The Green Party is calling for the opening up of Busaras to all buses and for a second unified bus station to be provided on the Western approaches to the city centre.

Green Party Spokesperson on Transport and Tourism Tom Kivlehan said today: "Busaras needs to be opened to private operators and a second station needs to be established near Heuston Station to take all intercity bus traffic coming in from the West and South West. It makes no sense to send all Bus Eireann services to the one congested location in Busaras. Nor does it make sense to force private bus companies to dump their passengers on the side of the street, causing problems for both the passengers and for other road users. This ineffective use of resources is not necessary and it needs to stop now.

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"The Dublin Bus garage on Conyngham Road would be a perfect location for a new station. With a new footbridge across the Liffey it would only be a two minutes walk from Heuston Station and the Luas Red line services. The Dublin Bus fleet could be switched over to the underutilized Bus Eireann depot at Broadstone and the changeover could be carried out quickly with minimal cost and disruption. It would take traffic off the Quays and would stop some of our most beautiful Georgian squares been used as bus parks.

"There is no reason why the same sharing of bus stations could not also take place in Cork, Limerick and Galway where the current rivalry between Bus Eireann and the private operators leads to a similar chaotic situation to what is happening in Dublin. Putting the public and private services in the same station would improve both collaboration and competition between the different services and would be good for the consumer."

(CD/JP)