Overview
The study was initiated in 2002 following publication in 2001 of the Dublin Transportation Office's transport strategy for the Greater Dublin Area for the period up to 2016, A Platform for Change. The transport strategy recommended substantial investment in public transport infrastructure and services, but also recommended demand management measures to reduce the growth in demand for travel, particularly by private vehicle in peak travel periods.
The main objectives of the study can be summarised as:
- To reduce the growth in overall travel by motorised modes, in the Greater Dublin Area
- To yield a greater modal share for public transport, cycling and walking over and above that achievable through the transport infrastructure and service enhancement measures described in the DTO (Dublin Transportation Office) transport strategy
- To achieve a good level of service on the road network for essential road users
- To encourage more sustainable trip distributions and modal split throughout the Greater Dublin Area.
- Initial consultation
- Examination of current problem and trends in the Greater Dublin Area
- Research and development of potential measures based on international experience and Greater Dublin Area experience
- Initial assessment of potential measures
- Consultation on identified feasible measures - stakeholder liason, public consultation, market research
- Assessment of the transport impact of feasible measures and packages of measures; and
- Evaluation of preferred package(s) of measures.
Funding
Results
The study concluded that the package of TDM measures required to address the problems are:
- Land use planning measures;
- Measures to promote travel demand management; and
- Fiscal measures, namely:
- A city centre congestion charge of €10 applicable between the hours of 7am and 10am to drive in the area within the canals; and
- A workplace parking levy in the rest of the Dublin Counties and Development Centres in the Hinterland Counties. This would be set in line with the market place for the parking in each local area which is within the following ranges €1 000 - €4 500 in the city council area (outside congestion chargin area), €600 - €3 600 in the other Dublin local authorities and €350 - €900 in the Hinterland Growth Towns.
It also noted that the initial measures may require further complementary measures to ensure the effectiveness of TDM strategy. These complementary measures include on-street parking controls to ensure the success of the workplace parkikng levy and traffic management measures in residential areas (or other sensative areas) to deter through traffic diversion as a result of congestion charging. The primary benefit expected from the TDM strateygy is to reduce the number of car trips on the road network in the GDA,to a lower leven than would occur in the absence of the TDM strategy.
Transportation modelling showed that congestion would reduce substantially - some 30 000 vehicle hours (over 12% of total) would be removed from the road network in the morning peak hour alone. The study sets out the estimated capital and operating costs with the preferred package, with capital costs of €154 million over three years, and operating/ recurrent costs of €67 - €127 million per year. The socio-economic benefits are forecast to be 2.84 times the costs of the preferred package, discounted over a 25 year period.
Policy implications
The policy implications and recommendations for further action are the key deliverables of the TDM study. Essentially the TDM strategy shows the GDA's commitment to sustainable travel whilst reducing the requirement for travel in the first instance. Not all the recommended measures in the TDM study report were accepted by the DTO Steering Committee.