16m rise in public transport trips
Despite a record number of cars on Irish roads, the number of journeys on public transport increased by 16m last year to more than 252m, with 130m Leap Card users.
The number of new vehicles licensed last year fell by 11% to 161,840. However, the total number of vehicles, both old and new, reached its highest ever level at 2.68m, including 2.1m private cars.
End-of-year figures for 2017 released by Transport Minister Shane Ross show the number of people commuting to work with public transport increased, with a lesser percentage travelling by private car.
The number of passengers on the main public services — Dublin Bus, Irish Rail, Bus Éireann, and Luas — was up 7% on 2016.
In total, 58% of trips on Dublin Bus were Leap Card users, with 57% on Irish Rail and 48% on Luas.
Real-time passenger information proved increasingly popular, with 126m requests for information.
Over 65% of commuters travelled to work by car, down marginally since 2011.
The numbers cycling to work increased by 43% to 56,837, or 3% of the total.
A reported 51% of commuters entering Dublin city centre during the peak morning traffic last November travelled by public transport, while 12% walked, 6% cycled, and 29% used a car.
There were 914 new electric vehicles registered in 2017, up 33% and the highest to date. They comprised 655 electric vehicles and 259 plug-in petrol or diesel hybrids.
Emissions from the transport sector increased by 4% over the 12.29m tonnes CO2 equivalent in 2016, with a 52% hike from private cars and 26% from goods’ vehicles.
Transport is the third largest contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions, after agriculture and energy.
The total volume of freight transported by road increased by 20% to 141.7m tonnes, as a result of the improving economy. However, it remains less than half the peak of 299m tonnes in 2007.
The volume of freight shipped through Irish ports rose 5% to 53.3m tonnes, with Dublin Port handling nearly half of that.
Trade with the UK comprised 42% of the total.
The number of maritime passengers handled at ports rose by 2% to 2.8m in 2017.
The number of cruise ships visiting Ireland was up 12% to 234 and the number of cruise passengers rose 19% to 264,763.
The country’s airports enjoyed a record year, handling 34.5m passengers, which was up 5% on the previous year.
Dublin Airport handled 29.5m of the total.
There were 157 road deaths in 2017, the lowest number since records began and a 16% reduction on 2016.
However, cyclist fatalities increased from 10 in 2016 to 14 in 2017.
Department of Transport, Tourism, and Sport expenditure was €1.71bn in 2017, with €1.4bn aiding land transport, €76m on maritime, €25m on civil aviation, €97m on sport, and €86m on tourism.
The spending allocation for 2018 is up 12% to €1.9bn, including €1.6bn for land transport.
Mr Ross said the figures demonstrated strong and continued growth across the various transport domains.
“We will continue investing in transport infrastructure to ensure that this growth continues and that workers can get to their jobs, tourists can get to every corner of the country, and goods can be shipped all over the world,” he said.
