County Transport Policy Needed Urgently

Councillor Slams lack of County Transport Policy

The lack of an integrated County Transport Strategy by Kilkenny Local Authorities is depriving the people of the City and County of a viable alternative to our dependency on the private car as a primary means of transport, according to Green Party Councillor Malcolm Noonan. Cllr Noonan raised the issue at Monday nights meeting of Kilkenny Borough Council, at which he asked that Kilkenny Borough Council to once again support European Car Free Day on September 22nd.

‘The issue of on street parking charges in the Borough area will only serve to bring home the lack of any joined up thinking on reducing our car dependency which now ranks among the worst in the world, after the United States’, he stated. ‘We cannot even begin the regulation of on street parking without offering people a viable alternative to bringing their cars into the city centre. This should include the compulsory purchase of four plots of land on the major approach roads to the city for use as park and ride facilities, the subvention of a public transport shuttle service for the city and environs and the implementation of the ARUP cycle lane network proposals linking schools, housing estates and shopping centres throughout the city and environs’ he remarked.

The Green Party Borough and County Councillor went on to outline the difficulties that will be imposed on residential areas as commuters begin to park outside regulated areas and on the few remnants of cycle lanes that presently exist once the on street charges come into effect. ‘I am fully supportive of regulating on street parking, as is the norm in all other provincial towns and cities in the country, but I fear that the introduction of charges in the absence of alternatives will do nothing to give parents the confidence to walk or cycle with their children to school or incentivise workers to leave the car at home’ he stated.

‘This coupled with poor public transport infrastructure in rural areas and a lack of integration with operators will further exacerbate the problem, increasing road safety risks, carbon dioxide emissions, respiratory problems in children and the overall health of the people of Kilkenny’ he remarked. Cllr Noonan highlighted the increased cost to motorists not alone with having to pay for parking but also with soaring fuel costs, with many families are now struggling to keep two cars on the road but have no alternative as an inadequate school and rural bus service is locking people into a car dependent lifestyle.

He commended the work of ‘Ring a Link’ Rural Transport Service in providing an excellent and comprehensive service to marginalised communities in rural Co Kilkenny in the face of inadequate funding and interest from either central or local government.

Cllr Noonan outlined the need for the establishment of a County Transport Forum, incorporating all key stakeholders, service providers, the local authorities and statutory and voluntary agencies. He stated that the situation in Kilkenny City would require commitment, imagination and vision to facilitate more sustainable mobility of people throughout the city and environs, citing the inner relief road as a case in point of the tunnel vision in dealing with traffic problems. ‘The inner relief road will do nothing to relieve the plight of pedestrians and residents along its route, building more roads will only facilitate more traffic and ignores the root cause of the problem, in the meantime I would urge people in Kilkenny to play their part, by car pooling, walking or cycling where possible, not just on Car Free Day but every day’ he concluded.

European Car Free Day is on Friday September 22nd