
says quite bluntly.
In a further comment he makes the
telling observation that a properly
utilised rail service would be of great assistance in removing the dreaded
juggernauts from our small roads
"Donıt forget" he points out
"that one train driver, driving one train from Dublin to Galway, Dublin to
Cork, Dublin to Belfast can take 18 forty-foot trucks off the road. We are a
small country and eighteen forty-foot trucks is a lot of trucks."
In Mr. Ogleıs view:
"The whole structure needs to
be revamped. We need the service - everyone
knows we need the service - so lets accept that if we need it, we are going
to have to pay for it. If we need to get people in there we should get
them. If we have to go abroad for them, we should. We can get advice from
places such as Switzerland and Japan and we can get people who can show us
how to run it and run it cost effectively. But donıt let us think that it is
not going to cost us money. We have to ask ourselves the question; do we
want a railway or do we not?"
For those of us that have sat in
traffic jams or idled behind
'Forty-footersı it is hard not to agree with the views of Brendan Ogle and
envy the Swiss system as outlined by Pit Wurher. However it remains for us,
the general public, to persuade central government of our wishes. Otherwise,
they shall only move slowly or perhaps not move at all. In reality, we must
demand the best transport service possible.
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