Park and Ride Strategy
The N81 is not serviced by the current Park and Ride Strategy for the GDA. The N81 travels through the Baltinglass Municipal District, which has a population of 26,000. It is an oversight in the GDA Transport Strategy 2022-2042 that there is no Park and Ride proposal highlighted for the N81, particularly given the proposed population growth in towns such a Blessington.
Proposed Punchestown Light Rail Service
As an area, there are historical links to rail travel in Naas, Poulaphouca and Blessington through various historical rail lines. In recent years, the populations of Naas (21,393) and Blessington (5,520) have increased dramatically and should continue to increase over the coming years. However, both areas are currently not well serviced by rail travel.
The GDA for the Dublin region should consider the feasibility of an Ultra Light Rail (ULR) or Very Light Rail (VLR) system to cover the Sallins - Naas - Punchestown - Ballymore Eustace - Russborough House - Poulaphouca - Blessington region. This would provide additional transport links for approximately 30,000 residents in the Kildare and West Wicklow area and provide a direct rail linkage between the existing Sallins rail network and surrounding towns.
More details of Coventry's proposed VLR system is here: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/verylightrail
In addition, Ultra Light Rail is detailed here: http://www.lctltd.co.uk/p/low-cost-light-rail.html
Cycling and Personal Mobility Devices
Transportation involves getting from a person's house to the relevant station or stop - be it rail, bus or otherwise. There should be a requirement for local authorities to prepare specific town-level transportation plans to enable the integration of cycling and personal mobility devices to the overall bus and rail network. For example, very few bus stops have stands for bikes to be locked to.
The ideal situation for residents of towns would be for a cycling and personal mobility device (e.g. scooter) rental scheme to be rolled out at a low cost of usage, similar to the existing Dublin Bike scheme. To achieve this, local authorities should prepare a personal transportation scheme network design for each town greater than 1500 residents (i.e. an defined as an urban area by the CSO).
Blessington to Newbridge Link
Currently there are proposals to introduce a local route link (183 & 884) between Blessington and Naas. However, no route is planned between Blessington and Newbridge. This would be important for a number of reasons, but primarily industry - there are large employers in the Newbridge area (Lidl, Pfizer, Dr. Pepper, Bord na Mona etc.) and schools. In areas where there is substantial industry, an increase in the amount of public transport should be proposed - particularly given the existing traffic congestion in towns such as Newbridge.
Transport links from major towns in the surrounding area such as Blessington to Newbridge & return should be included to encourage a modal change to public transport.