Friday, 29 March 2024
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Ireland’s Sustainable Mobility Policy shoots for €1m a day on active travel projects

Ireland’s Department for Transport has outlined its Sustainable Mobility Policy, within which there is an ambition to see €1 million per day spent on active travel projects in a bid to keep climate goals within reach.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton launched the Department of Transport’s Sustainable Mobility Policy last week, tying it to a vision to more than halve emissions by 2030.

The lofty and difficult target comes with the pledge to make cycling and walking a more natural choice and bring about a 10% reduction in the number of kilometres driven by fossil fuel powered cars by 2030.

Minister Ryan said: “This is an important new policy which is central to ensuring that we meet our ambitious climate targets. It is all about getting people moving in a greener way, by choosing walking, cycling or public transport over fossil-fuelled vehicles, and helping people choose more sustainable options. Sustainable mobility also helps improve our quality of life and bring life back into our cities, towns and villages. We’ve listened to our stakeholders in developing this policy and action plan to focus on the right measures to make it easier for more people to travel by sustainable modes and make fewer car journeys.”

As of 2020, road transport made up 94% of transport emissions and so critical to achieving the reductions will be the transfer of personal car use – that’s 74% of all journeys – to more sustainable modes. At present just 14% of journeys are made by walking, 2% by cycling and 7% by bus and rail.

Geographical differences are evident across the country and there are areas where best practice examples of stimulating cycling and walking have set a template for how to proceed for the Government. Eamon Ryan, in particular, has been active in engaging in active travel policy debates and has been seen to engage with the bike industry’s lobbyists on many occasions.

Minister Naughton said: “While sustainable mobility is a critical pillar of our climate agenda, the benefits are not just environmental. There are also health benefits, from increased physical activity and safer roads, societal benefits, from improved connections between our rural, urban and suburban communities, and economic benefits, from reduced traffic congestion and greater access to job opportunities. As we invest almost €1 million every day on walking and cycling projects, Phase 1 of the new Safe Routes to School Programme continues to roll out, targeting infrastructure to allow our children and their families to activate their daily commute to the classroom in a safe and sustainable way.”

Relevant policy shifts for the bike world include:

• Improving the safety of walking, cycling and public transport networks and making them more accessible for all users.

• Reallocating road space to prioritise walking, cycling and public transport.

• Making it easier to switch between different modes.

• A new Leadership Group to drive implementation of the policy and agree a programme of ‘pathfinder’ projects at local level.

• A new annual National Household Travel Survey.

• A new National Sustainable Mobility Forum to engage with stakeholders.

• A public engagement strategy to promote the benefits of sustainable mobility and raise public awareness of options.

As an aside to the cycling and walking perks, Ireland has now published a legislative programme for electric scooter usage, furthering efforts to pull people from cars for short journeys.