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GETTING FROM POINT A to point B isn’t always easy.
In Ireland, public transport is a mixed bag. Sometimes a journey takes you exactly where you need to be when you need to be there; sometimes it misses the mark; sometimes it isn’t there at all.
We’ve taken a journey of our own here at The Good Information Project over the last month diving into public transport and what it could look like in the future.
At the start, we put you in the driver’s seat and asked what you would change if you were in charge of public transport in your county – and then we spoke to local authorities around the country to find out what projects are happening with transport infrastructure right now.
Building new roads and maintaining or upgrading the roads we have takes up a significant proportion of county councils’ transport budgets, but there are also works underway to create new cycle lanes, bus shelters, and car-free spaces.
The key issues that you as readers have raised over the last month through emails, polls, on social media and during our live open newsroom discussion have touched on points like affordability, accessibility, safety and reliability.
And so, as we looked together at public transport, what did we find?
Donegal is at the forefront of our minds when we think about public transport and gaps in Ireland’s transport networks – it’s been described as “the land that transport forgot”.
The county’s once-extensive railway shut more than half a century ago. Many areas within the county aren’t serviced by buses, and for those that are, buses don’t always run early, late, or often enough to facilitate people getting where they want to go.
Also in the west, the future of the Western Railway Corridor is tangled and uncertain.
The line, which runs from Limerick to Sligo, is mostly disused. Many want the track restored for trains and others would like to see it converted to a greenway.
However, a report commissioned by the government concluded that a “do nothing” approach would be the most financially viable, though a separate report by a campaign group disagrees. It’s complicated.
When it comes to roads, we face challenges with traffic and balancing local needs against national priorities.
On the other hand, there are some that we do well, like the Local Link buses that provide a lifeline for people in parts of rural Ireland.
And how does all of that fit into the EU’s focus on developing a standardised Europe-wide transport network?
Our colleagues at Noteworthy have investigated accessibility on public transport from taxis, transport schemes, and a transport training centre that has created conflict.
And of course, there’s the money side to all this.
New methods buy tickets and pay fares on public transport could be rolled out within the next three years, the National Transport Authority told us.
In London, a congestion charge has been in place since 2003 to discourage driving into the city – could it ever work in Ireland?
So what could the future look like for public transport in Ireland?
We looked at the question of safety – who feels safe on public transport, who doesn’t, and how we can make it safer.
As with everything else right now, there’s the pandemic to consider and how that might shape the future of how we engage with transport services and what our needs are.
We also talked to five campaigners and academics about their big ideas for how to improve transport.
Their solutions are to make it more sustainable, accessible, connected, modern, and ambitious.
What did we learn from all this? We’ve rounded up some of the key points into a quiz – have a go, you can toot your own horn if you get 10 out of 10.
And that’s me signing off from this cycle of The Good Information Project. Adam Daly will be coming to you soon with our next cycle on the space race – so watch this space.
This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work is the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.
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Bypass of Galway City, and motorway from Cork to Limerick are two essential pieces of infrastructure that need to be built straight away, not to mention they should have been built 20 years ago.
@The Firestarter: that can wait. Motorway to the northwest is top of list – so much potential tourism wasted already.
@Peter McGlynn: motorway from Cork to Limerick is badly needed as there are lots of companies moving between Cork and Limerick. Needs to be connected ASAP.
@The Firestarter: a motorway to link limerick to cahir would make more sense.
@Welk wrangler: Why would that be then and in who’s interests?
@Welk wrangler: Really? It doesn’t to me and I’ll tell you why.
Limerick – Cahir – Cork -> 135kms
Limerick – Cork -> 98kms
If we build the motorway to Cahir the time will be 1hr 30 mins approx. The current trip on the old road is 1hr 20 mins. If we build the motorway from Cork to Limerick directly it will probably take 1 hour a saving of 30 mins. How much extra diesel/petrol will trucks/cars burn for years to come because you were too cheap to build the route the right way.
The savings will be lost by the extra fuel burnt by such a roundabout route over decades and more than likely the will realise this in 50 years end up building it anyway. Look at the Port tunnel, its not high enough. The extra lanes on the M50/M7. Do it right the first time.
There is no public transport outside of cities or town. Most towns dont have anything either. If you live in rural Ireland cannot drive you are in trouble as it will be a huge effort to go anywhere.
Take one issue and fix it. For example even getting a taxi in rural Ireland is a disaster. We do not allow uber here and have no alternative. So everyone drives. Getting a train to Dublin is too expensive. For a family return from Limerick is €200. Much cheaper to drive it. If rail transport was affordable people would use it more. We need a network of electric trains that are cheap to use not more greenways. We need more electric trams in all cities and big towns. Maybe even introducing cheaper car rentals rather than everyone buying their own cars.
@Diarmuid O’Braonáin: sure it’s the same here in Dublin. My niece has to travel from Dublin 12 to Dublin 14 the hospital in Churchtown. In my car it’s 15 minutes. As she doesn’t drive yet, she has to get the bus from Dublin 12 to Dublin 16 to get another bus to Dublin 14. Crazy!
We are one of the only places in Europe still using diesel trains for short suburban commutes. We have a long way to go.
When it’s cheaper to fill a tank with diesel or petrol than a train ticket something is seriously wrong.
Decision on navan rail line due shortly, that will tell alot about what the government and the powers that be think of transport outside of Dublin
They need to completely rethink the whole thing.. have some joined up thinking.. as in bus train car taxis flights…. All actually working together not against each other.. but that is not going to happen .. not an intelligent politician in sight and if there were ? the petty minded , self serving county councillors will fight them all the way.. all the egos sticking out their chests .. nope folks .. not in our lifetime.
As long as Ireland continues destroying rural Ireland with ribbon development and one off houses, there will never be enough population density to sustain mass public transport of a high standard or vibrant villages and county towns.
@John O’Halloran: feck sake you are after posting this nonsense a good few times. nobody is “destroying rural ireland” with those. Its just some mantra spouted by Dubs who want the whole countryside for themselves on the 1 or 2 days a year they decide to venture outside the M50
We Had Very Good Service Galway to Dublin serving the Midlands 20 an20 X BUSEIEANN Service Just Closed last month There’s Thinking For You
More than likely back to “A”
Train to Dublin Airport anything at all on tracks
@Gerard Heery: They’ll still be doing reports on that one in 20 years time. I love this country, but we are so far behind the times when it comes to public transport, motorways etc.
Ultimate mistake are the ever increasing “ Greenways” – what clowns decided to remove “ the permanent way “ – the clue is in the description .
A decent rail network for freight and public wound solve a multiple of issues .
That and a sensible time table to service school , college , office times etc ?
There’s been a lot of songs recorded about trains, my favourite one is ‘Orange Blossom Special’
We do what were told. Diesel and tailbacks for the next decade. Well done everyone.
Percy French nailed it years ago. “Are you right there Michael…….!!!”
I’m sure many of you know that Ireland once had more train track per area, than the UK and we were the first to have a monorail. Putting that to one side motorways are not the way forward even for electric veicles, mass transport, specifically rail is the only option, unfortunately so much of our network has been closed off or aold up that the arteries that could have pumbed the life blood back into Irelands transport network are gone forever and a new system needs to be on hand. The consensus in the US has lkng been that more motorways mean more cars, something we must get away from..At the same time we are also left with the oft troubling question of rural transport, wjich in this country is virtually none existant. Until both problems are addressed, in tandem, look forward to more delays, more pot holes and more cars.
Sorry for the misspelling, hadn’t got my glasses on
Percy French nailed it years ago – “Are you right there Michael………!!!”
Maglev
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