I ended up on KFM (local radio) this morning debating congestion charges with Noel Shannon. I was listening to the programme at home yesterday morning (a rare treat, I was working from home) and they had some reaction from listeners to the idea of congestion charges and other transport proposals which the Minister had announced a day or two previously.

No-go zone: Congestion charges are working well in London

Now the traffic was pretty much one way (forgive the pun) and most callers were scathing in their criticism of the proposal although the cynics were out in force with one caller suggesting “Noel Dempsey only wants the money to give himself a new haircut”..

Anyhow I got my chance to respond this morning and went on the airwaves to defend the ideas. The point is, as I said in my interview, we have to move beyond the private car and onto more sustainable, environmental, safer, more efficient forms of transport. Fossil fuels will not be around forever and we have to embrace more sustainable forms. Even as an example of immediate local impact one has only to look around any modern estate and see the number of cars literally wedged up onto every kerbside to get an idea of how unhealthy our current rate of car dependency is. Although I acknowledge we cannot make the move overnight.

I do believe the government are pursuing a progressive approach and are quite correct to be flagging the possibilities at this stage. The Minister has clearly said such a charge would only be introduced when the various public transport infrastructure projects currently in progress are completed or at an advanced stage. The landscape and connectivity map of Dublin city and surrounds will be transformed over the next decade. It will be possible to board a LUAS at citywest or lucan, to travel from Sallins or Newbridge right onto Stephen’s green or Pearse, to travel to airport via Metro or onto north or southside DARTs all from the existing Kildare or Maynooth rail lines. (Ref here and here). And that’s before even looking at buses.

So a Kildare commuter would have multiple options to choose from, and if they don’t suit or if they aren’t close enough to a station, a combination of park and ride would allow drive the first leg, then board a LUAS or train at a convenient point to continue their journey into the city centre. Some of this can be done today (I often drive as far as the Red Cow LUAS park and ride), some of this will come over the next few years.

Noel gave me an example this morning of a pal of his who recently had to travel into Parnell street in the city and was cursing that the journey took him four hours to get in and out. This is a good example to examine how the congestion charge might work. Firstly you have to ask why did his friend need to drive to Parnell street in the first place. Of all locations, the city centre is particularly well served, even now, with public transport options. Any number of buses, trains, LUASs etc could have got him there with a minimum of fuss. Now it turns out the trip was a commercial one, the chap was on a job and needed a van with tools to come with him. Fair enough. Now if we go back to our congestion charge situation, and imagine the fully fledged network of transport in place our van driver who has a valid reason for driving into the charge area, should have a far easier run of it as the general public are using public transport instead. So his journey of four hours now becomes two hours or less. And lastly if he’s anything like any tradesmen of my acquaintance, he’ll keep the receipt and either bill the customer or the revenue for his 5 euro charge, so he won’t be out of pocket either way!