The boss of the state agency is dealing with a transformative period of dealing with legacy issues while pushing through innovations
Five Degrees of Change Five Degrees of Change: NTA chief Anne Graham As the head of the National Transport Authority she has to manage a host of legacy issues.
“We can only do so much on the public transport system, and even with all the investment that we want to do through our rural ‘Connecting Ireland’ plan, there would still be about 25 per cent of the population in rural Ireland that won’t be served directly by a frequent bus,” she said. ‘It’s widely acknowledged that one of the areas where the country has struggled across all our infrastructure has been through the planning system’ From Bus Connects, to Metro Link, to the expansion of the Dart network, there is no shortage of big infrastructure projects coming down the line, if they can get timely approval.
“It does involve in some cases the compulsory purchase of property, mostly garden space... For the first time, we looked at providing that infrastructure not just by trying to provide it within the boundaries of the existing road infrastructure, but with minimum impact on private property, how could we make the bus priority much better. It’s a very significant infrastructure project,” Graham said.
“The country does allow for judicial reviews. I think it’s important that we don’t try and close that down hugely…If there are concerns about how we’re approaching a particular infrastructure project, we would not like to see that constrained in any way.” Capital funding As well as increasing capital funding, Graham said the funding model for day to day spending by the NTA needed an overhaul, from an annual budgetary cycle, to a multi-annual budget.
The NTA also has a central role in developing a controversial strategy to reduce car use in urban centres.
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