How do you solve a problem like the M50?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
The M50 has come in for some criticism this week because revenue from the tolls has nearly doubled since 2015. And this is while motorists are faced with mass delays and congestion during peak hours. So what exactly is the problem and what are the solutions to it? Well, I'm joined by Professor in Transportation at Trinity College Dublin, Brian Caulfield. Brian, good morning to you and you're welcome to the programme. And when I say what is the problem to it, I suppose it's simple enough. There's too much traffic on it.
What issues are currently affecting the M50?
That's exactly it. There's too much traffic on it. And in the past 20 years, the population of the GDA has increased by about 20%. And over the same time period, the population of cars on the island has increased by 40%. So too much traffic, not enough space. We need to do something about the demand.
And it's already been expanded, hasn't it? So what are the options when it comes to looking at making it bigger, essentially?
So there are a number of options and our centre in Trinity have launched a survey today to ask people what they think of these options. The first one would be to introduce high occupancy vehicle lanes. You see that in North America where two or more people would be able to use a particular lane. Obviously this would mean not constructing a new lane that would be taking one away. The other one and the most obvious one and probably the most effective but not the quickest would be to invest more in public transport. Another one would be to put in bus-based park and ride across the M50. You could also look at ways to reduce the impacts that collisions have by having better response management. You could increase the capacity on adjacent roads so people don't have to use the M50.
And then the last two are one would be to have multiple tolling points on the M50. So far at the moment, we've only got one. And then the final one will be to give people more information on the congestion they're likely to expect on the motorway.
So to keep that would keep people away essentially at busy times if they knew exactly what was happening on it. So let's just go back over some of those options. You mentioned there the potential creation of another route. So that would be another M50 outside of the existing one.
That could be a potential. It's not one I think is a very good idea.
What are the main causes of congestion on the M50?
If history has taught us anything in this country, when we do this, basically build it and they will come and the roads will fill up with more traffic. So I think doing something like that, looking at international examples and looking at our own experience would result in more urban sprawl and getting back to the same point that we would be in in maybe 10, 20 years time.
What about a park and ride service, which I know you suggest as well? So this would be a bus, basically. So you'd park at one end of it and we'd take you to the other end or to stops along the way. Could that work?
I think that could work. And it may not be a bus that would traverse the whole M50. It might be more likely that, you know, each of the motorways that come into the city, that there will be both a base parking right there, similar to the Lewis at the Red Cow, that you would get off and then you would get on a bus and it would go through the bus corridors to get into the city. Because that's where I suppose the majority of the trips are heading towards.
Would that be more of a short term solution?
It would be a short-term solution. The longer-term solution, I think, is investing more in the big rail projects, but it could be a very good short-term solution. And we've seen it used a number of times around the country for big congestion events. It was used in the Ryder Cup. It's been used in Waterford. It's used very effectively in Belfast every day of the week. So I think we could learn an awful lot from that. And we've never been good at getting bus-based parking right off the ground. And it would be great to have some examples of that in and around the M50.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:37
2
What issues are currently affecting the M50?
0:37–2:12
3
What are the main causes of congestion on the M50?
2:12–4:11
4
What solutions are proposed to alleviate traffic on the M50?
4:11–5:30
5
How can public transport improvements impact M50 traffic?
5:30–6:57
6
What role does tolling play in managing M50 congestion?
6:57–10:15