greater dublin area transport strategy

to allow good planning you have to look at why people dont use public tranport

this can be summerised simply

1 no safe school transport in dublin so cars are used

If dublin had a school bus scheme similar to the rest of ireland with only schoolchildren carried then parents would be happy to allow their children to travel as it is not safe  in ireland to allow your child to walk cycle or bus on their own so a lot of parents drive short distances to school often between 500meters and 5 km.

2 cheaper to live outside the city so commuteing by car is the only option as no proper rural service

this is a problem started in the late 90s when people started to move outside county dublin and with few rail or decent bus services they bought cars to get to work i worked in wicklow myself and drove to wicklow town from finglas daily as my job was there.

3 not enough capacity on public transport

this is a big issue if people are left behind at bus stops or find they are always standing on the luas or train they will go back to driving so whatever route serves an area it needs to have the capacity to take at least 20 percent of that areas population at peak time.

4 poor times of operation

this is a big issue for public transport and needs to be seriously looked at when i worked in wicklow i did 3 shifts 8 to 4 4to 12 and 12 to 8 7 days a week none of those shifts were possible by bus or rail so i had to drive so the nta punishes people who work by not providing an alternative to driving. A lot of people work shifts that finish after the last bus and so are forced to drive,

5 high cost of public transport

whilst the transfer90 works great in dublin once you wish to travel outside the area which a lot of workrs do the fares increase dramaticly and often running a car is cheaper.

to encouage more cycling cycle lanes need to be made cycle friendly which means that those who use accessible bicycles and tricycles can access them which most currently cannot. better cycle parking at bus and rail stations incluing accessible parking is required.

A network of cycle only greenways could be created along side the main arterial roads and motorways that would be for cycles only no pedestrians 

when e scooters start to be legalised there may be problems with space in current  cycle lane s as e scooters and bikes fight for the same space .

with bike sharing schemes tricycles are required as the current schemes are excluding to those that cannot cycle unaided.

no new roads should be built unless they are for public transport routes current roads should be looked at for usage and damage. more roads should be brought under speed control and more traffic calming measures used.

where possible roads that are used as short cuts should have the short cuts removed 

when utilitie companies dig up roads they should be forced to reinstate the road properly.

potholes affect everyone including cyclists and pedestrians and a national program should be set up to remove them 

freight deliveries are always going to be an issue.

the best way to get freight elivered outside of peak times is to encourage companies to have nighttime opening for goods . a lot of trucks have to deliver in the city centre after 9am as these companies wont accept deliveries beforehand as they wont pay staff night rates so i might need  abit of persuasion.

another option is all deliveries within the canal area are done by small vans or licenced delvery bikes and if you need a truck delivery and wont allow a night delivery that you pay a fee to the council that costs more then a staff members wage

freight hubs can be built outside the city and rail used more to bring freight to the port for onward distribution within the city a new warehouse built at north wall could take a couple of trains every night with city centre deliveries been sent to it with onward small van deliveries out of it. 

to discourage trucks from the city more 3 tonne roads could be created and all toll roads be made free for freight carrying vehicles to discourage using national roads into the city.