The number of cars entering Dublin city centre during peak morning commuting time has dropped by over 10,000 since 1997.
Figures released by Dublin City Council show that the number of cars that crossed the city's canals in rush hour last year was down to 63,509.
The figures, which follow monitoring of traffic crossing the Royal and Grand Canals over two days last November, reveal that the number of people walking into the city increased by 4.2 per cent in 2003. However, there was only a 0.9 per cent increase in cycling over the 2002 figures.
Taxis now account for 4.5 per cent of all cars making an inbound journey across the canal ring between 7 and 10 a.m. - up from 3.9 per cent in 2002. The number of Dublin Bus services entering the canal zone in 2003 was the same as it was in 2002.
Mr Owen Keegan, Director of Traffic at Dublin City Council, said yesterday the overall figures were "very encouraging". However, he said the fact that cycling showed only a small increase was disappointing. Mr Keegan stressed that the canal cordon count was by no means the full picture of what was happening on a region-wide basis.
The number of cars entering the city are set to decline even further when LUAS is up and running later this year. DART improvements are also due to raise the proportion of commuters arriving by public transport.