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Green Party Promise Luas for Cork and Galway if in Government
Read more about: Government, Green Party, Transport, Uncategorized
From Ireland.com: The Green party promising Luas for Cork and Galway if they get into government.
The Greens want to divert cash being poured into new roads towards improving the Republic’s public transport system.”Last year we spent six times more of our capital budget on new roads than on public transport,” said Eamon Ryan, Green Party transport spokesman.
“Our government and their economic advisors have got their cost-benefit analyses fundamentally wrong.”
The party said they would also press for a rail link to Navan and scrap plans for the controversial M3 motorway being routed around the Hill of Tara.
“In Government we will redress the chronic under investment in bus, rail, cycling and pedestrian facilities and we will redirect the roads budget to improve road safety and traffic management,” said Mr Ryan.
The Greens plan to reallocate two billion euro from elements, including roads projects, in the government’s Transport 21 plan for 56 km of new Luas lines. “While the emphasis is always on the big construction projects, it will be equally important for us to get our land-use planning right,” said Mr Ryan.
“Rather than a Dublin Transportation Authority we want to see a national agency set up to work with new regional authorities and ensure that new housing and office projects are located in proximity to transport connections.”
He added: “We will also ensure that bus services are given real priority and that traffic management systems are reformed so that the pedestrian, rather than the car, is king in our city centres.”
Interesting to see which prospective coalition partner will have to agree to divert road funds to public transport. It is consistent with Green Party statements on the issue though, recent comments suggest a Green Minister for Transport is likely after the election.
Then idea in galway is not new http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrib_Light_Rail
The ideas of tram lines for Galway and Cork are not new, but it’s something the current government has dismissed.
The Greens in Galway had a street campaign for several months in the lead up to the 2002 General Election mainly on two subjects – public transport and waste management.
On public transport there were 3 main proposals
1. The Western Rail Corridor linking the entire west coast
2. A light Rail System for Galway
3. Train times from mainline trains to Dublin reduced (in the case of Galway-Dublin to two hours)
Aditionally Cllr Niall O Brolchain has been campaigning for the Western Corridor for at least 8 years in the West.
An overall approach including commuter trains and integrated ticketing are also integral to the local vision.
The Labour Party seems to be on the same page as the Greens here, but the 2 biggest parties still seem to not nearly commited enough to public transport and only very slowly modifying their the same car obsessed vision, which will be of no use in a peak oil, Climate Change concerned society.
Kieran Cunnane