Car still king as fewer trips made by bus or walking

FEWER combined trips are made by walking, cycling or public transport compared with a decade ago as congestion returns to boom-time levels.

Startling new figures show that 30pc of people travelling for work or education use ‘sustainable’ transport modes compared with 32pc in 2006, with only bike use increasing to any noticeable degree over the decade.

Walking rates have dropped in all cities except Dublin; the bus accounts for a lower proportion of trips in the capital, Waterford and Limerick cities; while use of the train has fallen as a percentage of all journeys made in Galway.

Conversely, car use has risen in all cities, and now accounts for almost 58pc of all work and education journeys made compared with 2006, when it stood at 56pc.

This represents an additional 195,000 journeys. In some areas, more than 80pc of all trips are made by car.

The findings are based on Census data from 2006 and 2016, broken down to settlements of 50 or more dwellings.

Supplied by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Irish

Independent analysis highlights how commuters remain committed to the car, adding to growing congestion levels.

But it also highlights a lack of public transport services in many rural areas and smaller towns. But in many instances services are not being utilised.

The data shows changes in use of each form of transport over the decade:

■ Overall, the proportion of commuters using the bus has fallen, down from 12pc a decade ago to 10pc. This is a drop of 13,852 users;

■ Bus use has dropped in Dublin, Limerick and Waterford cities. Of 169 settlements for which data is available, bus use fell in 72;

■ It also reveals that 6,889 fewer people walked in 2016 compared with a decade previously. Overall, walking accounts for 14pc of all trips made, down from 16pc;

■ The highest walking rates are in Dingle, Co Kerry, accounting for more than onein-three (35.7pc) of all trips. The lowest walking rates are in Tower, Co Cork, at 2.6pc;

■ The percentage of trips made using rail or Luas for work or education has remained largely constant, rising from 2.6pc to 2.7pc. This equates to an extra 10,969 trips;

■ While efforts to encourage people to cycle have been most successful, rates only exceed 5pc of all trips in two areas, Dublin city (7pc) and Galway city (5.56pc).

In 2006, some 2pc of all trips were by bike. This has since increased to 2.68pc, representing an additional 28,163 trips.

After Dublin and Galway, the highest cycling rates are in Dundalk in Louth at 3.94pc, followed by Celbridge in Kildare at 3.6pc, Dungarvan in Waterford at 3.57pc and Killarney in Kerry at 3.38pc.

Fewer than 1pc of trips are made on a bike in 99 towns.

But the car remains king. More than 1.77 million rely on the car as their primary form of transport, either as a passenger or driver. This is 57.96pc of all trips, and compares with 1.57 million in 2006.

The highest use of the car is in Waterford city, at just over 65pc of all trips, followed by Cork (60.16pc), Limerick (57.88pc), Galway (53.58pc) and Dublin (42.04pc).

Reliant

In Munster, the highest rate is in Tower, Co Cork, where more than 80pc of trips are by car. Least reliant is Dingle, in Co Kerry, at 44.44pc.

Castlebridge in Wexford is most reliant in Leinster at 75.47pc of all trips, while the lowest usage is in Donabate, Co Dublin, at 41.43pc.

In Connacht, 76.53pc of trips are by car in Bearna, which is on the outskirts of Galway city, with the lowest rate in Clifden, Co Galway, at 48.93pc.

In Ulster, Cavan is tops with 68.59pc. Clones in Monaghan is least reliant at 51.46pc.

The National Transport Authority said work was under way to improve public transport services in many areas to make the system “more attractive and usable”.

This included works in towns like Kilkenny, Carlow and Cavan, as well as the Bus Connects programme in Dublin, Galway and Cork, which included a network redesign and investment in dedicated bus and cycle ro utes, but it said that jobs and schools had to be located in existing areas with good links to encourage use of sustainable modes.

“There are incidents where job numbers have done very well, but maybe there hasn’t been the same investment in public transport,” it said.