Traffic surge despite extra buses, Luas

MORE THAN 3,000 extra cars are now driven into Dublin city during the daily morning rush hour period than four years ago, despite an increase in buses and the introduction of Luas.

New figures, to be put before Dublin City Council’s traffic committee tomorrow, show an 11 per cent decrease in cars entering the city each morning over the last 10 years. However since a low of 60,600 cars making the morning 7am-10am commute in 2005, the amount of car traffic has increased annually to 63,976 last year.

A count of vehicles, taken at each road into the city centre between a cordon stretching from the Royal Canal on the northside to the Grand Canal on the southside, shows the number of cars, including taxis, increased by just 1 per cent last year. However, the increase in numbers choosing to use cars comes while more buses enter the city at rush hour.

When in 2005 there were 60,600 cars coming into the city, there were also 1,601 buses. The number of buses increased to 1,814 last year but without any corresponding decrease in people choosing to drive.

Green Party transport spokesman Ciarán Cuffe said Dublin Bus needed to do more to encourage people on to buses.

“Dublin Bus must also implement the recommendations in the recent Deloitte report on public transport which suggested changes in timetabling, reform of work practices and simplifying the route network,” he said.

The 10-year period from 1998 to 2008 has, however, seen an upsurge in cycling. Some 34 per cent more cyclists crossed the canal cordon last year than in 1998.

One of the largest increases in numbers cycling was last year, when an additional 8 per cent of morning peak cyclists brought the number to 6,143.

The number of pedestrians walking into the city increased from 15,565 in 1998 to 18,360 last year, a rise of 18 per cent. There was, however, a slight decrease last year of about 1 per cent in people walking into the city.

The points which saw the heaviest morning traffic last year are all on the northside. Binn’s Bridge on the Drumcondra Road saw an average of 5,442 cars, Clarke’s Bridge in Summerhill 4,260 and Newcomen Bridge on the North Strand 3,315 cars.

On the southside, traffic was heaviest at Leeson Street Bridge where 3,786 cars crossed between 7am and 10am. High volumes also passed Harold’s Cross Bridge (2,976 cars) and Dolphin’s Barn Bridge (2,942).