DATA from the Central Statistics Office released this week revealed Limerick City has some catching up to do with Cork, Galway and Dublin in terms of people taking the bus or biking to work. Less than four per cent of people living in Limerick City commute to work by bus, while the figure is almost eight per cent for Galway, and just shy of 11 per cent in Cork.
Limerick also falls behind with only 2.4% of Limerick people cycling to work, less than half that of Galway.
Responding to the figures, Cllr Cian Prendiville, Solidarity, said that it shows “a lot more needs to be done to improve public transport and cycling facilities in Limerick”.
“I don’t see why Limerick couldn’t at least match the numbers using the bus and bike to get to work in Galway in the very short term. As it stands they are twice as good as we are,” said the Solidarity councilor.
Cllr Prendiville also believes with greater investment in bus and cycle lanes, as well as more frequent services Limerick could “easily double the numbers”. “Ultimately, we should be striving to match Dublin and the other big cities in terms of frequent and reliable public transport”, he added. Dublin’s figures were more than five times that of Limerick’s, but this takes into consideration services such as the DART and Luas.
Cllr. Prendiville has previously proposed that the Council work together with Bus Eireann to organise a ‘Car Free Day’ with free public transport in the city, something the council is currently considering.
“We need to encourage more people who maybe never take the bus, to give it a go. A Car Free Day with free public transport could be a great opportunity to do that, and be an important step in improving public transport, and bringing down the costs.”
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