The Cork Commuter Coalition is very pleased to hear of the announcement of investment in the Cork suburban rail line as part of the Government’s Economic Recovery Plan announced on June 1st, 2021. We have been advocating for fast-tracking of aspects of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy for several months, so are of course pleased that elements of CMATS plans for the commuter rail system are to be expedited; especially insofar as to be included with the Covid recovery schemes. The construction of new aspects of this line will provide employment, while also making Cork a more attractive destination for tourism, foreign investment, and enabling more flexible commuting for people in Cork and Cork’s metropolitan area.
The aspects of this announced scheme include the double-tracking of the Glountane to Midleton railway infrastructure, the construction of a new through running platform at Kent Station, and improved signalling operations. Greater movements towards the opening of new stations at Blarney/Stoneview, Blackpool/Kilbarry, and Tivoli are also welcome, especially with the focus on transit-oriented development around these stations, which will make using the rail system easier for existing and future residents of these areas. This is also necessary for improving transportation links on Cork’s Northside, which has seen little of the investment in active travel and public transport provided to the Southside throughout the past year and a half. Paving the way for systemwide electrification is also welcome, both from an environmental perspective, as well as the increased reliability which electrified services can bring.
While this investment remains very positive news, there are of course additional, low-effort works that can be done to further improve the Cork suburban rail. We call on the government to investigate improved system branding (similar to the DART system branding), publish information relating to the expected service pattern owing to the construction of the through-running platform at Kent Station, and to introduce free or flat-rate system transfers between bus and rail to create a truly integrated public transport network. While yesterday’s announcement is welcomed, the lack of specific published timeframe, beyond defining it as ‘before Budget 2022’ is a puzzling omission. Despite the dedication to improving capacity on the line, there also has been no mention of the deployment of additional rolling stock on the line. We have also contacted the Department of Transportation for further information about the itemized budget for this investment project, as well as a more detailed timeline.
Nonetheless, this has been a very appreciated announcement, and will make public transport usage easier, cheaper, and more feasible for tens of thousands of Corkonians. We look forward to the implementation of this, and hope to see similar expedited schemes for Cork’s light rail network and BusConnects Cork.
The first in a series of articles about Ireland’s intercity network, its future, and how it can work for everyone in Ireland
Ireland’s intercity network is, simply put, not that great. Both the extent of the network, and consequently, the service provided, are not at the standard of a modern European nation. Indeed, the Irish rail network is not even at the standard of a hundred years ago, when the network stretched from Mizen Head to Malin Head, and even Bantry was only a two hour rail trip away. In the 1950s and 60s, over 4,000km of rail was slashed forever, and what little infrastructure remained non-extensive, and hopelessly Dublin-centric. While there have been a few kernels of gold over the years – recent signalling upgrades being one of them – by and large the network, and the quality of service to rural Ireland has remained incredibly stagnant.
The rail network in 1920 vs the rail network in the early 2010s… how the mighty have fallen
It is currently the case that massive swathes of the country have no rail service whatsoever. There are major gaps in the network – there is no rail in West Cork, or the entire counties of Donegal, Monaghan, and Cavan – and what rail does exist in some counties is also rather barebones. There are towns that lie on rail lines, such as Buttevant and Annacotty, which trains simply bypass, as they possess no station. It’s no stretch to say that there’s hundreds of towns around the nation who’d give their right arm for a train station with regular service.
There is also significant disconnect with the aims of successive Irish governments in attempting to reinvigorate rural life. For instance, many ‘gateway hubs’ identified in Ireland’s previous National Planning Framework spatial strategy scheme – such as Letterkenny, Cavan and Monaghan Towns, did not possess any rail link, nor any plans to deliver one. Naturally, this lack of connection makes it more difficult to live and work in the country. This effectively serves as one more form of disinvestment in Ireland’s rural areas, and factors into a far greater debate about the prioritization of urban Ireland over rural Ireland, especially the West. In effect, a major public service is denied to many of those living in these regions. Those living in rural areas are forced into car-dependency, and have far fewer options for transport as a result – indeed the cost of owning and maintaining a car is also an issue for those who live in one area and work in another. This also has problems for Ireland’s climate targets, as many in rural Ireland who wish to undertake journeys sustainably are simply unable to.
Even towns and cities that are connected by rail have this Dublin-orientation that inevitably affects their performance. Cork and Wexford are both *technically* connected by rail, yet there is no direct route. What could be a nice, 80 minute coastal jaunt of 140km becomes a far less attractive, five-hour pilgrimmage of Cork-Dublin-Wexford. There is no direct rail service between Cork and Galway, Ireland’s second and third biggest cities.
The overall lack of connectivity impacts the effectiveness of the intercity rail, and is used for circular reasoning of lack of investment – what is believed to be lack of interest in rail usage is used as justification for not rolling out large railbuilding schemes; whereas in the rare occasion that new services are unveiled, they routinely surpass service expectations, as has been the case for the first phase of the Western Rail Corridor.
The Benefits of Rail Faoin Tuath
This self-immolative policy is all the stranger when taking into account the benefits that rail can bring to rural towns and regions. Rail can be a cornerstone of a strong strategy – coupled with other infrastructure and placemaking investments – to properly support rural Ireland. Towns and regions that have a rail service become more attractive for investment from businesses, attract more tourism, and become better places to live in. The addition of a regular, reliable rail service is often key to the reinvigoration of declining towns, with the growth and success of towns is often tied to the travel distance between nearby centers. Of course, there is the obvious benefit of simply providing improved transportation links to the resident population.
Rail helps small towns to grow, both economically and population-wise – a major boon when the trend for so many has been the outward movement of young people. Towns and villages with railroad access act as a stronger draw to business. There is also major opportunity to use new station developments as an opportunity to relook at land use as a whole, and couple rail investments with new plazas and cycle paths, to really move away from a car-centric model and move towards one with a lot more consumer choice. Stronger towns also provide benefits for Ireland’s spatial planning – namely getting more jobs and people out of the Dublin Region and into areas that need them most, which can help contribute to a positive feedback loop of regeneration for smaller towns.
The benefits of rail in a post-Covid future are also immense. The rise of working from home, combined with a planned rollout of rural co-working hubs spells massive opportunities for rural and regional towns. Combined with the ability of railway stations to generate development around themselves, known as transit-oriented development – could mean a massive investment in the futures of so many rural towns and villages. Those who were previously city dwellers could instead have the option of living in the countryside, with an easy commuting option for if office meetings become necessary.
Of course, there are also significant benefits for tourism too, which already makes up a large part of the local economy of many smaller towns. One can only imagine what a draw that a ‘Wild Atlantic Way by rail’ would be, especially with the prospects for promotion and funding that the EU’s Interrail scheme would bring.
If you didn’t know any better, this could be Letterkenny Railway Station
The All-Island Rail Strategy
Last week, the Irish and Northern Irish governments launched a combined effort at reviewing the island’s railways. There is a massive opportunity in this, to rectify the past Dublin-centricity of the network itself. So naturally, there’s some major projects which we believe would benefit the network – what we view as less of a wish list, and more of a ‘to-do list’.
First of all, a South-West rail corridor would allow trains to go between Cork, Waterford, Wexford, and Rosslare Europort, a route with renewed importance given the massive post-Brexit uptick in trade at both Rosslare and Cork ports. The group South East on Track has provided excellent analysis of the Wexford-Waterford segment of this route.
One potential alignment of a resurrected Cork-Waterford-Rosslare route
The full reopening of the Western Rail Corridor would be a major boon to the network too, not just for the service it would provide to those living on it, but also by being a key piece of infrastructure for longer intercity journeys. Of course, other notable gaps also need correcting, such as a north-south rail corridor connecting the county of Donegal to both Sligo and Derry, who have been deprived of rail for too long. Other notable areas which lack rail, such as Shannon (and its airport) and Navan are also no-brainers. Other direct train services along existing routes are also needed, such as Cork to Limerick/Galway direct trains, which would certainly up connectivity between the counterbalance to Dublin. There is also massive potential in bringing railways back to West Cork – so much so that there’ll be another article detailing here in the coming weeks (stay tuned!).
The expectations of usage for railways in Ireland have consistently defied expectations – the Ennis-Galway rail link has passenger numbers above expectations, as have other links on the network. History has proven that if rail service is provided in a reliable, integrated fashion, it will be used. The point of this article isn’t to aimlessly harangue Iarnród Éireann either – when the system works, it works, and Cork to Dublin passenger numbers increase year on year for good reason – and this type of good, effectual service should be accessible to the vast majority of people in Ireland, no matter where they live.
Presented below is the text of the submission in relation to the Cork-to-Limerick motorway on behalf of the Cork Commuter Coalition. (15/01/21)
The Cork Commuter Coalition is a citizens’ group advocating for improved public transport and sustainable mobility in the Cork City region. Below is our submission in relation to the Cork to Limerick motorway.
To begin, we would like to state that we are opposed to the concept of this project. Our mission statement supports sustainable transportation that removes cars from the road, not one that engages in transportation policy from a bygone era. This project is going to make achieving Ireland’s climate targets more difficult, which are a necessity if we as a nation are to successfully play our part in tackling climate change. Almost 20% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, with 95% of that coming from private road transportation.
This motorway project is also going to make Ireland’s Project 2040 mobility targets more difficult to achieve. We also fear that the reality of induced demand for motor projects such as this is going to render its effectiveness moot within a short period of time, leading to further congestion, gridlock, and degradation of our urban environments.
However the political reality is that this project is going ahead, and therefore we wish for this to proceed in the least harmful way, insofar as that is possible. As such, we support other measures to support sustainable mobility to accompany this project, such as major investment in rail transportation, pedestrianization, and cycling in the town and city areas which this project will affect.
Given that there is a general commitment on behalf of the government to place more investment in public transport than motor transport, we would hope that this is followed by a corresponding investment in pedestrianization and cycle measures in towns of Mallow, Charleville, and others. Other small towns across Europe serve as a model for creating robust mobility plans that can easily be adapted to Ireland. One potential investigation could be the pedestrianization of the ‘main street’ areas in these towns. Similarly, replacement of on-street parking with cycle lanes, and the placement of bicycle parking in these towns would be a positive step forward in ensuring these places are vibrant and lively places to live.
In relation to the project itself, we would also like the NTA to Investigate the use of a bus lane hard shoulder on this road for use by various intercity bus services. We’ve seen elsewhere in the world, such as London and Belfast, that even in highly motorized environments, additional bus lanes such as these provide time benefits and incentivizes public transport usage, all while ensuring that the road remains safe.
We also recognize that this is an opportune time to invest in rail transportation between Cork and Limerick. There currently exists no direct Cork to Limerick train service. This project would be improved significantly if accompanied by this service, which can also continue on to Galway, as well as further north should the Western Rail Corridor be completed. This can be accomplished by making necessary upgrades at Limerick Junction, where passengers are currently required to change trains in order to travel between the two cities. The creation of a
direct service will improve connectivity between the two regions, improving ease of access, and aid the Munster growth pole to successfully counter the dominance of the Dublin Region.
The Cork to Limerick rail line is a vital piece of infrastructure for both cities, and we are glad that this centrality has been recognized in other transportation plans, such as CMATS. As such, we would hope that this could also expedite the construction of stations through CMATS, notably at Blarney/Stoneview, Monard, and Blackpool/Kilbarry, all of which lie along the Cork-Limerick train line. Beginning the construction of these stations sooner rather than later will allow fast, reliable public transport to be accessible to thousands of people who currently lack it. We also support the reopening of the station at Buttevant, a town which currently lies upon the main rail line, though has no station. This would be a relatively easy move to make rail transport easier to access for those who live in rural Cork.
Though not strictly the domain of a Cork-based group, as supporters of a stronger national rail network, we were disappointed that the Limerick-Shannon Metropolitan Area Transportation Strategy (LSMATS) was so lacking in development of train stations within the Limerick City region, especially as Limerick is fortunate enough to have a train line run through major urban centres in the city region. As such, we encourage the NTA to re-examine the feasibility of new train stations within the Limerick City areas, and a rail spur to Shannon Town and Shannon Airport. Other aspects of LSMATS, such as the double-tracking and potential electrification, should also be examined as to whether these can be accelerated in terms of delivery.
While we acknowledge that this is primarily a consultation for a road-based project, it would be negligent for the government to not consider accompanying this with significant investment in public transportation and sustainable mobility in the Cork and Limerick regions.
We thoroughly welcome today’s announcement of an additional cross-city Bus Éireann route between the CUH in Bishopstown and Glanmire, operating through the city center. This will improve cross-city connectivity, including suburban-to-suburban access, a service type that is frequently omitted from, or underserved in city transit plans. This will also be of benefit for the many essential workers that commute from Glanmire to the largest healthcare facility in Munster. We imagine that this will likely take the form of some of the measures contained in the BusConnects plan for Cork City that is contained in the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy.
In addition, we are grateful that at a time when many cities across the world are reducing service frequency or slashing routes, that the Department of Transportation, National Transit Authority, and subsidiary organizations are not doing so. We also welcome the increase in frequency on the existing Cork to Glanmire route, as well as the rollout of additional weekend and evening services on the 202 and 208 routes. This echoes a pledge made last month to investigate moving up the delivery times of some of the goals contained within CMATS, which we have lobbied for.
However, we are eager to see these measures accompanied by improvements to bus infrastructure, notably bus priority measures, which ensure that reliable service times can be seen, which increase passenger usage and satisfaction. We have seen the rollout of sustainable mobility infrastructure across Ireland in the past year at a speed rarely seen, and we urge the Department of Transportation to support Cork City Council in both the funding and construction of additional bus priority measures infrastructure for this, and other services. We believe this can ensure the new route is a success, and ensure a more accessible Cork City for all commuters.
Transit projects generally don’t come cheap. For a variety of reasons, building new rail can cost hundreds of millions of euros, with large scale schemes usually costing in the billions. Unfortunately, the cost of projects generally tend to eat up a lot of discussion space around new infrastructure, especially for large plans, as opposed to debate on its merits or focus on the benefits it brings. In addition, the claim of ‘how can we afford this’ is one of the chief criticisms levied at many Irish mass transit plans. So in the interest of open and honest discussion, in this article we’re going through the costs of Cork’s future light rail system, including where the money goes, why projects cost so much, and finally how the price compares to Dublin’s Luas.
In August of this year, we provided an analysis of the expected costs of the Cork Light Rail, and how it compares to other major light rail transit projects. The Cork Light Rail carries a price tag of €1 billion, per the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS), and breaks down to a cost of approximately €60 million per kilometer. This is all inclusive, with station construction, light rail vehicles, and labor costs all factored into this price. The price is above average for a number of projects, but is by no means extortionate for a major transit project. It costs about on par with Edinburgh’s network, is more expensive than several European projects, and is cheaper than major schemes in cities like Boston, Sydney, and Québec City.
our analysis of how Cork compares to other projects, per kilometer
While numbers are all well and good, they don’t tell us all that much in isolation – it’s certainly a lot more handy to understand what happens to all this money, and why the costs are a bit different from city to city. One of the big questions is simply ‘where is the money going?’ – understanding where the money goes is a key aspect of moving the discussion onward. Transit projects have a great number of different factors for price, and of course, the Cork light rail is no different.
Tram vehicles themselves cost about €3 – 5 million each, depending on the vehicle itself, and the offer that the relevant government organization is able to negotiate. CMATS details that the Cork light rail will require about 27 trams to make good on a promise of 2 – 5 minute headways, with a subsequent price range of €81-135 million. Rails, signalling, and other engineering works are also a significant aspect of the financial process – in the case of Cork, this is likely to face additional challenges in that much of the city is built on former marshlands and former canals. As well, many of the bridges in Cork City will likely have to be reinforced or built anew to cope with the increased pressure that a rail system will place, while an additional one is to be built between Kent Station and the Docklands.
A new bridge for public transportation will connnect Kent Station with the Docklands
Tram stop construction – while some stops are more grandiose than others, most adhere to a basic but functional design. Station costs vary, ranging from about €4 million to €12 million, though this too is affected by land values. Costs for Cork’s 25 stops may be similar to Dublin’s currently under construction Pelletstown station, currently priced at €10 million. Compulsory purchase orders are orders from the government to a landowner to sell all or part of their land to them, as said land is deemed necessary to the overall success of the project. This generally resembles one of two things : purchase of farmland or green space in suburban or green belt areas, or purchase of front and back yards in semi-urban or urban areas. Landowners are compensated at market value for their land. Amongst others, CPOs will likely be necessary at points along the Model Farm Road and College Road areas, both semi-urban areas.
Construction labor as a major infrastructure project, the construction aspect of the Cork Light Rail is to create a large number of jobs over the course of approximately a decade. Of course, these workers will and should be paid a fair salary for their labor. Planning processes generally begin the whole proceedings, and the number of civil engineering works to ensure the safe construction are significant. Initial planning takes approximately a year, and are currently under the tender process.
What Cork’s stops will likely resemble – pictured, the Dundrum Luas stop
These are pretty stagnant factors, as every major infrastructure project has to consider these as a given. However, there are a number of different factors that make the system more or less expensive to build, and here is where we see real variance in the prices of actually building systems. What makes projects more or less expensive, and how does that relate to Cork?
Terrain – one of the major issues with building rail projects is the terrain itself. It’s rather easy to build a rail segment on flat, well drained soil, but takes more effort to build on anything else – such as the marshy soil of Cork. The route itself is a major one, and depends what the overall objective of the project is. A shorter one which runs solely in the main urban area may be shorter as its goal is to ease cross-city congestion; a longer one may aim to replace cars as ; others still aim to generate urban areas around it by encouraging development of new urban population centers. The amount of stops also comes into account as, simply put, more stops cost more money, and the amount of stops necessary differs according to the layout of the area, the route that it takes, and route-adjacent areas that are zoned for development. Land value is a factor into all of this too, with necessary purchases for elements such as station land and routeways determined by the market pricing, which tends to be higher in larger urban centers, as well as subject to local demand pricing as well.
Some tram systems also have underground segments, usually for the city center areas, which adds to the cost significantly. This is usually done where engineering works in the city center are effectively prohibitive for one reason or another, so it becomes easier to just run a small segment of rail underground. This isn’t the case anywhere in Ireland, though systems in Seattle and Boston, amongst others, do run this model. Expanding an existing system is usually a bit cheaper than building one from scratch, simply because a lot of the existing infrastructure already exists; a signalling station may be upgraded rather than built from scratch, and a similar thing happens with depots. Portions of existing track may get used by the new extension, and fewer studies have to be done in order to expand, as a lot of information (such as local engineering and land values) is already on hand. Experience is notable too, as some countries which have embarked in building light rail projects in the past gain more than simply improved transit infrastructure, they also gain experience that can be placed toward future projects. For example, after building a half-dozen systems successfully, authorities will have a far improved idea of ‘what works well’ and ‘what doesn’t’, which can be put towards future systems, likely cutting down on costs in certain areas as well.
Underground stops, such as in Seattle, add significantly to costs
No matter what happens overseas, though, the closest frame of reference is undoubtedly Dublin’s Luas. The system tracks in at an inflation adjusted cost of €992 million euro for 25km of track, about €40 million/km to Cork’s €60 million/km. When the numbers are said and done, it seems that Dublin gets more trackage for less money. So why is that – is Cork playing second fiddle to Dublin once again?
One reason may come back to land value. Dublin’s Luas Green Line did not go through the city center at all upon its original construction, with it terminating on the edge of the central area. Dublin City is laid out differently, having a multitude of potential corridors and town areas which could have been connected – indeed the numerous public policy plans over the years have many different routes which were conceived of. Whereas Dublin is almost concentric, Cork’s development is clearly linear. As such, both segments of the Luas passed through primarily suburban and secondary urban centers, whereas Cork’s planned system passes through more of Cork’s city center from the outset, spending about 5km (or about 30pc of its total route) in the main city center area. As a bit of an anecdotal comparison, Cork’s will run on Patrick Street from day one, whereas it took a major expansion 12 years for Dublin’s to run on O’Connell Street.
Of course, the city center corresponds with higher land values. And that construction in the primary urban area takes a lot longer than construction in suburban or secondary urban areas, out of a desire to avoid causing complete havoc to commuters, sometimes only occurring on weekends or at nighttime. This drags the project out, also increasing labor costs. Another reason may simply be Cork is a bit more difficult to build on – given its frequent flooding, loose soil, and many bridges and hills. Miracles of modern engineering mean that these are surmountable challenges of geography, though likely results in the end price being brought up a little.
Light rail going up Patrick’s Hill will be Cork’s moon landing – video from SYSTRA
In short, Cork’s unique geographical layout and city growth pattern means that light rail is just a little bit more expensive, though is by no means prohibitively expensive. And when the numbers are crunched and compared to elsewhere, we’re certainly not getting fleeced. Indeed, as it makes transportation easier and more reliable, we’ll surely come to see that light rail for Cork is worth every penny.
The Black Ash Park and Ride was set up in 1997 as a way to relieve traffic congestion in Cork City around the Christmas period. It was quite a simple plan – almost 300 parking spaces would be reserved for cars, where families could drop the car, hop on one of the dark green buses, and be in the city center within about 15 minutes. This experiment was an unbridled success, and the facility off the Kinsale Road Roundabout was expanded a number of times, now having year-round service, and over 900 spots. In 2018, it recieved an alteration to its route, now having 8 stops in total, including on Patrick Street and Grand Parade.
In ordinary times, it is quite frequently used, for both recreational usage, and also by those on their daily commute. It’s success is a combination of factors – its an easy way to physically get into the city, the 10/15 minute frequency is regular enough to encourage use, it’s €5-a-day parking/fare combination is rather cheap, and it has a physical shelter area so that patrons aren’t drenched on those rainy winter days. Its location off the Kinsale Road Roundabout on the southern Cork suburbs means that it’s well placed to be the ‘second leg’ of the journey for those who are coming from further beyond. It is also a welcome asset during events – the Cork Jazz Festival is one such period when incentive is made to use the Black Ash.
the Black Ash Park and Ride, in all it’s glory
The success of a park and ride system generally plays off existing car dependency – a scenario where commuters have little other option than to drive to work, school, or anywhere else. A well-constructed park and ride acts like a sponge, being able to draw potential car trips into a certain area, and instead get people to use public transportation. In the words of the NTA, their job is to ‘intercept trips before they reach the congested urban area’. They also provide a useful service to those whose trips originate in rural areas that are poorly served by public transport. As well, new infrastructure also acts as a draw to increase usage. Given that Cork remains a rather car-dependent city, this begs the question – why is there only one park and ride? While the Black Ash is a great service, there is the simple fact that its ‘capture zone’ is only so large. While it may be well placed to attract commuters from Douglas or Rochestown, it makes little sense for people coming in from Ballincollig or Blarney to drive to the Black Ash Park and Ride, when they would be far better served by their own local park and ride services.
Thankfully, after many years of mooting the point, there is at last a recognition on behalf of the government as to the usefulness of expanding the park and ride schemes. The Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS) has designs for a number of additional park and ride services. Two at Dunkettle and Blarney/Stoneview are planned to get commuters from further afield to use not the bus service, but two planned train stations at those areas instead. The Dunkettle one is hoped to be particularly effective at drawing erstwhile commuters from the N25 and M8 into completing the final leg of their journey via train instead of car. A further one is planned for the western fringes of Ballincollig, where it will link the N22 with a light rail station, likely to play off the success that Luas – Park and Ride interchanges have had in Dublin. Others are to be based in and around the expanded BusConnects programme; the Carrs Hill / M28 Park and Ride is to serve the environs of Carrigaline and Ringaskiddy, while one at the Bandon Road Roundabout is to link up with the N40 at the Bishopstown area. There is also one designated for Cork Airport, though this is likely to be slightly different from the others. The park and rides are expected to have about 400-600 spaces (the CMATS document is unclear whether that’s each, which would be surprisingly high, or in total, which would be surprisingly low), and will link up with some form of frequent transport. So problem solved?
the intended Park and Ride services in the CMATS scheme
Not quite. While these park and ride interchanges are likely to play an underreported part in the future of Cork City transportation – but unfortunately they won’t be here for quite some time. The final ‘delivery’ of the Park and Ride services is sadly a long-term objective, not to be fully completed until the 2032-2040 period. Of course, various construction plans, consultations with surrounding areas, and so forth have to be performed, but that doesn’t quite explain a two decade timeframe.
And that’s a shame, because park and rides are a relatively easy investment. The surfaces of parking lots are rather easy to construct (as we unfortunately learned in the 20th century), and generally need to be accompanied by little physical infrastructure – think a few barriers, a passenger shelter, and a few other bits and bobs. For many of the planned ones, some infrastructure does already exist – the area of the planned Ballincollig Park and Ride is currently served by the 220 and 220X, Ireland’s first 24/7 bus route, to eventually be replaced by the light rail system. Having these facilities open sooner rather than later may mean some teething problems (slightly longer journey times, for instance, if there isn’t enough bus lane infrastructure *just yet*), but won’t automatically take away from their effectiveness. This sort of structure may also be well placed to increase public transport usage after the pandemic has abated.
Naturally, its also important that there be a balance between parking and development – great transit hubs allow for communities to grow around them, in a phenomenon known as transit oriented development (TOD), where apartments and stores and community functions spring up around a transit stop. Places like the Ballincollig Park and Ride, which is designated as a growth area, may benefit from having multi-story parking instead of just a flat parking lot. In addition, park and rides should also be as accessible to cyclists and pedestrians as possible, ideally with concepts like free bicycle parking.
By and large, park and rides are a great concept, and the Black Ash is a model which can, and should translate well to elsewhere in Cork. The issue now, like with much of the CMATS, is speeding up the timeline so it can be most effective. And fundamentally, they ensure that parking is where it should be – well out of the city center.
Cork Commuter Coalition 