Sir, – It seems almost anyone you speak to will acknowledge that what Dublin most needs is not a linear mega-project transport solution which will take years to deliver and will tear the place apart. It needs an expanded light-rail network which can be delivered in this lifetime, at reasonable cost and with minimal disruption. In the meantime, could we please finally tackle the litter, dereliction and general deterioration of the fabric of the city centre or else nobody is going to be in a great hurry to go there in the first place. The solutions have been obvious for years and discussed here at length, but somehow nothing seems to happen. In fact it just gets worse. If it takes establishing a mayoral role with executive powers, let’s have that. – Yours, etc,
Dr DAVID O’CONNELL,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – Duncan Stewart is “concerned” about the carbon impact of building Dublin’s Metrolink from the city centre to Swords, but he doesn’t seem to be adequately informed on the project or its priorities, which are carbon reduction (News, March 27th).
According to the 2016 census, 8,000 people from Swords travelled from Swords to the city or beyond for work or study. This increased to 9,000 in the 2022 census. The census in both years showed that 88 per cent travelled by private vehicle. This figure is not falling and congestion from this side of Dublin is severe. The number of vehicles for 2016 is approximately 5,100 making a round-trip of a total of 30km each day. By 2022, the new census showed an increase of around 1,000 commuters leaving from Swords. This is an additional 880 cars.
For the 2016 census, that would have been 15,3000km per day in private vehicles. To replace this by bus you would need a convoy of 58 Dublin buses, which would themselves still be subject to congestion, although it would be reduced. To put this into context the main Dublin Bus route to the area, the 41, has just 66 each way on weekdays. To move this number of commuters in just the hours of rush hour would require almost as many buses as run in the entire current weekday timetable. Metrolink expects to move 20,000 users per hour. Furthermore, if those 5,100 round trips take place 230 days of the year, for an average working year, that is a total of 35,190,000km per year. The carbon output of this in metric tons for even a basic petrol car (not a luxury vehicle) is 6,133.62 metric tons of carbon per year. This does not count the additional 880 daily round trips added in 2022, which add another 1,000 metric tons of carbon per year. If the Metrolink is delayed, as expected, until 2037, with similar growth, we would expect the carbon output alone of driving commuters to exceed 10,000 metric tons of carbon per year, based on the calculations at sustainabletravel.org. – Yours etc,
LAURA FARRELL,
Swords,
Co Dublin.