A three-fold increase in car parking charges has been proposed as the Irish Government looks for ways to shift people to more sustainable transport, including getting children cycling and walking to school again.
Minister for Transport, Environment and Climate Eamon Ryan TD (Greens) said when we looked back several decades most children cycled or walked to school but now most children were taken by car.
This negative change, he said, was one of the trends that must be reversed. It would be healthier and it could also reduce morning rush hour traffic volume by one third, as well as lowering emissions; all of which represented "transformative" change.
A new study published last week by the Department of Transport recommended the three-fold increase in car parking charges in Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Cork and Galway as the "most impactful" way of discouraging people from driving into cities.
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It also proposed other measures to discourage trips by car including new tolls, electric car-only zones, reduced road space for cars (leaving more for space cyclists) as well as fewer car parking spaces being made available.
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Eamon Ryan explained during an interview with RTE Radio 1's 'This Week' today the recent proposal to increase car parking charges by 300 per cent was just one idea being considered by the Government as it tried to move transport in Ireland away from the private car and towards cycling and walking.
"(The proposals) recognise that one of the things we need to do, as well as tackling climate change through emissions from transport... we also have to tackle the gridlock that has strangled our cities for decades," he said.
"We need to reduce the volume of traffic. I think one of the key measures will be the roll out of public transport systems and better active travel; giving better priority in both traffic light sequencing and on-street to vulnerable commuters, both pedestrians and cyclists.
"When I grew up, the majority of children walked or cycled to school. In my children's generation, the majority are driven to school. If we could switch that back - and it's within living memory, it's not impossible…
"First of all, there would be huge health benefits and we would lose something like a third of the traffic in rush hour in the morning, which is children being driven to school. It would also be greater freedom for both parents and children.
"So creating the safe road space, where that basic right in my mind, that's it safe for our children to be able to walk and cycle or get a bus to school, that would be an example of transformative change."
