Any action to remedy Dublin's chronic traffic congestion must be hailed as timely and welcome, but the chaos caused this week by a widespread series of traffic-light malfunctions has brought an added urgency to yesterday's unveiling of the Dublin Transportation Office's short-term action plan. The crisis facing the DTO - and Dublin's long-suffering commuters - has two main causes. The first is the "slippage" in the Dublin Transportation Initiative strategy since it was devised in 1994 - mainly the delays in the completion of the C-Ring Motorway and the construction of the Port Tunnel, as well as the controversial review of the Luas project ordered by the present Government. The second is the explosive growth in the number of cars on our streets and roads, an unwelcome but inevitable side-effect of the State's economic upsurge in recent years.
About 150,000 new cars will be bought this year, almost treble the rate of purchase of the mid-1980s, and car numbers already exceed those predicted by the DTI for 2001. Given the confident forecasts of continued prosperity - and the alarming fact that Ireland still has one of the lowest rates of car ownership in the EU - this trend is likely to continue. The plain truth is that Dublin is en route to complete arterial blockage - unless thousands of drivers can be persuaded to use public transport, cycle or walk.
Key elements in the DTO's latest proposals for public persuasion include: completion within two years of the 11 "quality bus corridors" proposed in the DTI strategy; an extra corridor to Ballymun; a significant increase in the bus fleet and the sub-contracting of school bus runs to private operators to boost Dublin Bus capacity by 21,600; additional DART and suburban line rolling stock, enabling more than 11,000 more passengers to be carried at peak hours; an extra 100 kilometres of cycle track and more parking places for bicycles; an end to tax incentives for multi-storey car-parks in the city centre and the provision of suburban car-parks linked to bus-routes. In addition, the DTO proposes the extension of the Garda's "Operation Freeflow" throughout the year - rightly remarking that enforcement is critical to its success.
These essential measures must be implemented thoroughly and urgently - and in this respect a firm Government commitment on funding would be welcome. But as the DTO admits, despite their ambitious scope and their price-tag of £172 million, they amount to no more than a short-term attempt to cope with a deepening crisis. In the words of Mr John Henry, chief executive of the DTO, "the plan addresses the issue in the short term, but for the longer term we must realise that the car cannot solve our transportation problems. A change in attitude towards the use of the car as a means of travel is needed. Public transport and other sustainable modes such as cycling and walking are the only means of securing the future of the city". Mr Henry is stating the obvious. But there is little sign that anyone in Government has the over-arching vision, commitment and energy needed to face this formidable challenge.