LIMERICK City and County Council aims to reduce car use into Limerick City by almost 30 per cent between now and 2040 – from 69.3 per cent down to 40 per cent.
Also, as part of the ambitious Limerick City Transport Plan, the local authority wants to increase public transport use from four per cent to 10.3 per cent, as well as increasing walking from 25 to 32 per cent in the same timeframe.
Speaking at the December meeting of Limerick’s Metropolitan District, senior engineer and head of the Council’s Travel and Transport Strategy, Hugh McGrath, gave councillors the results of two surveys carried out by the local authority in relation to their plans.
The top three findings, he revealed, included that 36 per cent of visitors to Limerick City visit by bus, the average spend is €60, and bus users account for 32 per cent of the spend.
He said the survey found that that transport to the city by bus is the highest, followed closely by car (35 per cent), and walking (20 per cent).
However, Fine Gael councillor Dan McSweeney was far from impressed and deemed the results of the survey as biased due to the fact that it did not ask “car-related questions”.
He also considered it “most alarming” that the input of elected representatives was not sought.
“People aged 55 to 74 are really important people that come into our city, but they’re completely ignored in the survey responses,” Cllr McSweeney claimed.
“Also people with disability and health issues – only 10 per cent of those people seem to have been surveyed.”
Cllr McSweeney also formed the view that people who drive cars and spend the most in the city, which he felt make up the largest numbers visiting the city centre, were overlooked.
“I believe a lot of that survey was biased towards the answers that we wanted to get. It’s biased because it doesn’t ask car-related questions,” McSweeney claimed.
Labour Party councillor Joe Leddin maintained that the rollout of local Park and Ride facilities needed to be a priority for the Council if it was to ever get a handle on traffic congestion.
“This very morning the utility trucks can’t get around one or two estates in Raheen because cars are parking all over the place as they walk to work in the hospital or wherever they’re going,” Cllr Leddin hit out.
Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan told the Council executive that her party were very committed to a modal shift in transport use.
“It’s very frustrating because, as a councillor, I think we’re going backwards,” she said.
Mr McGrath told Council members that the local authority is currently in talks with the National Transport Authority to progress a planning application for a Park and Ride facility at the Mackey Roundabout early in 2025.
Sinn Féin councillor Sharon Benson pointed to a lack of communication between the Council and Bus Éireann when roadworks are taking place and the impact it has on local bus services.
“I was up in Moyross on Friday and it was an absolute joke. There’s roadworks going on up there at the moment and the bus service was disrupted and residents were not informed.
“It’s not good enough to have elderly people standing in the cold waiting for a bus that they don’t know is coming because nobody told them,” Cllr Benson commented.
Fianna Fáil councillor Fergus Kilcoyne called on the Council executive to report back to councillors at regular intervals with updates on progress of Park and Ride facilities for Limerick.
“We have a major problem in Limerick. There’s congestion morning, noon, and night. If we don’t sort out the Park and Ride system, we’re going nowhere,” he concluded.
