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TRAVEL DEMAND DURING Phase One easing of restrictions has been higher than expected, the National Transport Authority (NTA) will tell the Dáil Covid-19 committee today.
Anne Graham, Chief Executive Officer of the (NTA), will tell the committee this afternoon that the NTA believes there is a large percentage of non-essential travel being made on public transport which is using up the capacity that it had planned for Phase Two of the government’s roadmap.
On 8 June, normal Monday-Friday timetables for commuters on bus and DART are due to recommence, the committee will be told.
Since the outset of the pandemic, daily demand is now typically between 10% and 20% of what it was prior to mid-March, Graham states in her opening statement.
Weekly demand in early March (prior to pandemic related restrictions) was approximately 5.6 million passengers. By mid-April this had declined to 500,000 passengers.
An increase in passenger numbers has been apparent in recent weeks, increasing from 500,000 weekly passengers in mid-April to approximately 700,000 in mid-May prior to the easing of restrictions
“There is no doubt that there needs to be a radical shift in the use of active travel modes over the next few months in our towns and cities,” Graham will state, citing a recent mobility plan for Dublin, which shows that there is a need to plan for a doubling of walking and a trebling of cycling journeys at peak time.
Public transport capacity with social distancing “will be significantly challenged” without a number of other supporting measures, Graham will tell the committee.
Such measures include encouraging organisations to continue to facilitate working from home, remote learning, online shopping and online appointments where possible.
The use of public transport will continue to be discouraged at peak times except for essential travel and businesses will be encouraged to have staggered start times and operate longer opening hours to spread demand out of peak times.
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As a young, Irish, aspiring writer, this kind of news is inspiring.
Dylan can you call your antagonist Adam Power please?
How can a man with a JFK icon be an antagonist?
Are you writing anything at the moment Dylan?
Poetry mostly, short stories occasionally.
If you write a super-successful series of books about a 6’5″ blue eyed, shaven-headed crime fighter, don’t let Tom Cruise play him in the movie version.
If you do, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
Only kidding!
Good stuff Dylan, best of luck with that.
Thanks a lot.
I know the other two but could someone tell me about Donal Ryan? And whether it might be worth taking a look at his stuff?
Have a read of this
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15995144-the-spinning-heart
That could be an episode of fair city
The spinning heart is a fantastic book. I read it in a day, couldn’t put down.. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend.
What!!! No Ross O’Carroll Kelly???
Donal Ryan’s book is Quality
I thought Donal Ryan’s book was excellent. Delighted it’s been nominated.
The Testament of Mary is a cert.
Tobin has a very good PR machine and a set of the best connections. But it never quite succeeds in filling the gap left by his fair to middling ability. His consistent attempts to link himself to Henry James through repeated assertion of some apparent equivalence of talent is becoming embarrassing
Of the three Irish authors, McCann must have the best chance being a genuinely talented writer
Colm McCann is the greatest living Irish author. Those with doubts I direct you to his sublime novel Dancer
Please excuse my ignorance. But is this not only for British Commonwealth authors??
have your say