Irish Rail proposes Heuston to Connolly tunnel link
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I think you missed my point. I take the train everyday over my car because I believe that if we are to champion a solution we should use the solution.
Traffic in Dublin/Cork/Limerick/Waterford…etc, etc is a nightmare. We are over-reliant on the car. Enough of the clichés. My point was that if reliability is the reason why people returned to using the cars then we have a very difficult battle on our hands getting the Irish commuter public to use trains.
I do not trust Irish Rail with their existing strategy. The Irish Govt has proven itself wholly incompetent in relation to large scale infrastructure development. The Luas was a very expensive joke. I do not want to see another cent spent by these buffoons. This will be a case of throwing more good money…
1. Why not make these people accountable for the vast sums already spent. Let’s start by using capacity on the commuter trains as part of the ‘metro’ dart solution.
2. Why not insist on improving tax deductions to commuters. I previously lived in Belgium, where I commuted 100Km each morning. My monthly train ticket cost 40 euros and included metro, light rail, bus and commuter rail!!!!!!!!!!
3. Why not put regional development back on the agenda. Why do people living in Drogheda or Kildare have to travel to Dublin. Why does the government not actively promote Drogheda as a good location for fdi?@Frank Taylor wrote:
Of course functional public transport is not just measured by capacity but also by
- frequency,
- reliability,
- speed,
- comfort and
- cost.
Anyone of these factors can be enough to make someone switch back to car use.
In the case of your colleagues, they chose to stop using public transport because of reliability. Yet reliability does not have to improve to 100%: after all car use is not 100% reliable as AA Roadwatch informs us every morning.
@mickeydocs wrote:
I think you missed my point. I take the train everyday over my car because I believe that if we are to champion a solution we should use the solution.
Very few people base their decision to choose a method of transport on environmental or safety grounds. Nearly everyone is concerned with cost and convenience. I can dig up a UK survey showing this if you really want. This is why carfree day failed spectacularly.
@mickeydocs wrote:
Traffic in Dublin/Cork/Limerick/Waterford…etc, etc is a nightmare. We are over-reliant on the car. Enough of the clichés. My point was that if reliability is the reason why people returned to using the cars then we have a very difficult battle on our hands getting the Irish commuter public to use trains.
Yes, it’s very important for Irish Rail to improve reliability and publish targets and performance and outsource the bits they can’t manage themselves.
The Luas was a very expensive joke. I do not want to see another cent spent by these buffoons. This will be a case of throwing more good money…
Luas cost 31million per km. This was close to the original tendered contract price as distinct from estimates bandied about before the routes were even chosen. By western international standards this was high but not off the scale – Strasbourg and Rouen paid about the same for their light rail systems. During the public consultation and appeals periods land and wage costs increased enormously. It is early days to judge Luas yet but if it meets its passenger targets and costs close to its tender price, it will be hard to call it a failure. Those living along the lines have seen their property values increase by an amount which may well exceed the cost of the project.
1. Why not make these people accountable for the vast sums already spent. Let’s start by using capacity on the commuter trains as part of the ‘metro’ dart solution.
The Irish Rail interconnector plan involves increasing greatly capacity on existing lines
2. Why not insist on improving tax deductions to commuters. I previously lived in Belgium, where I commuted 100Km each morning. My monthly train ticket cost 40 euros and included metro, light rail, bus and commuter rail!!!!!!!!!!
Annual commuter tickets are fully tax deductible. I agree that subsidising fares is a good way of attracting people away from cars.
3. Why not put regional development back on the agenda. Why do people living in Drogheda or Kildare have to travel to Dublin. Why does the government not actively promote Drogheda as a good location for fdi?
The National Spatial Strategy and decentralisation attempt to do this. IDA Ireland is tasked with trying to get FDI away from Dublin:
http://www.idaireland.com/uploads/reports/Annual_report_03/fdi_contribution.html
I expect these initiatives to fail. It would make more sense to develop Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick.The farcical Nature of the train system at the moment is laid bare today with the proposed Ballinasloe-Galway Motorway which aims to reduce travelling times to under two hours – who the hell would bother with a train which takes over three hours at present from Heuston to Galway if this comes about. When all of the proposed railway infrastructure is in place (which I doubt will ever happen) the trains will still be running at 19th century speeds….
@mickeydocs wrote:
I think you missed my point. I take the train everyday over my car because I believe that if we are to champion a solution we should use the solution.
Traffic in Dublin/Cork/Limerick/Waterford…etc, etc is a nightmare. We are over-reliant on the car. Enough of the clichés. My point was that if reliability is the reason why people returned to using the cars then we have a very difficult battle on our hands getting the Irish commuter public to use trains.
I do not trust Irish Rail with their existing strategy. The Irish Govt has proven itself wholly incompetent in relation to large scale infrastructure development. The Luas was a very expensive joke. I do not want to see another cent spent by these buffoons. This will be a case of throwing more good money…
1. Why not make these people accountable for the vast sums already spent. Let’s start by using capacity on the commuter trains as part of the ‘metro’ dart solution.
2. Why not insist on improving tax deductions to commuters. I previously lived in Belgium, where I commuted 100Km each morning. My monthly train ticket cost 40 euros and included metro, light rail, bus and commuter rail!!!!!!!!!!
3. Why not put regional development back on the agenda. Why do people living in Drogheda or Kildare have to travel to Dublin. Why does the government not actively promote Drogheda as a good location for fdi?In answer – 1 – Commuter Trains, this morning I had the Joy of standing from Drogheda to Pearse, if this aint capacity I don’t know what is!
2 – Agree whole heartedly – I don’t enjoy spending almost 2k per annum for standing
3 – House prices are the reason people live in Drogheda or Kildare, it aint by choice you know! There is no value for money to be found in the City.Bet I was on the same train as you this morning – only I sat smug in my nice comfy seat 🙂 (actually they aren’t comfy but are a heck of a lot better than standing)
Any capacity increase along this line must be welcomed – there has been significant progress recently in off-peak services but not much in the way of alleviating peak problems. This new Balbriggan service in the evening will help a lot.
Agreed about tax deductions – public transport should be made as attractive as possible to those using private transport.
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