By electronic portal: nationaltransport.ie

Re. NTA Transport Strategy Issues Paper Feedback

Dear Ms. Graham,

I welcome the opportunity to make my views known on the new

Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area. My views are as follows:

Transport

and mobility strategies must be integrated with land-use strategies. There is an excellent opportunity to reduce the need to travel long distances by increasing employment opportunities in the towns within the extended commuter catchment, as well as by increasing the amount of housing within Dublin’s inner city. The 15-Minute City Project created by Dan Luscher deserves to figure in the strategy.

The reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions must be a key focus of your strategy if we are to take our climate commitments seriously. A presumption against  increased road capacity must be at the heart of the strategy, and road pricing merits careful consideration. If the strategy fails to achieve a significant decrease in carbon emissions in line with our Paris Agreement commitments it will have failed.

Covid has shown the importance of walking and cycling as commuter choices. Capital and current spending on active travel must be increased significantly. This will improve air quality by reducing travel using Internal Combustion engine vehicles. It will also encourage a healthier lifestyle. Given the increase in premature mortality amongst persons who are overweight and obese, it makes sense for transport strategies to seek an increase in active modes. It will also improve road safety. Implementing the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network that was launched eight years ago is long overdue, as well as rolling out the Dublinbikes Strategic Planning Framework that is now a decade old.

The pandemic has witnessed a significant increase in working from home amongst white-collar workers. Policies should seek to improve electronic connectivity allowing those who can to work from home on several days a week. Reducing the need to travel is desirable.

Improving air quality should be a significant goal in any transport policies. We know that transport-related emissions are leading to 1,500 excess deaths annually in the State, and the limited data that is available shows exceedances of Nitrous Oxides at certain locations within the study area it makes sense to encourage less-polluting forms of travel. It also would be useful to introduce low-emission zones in Dublin city centre.

The strategy should encourage both intermodality and multimodality journeys. The Leap card has been hugely useful, but there are opportunities for further developments in this area, such as facilitating access to shared mobility services at transport nodes. Through ticketing should be better facilitated and made seamless.  The experience of European continental cities such as Hamburg in Germany may be useful in this regard.

Reducing public transport fares and journey times, as well as increasing public transport priority and reliability should be a key focus. The city of Vienna in Austria has a €365 annual public transport ticket. This should be the aim for Dublin. Funding could come from cordon pricing at either the M50 or inner city canal cordon. The experience of Stockholm, Sweden is worthy of examination.

I wish you well with your review of the strategy.

Sincerely,

Ciarán Cuffe

MEP for Dublin

Link to submission here.