We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
ADULTS LIVING IN Dublin are 12 times more likely to rely mainly on public transport to get around compared to adults living in rural areas, a new report has found.
The report by the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) found that over half of adults over 50 living in rural areas rate the public transport in their area as poor or very poor.
The authors of the report stressed the need to improve transport to better meet the needs of older people, especially in rural areas. They found a serious dissatisfaction with public transport amongst the over-50s living outside Dublin.
The report found that just one in 10 older adults in Ireland relied on public transport.
Meanwhile, nine of out 10 adults here (aged 50 or over) travelled mainly by car, as a driver or passenger.
One-quarter of adults over the age of 50 in Dublin relied mainly on public transport, compared to just 2% of adults in rural areas (12 times more).
The study also measured the effects of age on people’s transport patterns.
It found that as people got older, they were less likely to drive themselves and more likely to rely on lifts from others.
It also found that use of public transport only increased marginally with age. This could reflect both the greater convenience of travelling by car and the lack of suitable public transport options available.
In terms of lifestyle and health, about one in five adults aged 75 or over living in rural areas said that the lack of local transport facilities affected their lifestyle.
Meanwhile, non-drivers (including those who used to drive in the past) reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and loneliness and lower quality of life compared to current drivers.
The report authors said improved transport networks and services would be needed as the population ages.
The report carried out by TILDA at Trinity College Dublin and supported by the Road Safety Authority.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
So I’m summary a people who have buses available are more likely to use buses than people who’ve no buses available. A worthy report.
@Anto Curran: in other news, a new study has found that water is in fact wet.
Not really. Its more appropriate to say people in Dublin rely on buses more than rural people.
Wow some findings. Seriously did some one pay for this report… Shock .
ADULTS LIVING IN Dublin are 12 times more likely to rely mainly on public transport to get around compared to adults living in rural areas, a new report has found. Might be the fact that the public transport is is widely available in Dublin.. might be a clue….
I hope this was not funded from the public purse, any idiot could have told them that less then 1 out of 10 people use public transport in rural areas is down to the fact that there is NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT of what does exist is badly scheduled. I live close to the train line, the station is 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the station which requires a taxi to get to and if I want to get to Sligo I have wait until after 11 in the morning and if I had a hospital appointment I need a taxi to get to it because it is not far the bus takes an hour to make the journey because of how the route has been designed though it is around a mile. Older people may have public transport but if is useless. I can get a bus to the nearest town in the morning and it will be in excess before there is one before I can get home again, unlike Dublin where bus waits are about 15 minutes.
@Jho Harris: Life style choice to live in rural area. I have a bus every 30 mins but at a much cost than you I suspect
@Jho Harris: if the fay cat union bosses don’t see the light very soon we will have no public transport
@Jho Harris: ah yes, but any idiot didn’t (and I take it that you include yourself in the classification). Objective data on usage of public transport by older people in Ireland was previously unavailable, yet despite this people still felt able to plan services for this people. So who is more stupid, the person who answers the question or the person who was too stupid to ask and then says ‘I could have told you that’ when the answer is given to them?
@lavbeer: You might have another think about your comment and keep in mind that some people lived in rural areas for centuries, before there were any buses. It is not a a life style choice for those who were born in rural Ireland in typical in an Ireland where many of those in Dublin are more concerned in other countries more than they care about fellow countrymen.
@pat seery: You are getting a glimpse of the rest of us have to live with but when the strike is over we will still have an awfully BSD system that is useful.
It’s really about density of population. Service follows demand.
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: and if those living in rural areas want public transport, it needs to be paid for.
The free travel is ultimately a relic of CJs government and is not sustainable. I’m happy for subsidised travel but I think everybody using a bus should pay something, say a fiver, for a long bus journey, two euro for a short hop.
Either that or means tested free travel. Something has to give.
Just to clarify.TILDA is the Longitudinal Study of Ageing and collects data on dozens of different issues on health and lifestyle. This is one of about 300 reports and papers it has published on all aspects of getting older in Ireland. It is a treasure trove of data and allows for planning and reorganisation of services. It’s methodology is being copied in multiple countries. To all those geniuses saying ‘I could have told you that, what a waste of money’ I ask, if it’s so obvious how come the data wasn’t available before? In the context of trying to reach a solution to the Bus Eireann dispute and talk about public transport in Ireland is it not relevant to put a figure on just what proportion of older people use it? What about the fact that those who don’t Drive are more likely to be depressed and vulnerable? Rather than express dismissive opinions based on a couple of hundred word article, how about reading the report itself. You never know, you might surprise yourself and learn something? To quote Ogden Nash, ‘it’s what you learn after you know everything that is really important’. http://tilda.tcd.ie/assets/pdf/TransportTopicReport2016.pdf
Only in ireland would they spend money on pointless reports and committees about public transport in rural areas than actual public transport in rural areas
@Dark Knight: The census I suppose should collect most of this information. But yet some people object to filling that in. Listening to a radio show recently and some clown objected to census results as he didn’t fill it in as government Was ramming IW down our throats at the time
Yeah cus people in Dublin have ten times more public transport options.
Another waste of taxpayers money. We could form a sub committe to look into this , publish the findings then have an enquiry
@Chris Tobin: I got dibs on being on the review group of the enquiry results!
Dublin bus functions, BE does not. Of course people in Dublin are more likely to use the service.
Apart from there being more of it, public transport outside of Dublin needs to be properly organised. I live in a part of Waterford city where there are loads of housing estates. The largest industrial estate is at the other side of the city (5-6 km). According to Google maps, walking there will take 67 minutes and because there is no direct bus (running from where people live to where people work) public transport takes 62 minutes. A car takes 10 minutes. I wonder how I should travel to work this morning?
QED. Case proven. Dismantle Bus Eireann. Save the tax payers of Ireland money. Let private operators provide extra services on these routes and if any of the Bus Eireann drivers want a worth while rewarding job let them apply.
@Dave Byrne: IF you are getting rid of Bus Eireann then I demand the same of Dublin bus. More money saved. After that we can get rid of the public part of hospitals more money saved.
After all its all about the economy and nothing about our society.
I don’t drive, I mix and match everything in Dublin. Example I get taxi to bus stop outside city centre saving half a taxi fare while never waiting more than 4 mins for a bus which is mostly empty and free flowing at the point of entry leaves me to my door. I cycle most places and not afraid of walking either. We need an Uber type ride share system checked for its tendency to exploit drivers by introducing community ride sharing schemes through tax incentives for ordinary citizens who pass a criminal background check and pass their driving test. The current taxi model is unsustainable either driver gets exploited as in the Uber US model or the passenger gets exploited like here even though driver still struggles to make a living. My blog. http://www.transportrevolution.org
I hate it when the Dart is late due to milking
WTF?! There are no words…
Yeah this is why it costs so much more to live in Dublin
I think that might be because adults in Dublin easily have ten times as much access to public transport, and easily b less than 1/10th as much access to parking where they want to go.
What public transport in rural areas?
have your say