Decarbonisation
Decarbonise public transport GOAL
2 Goal 2 aims to reduce emissions by transitioning the bus, rail and small public service vehicle (SPSV) fleet across the country to low/zero emission vehicles in line with available technology. The actions under this goal are aligned with the actions in the Climate Action Plan 2021 to reduce emissions in the sustainable mobility sector.
In 2019 we committed to ending the purchase of diesel-only buses for our subsidised urban bus fleets. Our subsidised bus fleets in the five cities, as well as town, regional and Local Link bus fleets are beginning the transition to zero emissions vehicles through ongoing renewal of the existing fleets along with expansion of the fleets. A strategy will also be developed to enable the decarbonisation of commercial and subsidised long-distance bus services.
The scope to electrify suburban rail services in the other cities is being considered in the context of their metropolitan area transport strategies. The Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy envisages an electrified Cork suburban rail network and the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme will support this future electrification. Phase one of the programme is being funded through the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility and will address the existing rail bottleneck in the city centre, resignal the entire Mallow to Midleton/Cobh corridor and double-track a section of the corridor between Glounthaune and Midleton. Phase two of the programme will see the construction of additional stations and provision of additional fleet. Improvements are also planned for both Limerick and Galway commuter rail and the detailed delivery of those plans will be set out in their respective metropolitan area transport strategies, as to be published in the case of Limerick and revised in the case of Galway.
In rail, our key focus is to expand electrification. Under the DART+ programme in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA)14, electric and batteryelectric fleet will be purchased to extend DART services to Drogheda in the north, Maynooth and M3 Parkway in the West, Hazelhatch in the Southwest, and to increase services to Greystones in the southeast. This will increase the length of the rail network with electrified services from 50km to 150 km by 2030.
14 The GDA covers the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.
National Sustainable Mobility Policy | Principle 1: Safe and Green Mobility
Figure 7: Timelines and approximate number of buses for the five cities
Waterford Limerick Galway Dublin Cork
2021
2025
2030
n Diesel n Low Emission n Zero Emission
Inter-city and inter-regional rail travel are much smaller components of total annual passenger journeys compared to suburban rail journeys and the EU Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy notes that rail electrification may not be viable in all cases. The all-island Strategic Rail Review will consider the potential for enhanced inter-urban and inter regional connectivity in the coming decades, including the future decarbonisation of the network. In the meantime, increased investment in the inter-urban and regional network will improve journey times, enhance reliability and maintain safety across the system.
low/zero emission options. A strategy will be developed to enable further decarbonisation of the sector.
Expand availability of sustainable mobility
Improving active travel infrastructure in both urban and rural areas together with improved and expanded public transport services across the country is needed to reduce car dependency. Increased investment in walking and cycling infrastructure will provide a safe and connected network to those who wish to travel by active means.
The SPSV sector is an important part of the public transport sector. The transition of the SPSV fleet towards low/zero emission vehicles can contribute to achieving a substantial reduction in transport emissions and the Electric SPSV Grant Scheme has supported this transition in recent years. The decarbonisation of the taxi and hackney fleet is particularly relevant in our towns and cities due to the high mileage travelled by these vehicles, the stop/start nature of their work, as well as the predominance of fossil fuels within the sector. Increasing the uptake of electric vehicles in the SPSV sector also has a strong leadership effect by introducing more people to
Implementation of public transport projects such as BusConnects, Connecting Ireland, and the expansion of rail services and infrastructure will significantly increase the capacity and range of our public transport network and ensure that future increases in travel demand can be facilitated by greener, high-capacity public transport. We also recognise the value of our existing sustainable mobility system and the importance of protecting and maintaining it to ensure that it is resilient to the impacts of climate change and evolving uses and travel patterns.
National Sustainable Mobility Policy | Principle 1: Safe and Green Mobility
Expand availability of sustainable mobility in metropolitan areas
GOAL
3
Goal 3 aims to expand the capacity and availability of sustainable mobility in our five cities (Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford). This will be done through improved walking, cycling, bus and rail infrastructure, improved transport interchange and expanded public transport services. Transformed active travel and bus infrastructure and services in all five cities is fundamental to achieving the targets of 500,000 additional daily active travel and public transport journeys and a 10% reduction in kilometres driven by fossil fuelled cars by 2030.
Significant additional walking and cycling infrastructure will be delivered around the country by 2025, including in the five cities, under a new national active travel infrastructure programme.
Bike share schemes can reduce reliance on the private car for shorter journeys, facilitate multimodal journeys by providing ‘first’ and ‘last’ mile connections to public transport and offer a low-cost entry point for new cyclists. Public bike share schemes will be expanded in the cities and will include the provision of electric bikes in some schemes to extend the reach of journeys.
Pedestrian enhancement plans will be developed for each of the five metropolitan areas. These will set out proposals for the enhancement of pedestrian movement and the improvement of the public realm, including the potential to achieve improvements through both retrofitting of existing infrastructure and the provision of new infrastructure. The plans should take account of other sustainable mobility requirements and the needs of all users, including people with disabilities.
Recent years have seen increases in the use of public transport with over 290 million passenger journeys on subsidised bus and rail services in 201915. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this resulted in some public transport routes operating at full capacity creating peak-time crowding. While the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on travel demand is unclear, the capacity issues
National Sustainable Mobility Policy | Principle 1: Safe and Green Mobility
which occurred prior to the pandemic along with the fact that 62% of journeys in urban areas in 2019 were by private car, highlights the need for a significant expansion of our public transport network and services. Public transport is also an essential support for the night-time economy and late night and 24-hour public transport options are important to meet the travel needs of latenight/early morning commuters and support the night-time economy of our cities and other urban areas.
of improving people’s accessibility and increasing modal shift. Improved and expanded bus services and infrastructure are a key priority, and in the five metropolitan areas, these improvements and expansions will be delivered through BusConnects programmes in each. BusConnects programmes comprise a number of different elements including the network redesign of bus services and the development of core bus corridors infrastructure, including segregated cycling facilities, on the busiest routes to make journeys faster, predictable and reliable. BusConnects will enhance the capacity and potential of the public transport system by increasing and replacing the bus fleets with low emission vehicles and
Our bus system carries by far the greatest number of passengers across the public transport system and improvements to it are vital in the context
Figure from page 38
National Sustainable Mobility Policy | Principle 1: Safe and Green Mobility
introducing a new system of Next Generation Ticketing and cashless payments. Increasing the attractiveness of bus systems in the cities will encourage a modal shift away from private car use, leading to a reduction in congestion and associated costs in the major urban centres. Prioritised bus lanes will also be provided on a number of national radial routes to the M50 to address congestion.
once completed, will provide a sustainable, safe, efficient, integrated and accessible public transport service between Swords, Dublin Airport and Dublin City Centre. This new link will form a key spine of the overall integrated public transport system for Dublin, alongside BusConnects and DART+, and facilitate compact, transport-orientated development at key locations. In relation to light rail, design and development of other light rail projects within the GDA and Cork are continuing while the feasibility of light rail in Galway will be considered as part of the review of the Galway Transport Strategy which will commence in 2022.
In the five metropolitan areas there are a number of opportunities to further develop the role of rail as part of an integrated public transport system. Investment in high-capacity public transport, such as rail, also provides an opportunity to unlock lands for large-scale housing delivery and enable transport-orientated development at key strategic locations in each of the five metropolitan areas. Across the GDA, the DART+ Programme will ultimately treble the length of electrified services, with a new ten-year procurement framework already in place for new fleet and construction to start initially on DART+ West followed by the other projects within the overall programme – DART+ South West, DART+ Coastal North and DART+ Coastal South. The Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme is underway which will ultimately deliver electrified services on Cork suburban rail and enable transport-orientated development at a number of important sites across the metropolitan area. In Limerick, plans are well advanced in relation to developing both the facilities at Colbert Station and the lands around the station for residential development, while proposals are being developed for the expansion of its commuter rail network. In Galway, works will shortly commence in relation to the redevelopment of Ceannt Station and Oranmore Station both of which support the delivery of residential development in their immediate hinterlands while further proposals are under development in relation to the Athenry to Galway Corridor generally. Finally in Waterford, plans are well-advanced to relocate the existing train station to a new location on the North Quays as part of a wider urban regeneration project.
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