A Fianna Fáil TD has urged the Government to establish new, designated parking bays at motorway junctions to support car-pooling in an effort to curtail rising costs for commuters.
There is “clear” demand for a system similar to the Luas park-and-ride one, Carlow-Kilkenny TD and party rural affairs spokesperson Peter “Chap” Cleere told The Irish Times. “People are already doing it – just not safely,” he said.
The suggestion comes as commuters face a significantly increased financial burden due to the energy crisis caused by the war in the Middle East.
Despite a 20 cent cut to the excise duty on a litre of diesel and a 15 cent cut on petrol excise towards the end of March, consumers are still seeing fuel costs climbing.
Cleere said fuel prices have “skyrocketed in recent weeks”, with the overall cost to commuters, including tolls, also climbing steadily over time.
However, he said viable alternatives to driving “remain limited”, especially outside major Irish cities.
Ridesharing, he suggested, would be a practical way to cut these costs. But he was concerned “the basic infrastructure to support car-pooling simply does not exist” in many parts of the country.
With a lack of designated spaces to support the practice, commuters are being forced into “unsafe and improvised solutions”, he said.
“Motorists are already using motorway junctions as informal meeting points. They pull on to hard shoulders, gather in overcrowded service stations or use small local access points never designed for through traffic.
“These are stopgap measures – but they are everyday risks on some of our busiest roads.”
He pointed to the M9 corridor linking his constituency to Dublin, along which he suggested there is a dearth of suitable places for commuters to be picked up.
The Carlow-Kilkenny TD, and former Kilkenny hurler, suggested that dedicated parking bays be placed at junctions, set back from the roadways themselves.
The provision of these spaces with safe access, lighting and basic security “would immediately reduce dangerous stopping practices” and would lower commuting costs and congestion, he said.
The solution would play into existing Government policy aimed at reducing emissions, tackling congestion and supporting more sustainable travel, he said.
He called for an audit of land along motorways across the country to identify potential locations for small car parks of up to 40 spaces.
“Carpooling delivers on all three,” he said. It “offers a practical alternative where public transport is not a realistic option” but sufficient infrastructure to enable it is not in place, he said.