Transport

Overview

22.7 GWH consumed in 2017=5,360 tonnes of CO2

Target

  • 33% improvement in energy
  • 40% reduction in Council's GHG emissions by 2030

Examples of Main Action Types

  • Converting Council fleet to lower emission vehicles
  • Staff mobility hub in Civic Offices
  • Implementing or supporting walking and cycling campaigns
  • Constructing segregated cycleways and footpaths
  • Expand bike sharing schemes
  • Working with stakeholders to improve bus routes

Stakeholders to work with and influence

  • General Public
  • National Transport Authority, RSA
  • Dublin Bus, Irish Rail, Bus Eireann, LUAS
  • Community Groups
  • Environmental and interest groups
  • Government Departments and Agencies

'Council will continue to work with its neighbouring local authorities and the National Transport Authority to achieve a doubling of all active travel and public transport trips and to halve private vehicle trips to Dublin by 2030. - Dublin City Development Plan 2016-202

Dublin City Council, through its own development plan strategy and policies, promotes the integration of land use and transportation, and works with a range of stakeholders to improve transportation in the City, and to encourage modal shift away from private cars to more sustainable transport methods.

For example, DCC is working with the National Transport Authority and its neighbouring local authorities to implement the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2016-2035, which sets out a strategic vision for transport in Dublin. With private car journeys currently accounting for 32% of the modal split, the Strategy aims to double trips made by walking, cycling and public transport, while significantly reducing private car journeys by 2030.

Other measures that DCC has taken to date to encourage more active and sustainable travel in the City are a reduction in speed limits to 30 km in certain areas and the introduction of traffic calming measures to improve the safety of the streets.

Operations

In 2017, Dublin City Council’s transport fleet consumed 22.7 GWh of energy, which amounted to 5,360 tonnes of CO2. The Council has 980 vehicles in its fleet, which are broken down into 24 different vehicle types, including cars, vans, lorries and road sweepers.

As transport accounts for 12% of DCC’s overall energy use, the Council is steadily replacing the fleet with newer, more fuel efficient vehicles, including electric vehicles. DCC currently has three electric vehicles that can be used by staff and booked through an online system within the Council. A further 13 small electric vans have also recently been procured for use in the Council’s depots and DCC will aim to fully electrify its fleet by 2030.

The Council is also developing a smart mobility hub within the Civic Offices, which will give staff access to bikes, electric bikes and electric cars so that they can move efficiently from one Council building to another.

Case Study - Smart Workplace Mobility Hub

There are approximately 1,500 staff members that work in Dublin City Council's Civic Offices on Wood Quay. According to the Smart Travel Workplace Survey 2016, these 1,500 staff members use the following transport methods to get to and from work:

  • Walk 8%
  • Cycle 15.5%
  • Public Transport 38%
  • Car 33%
  • Motorcycle 2%
  • Car-pooling 3.5%

There are currently 280 parking spaces in the staff car park in Wood Quay.

Through the 2018 call of the Smart Dublin SBIR Challenge, DCC and the SEAI (Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland) are looking to test shared mobility options for staff through the piloting of a smart mobility hub that will include e-cars, e-bikes and push bikes, with the aim of promoting more sustainable travel. 

Case Study - Carbon Offsetting for Staff Flights

DCC has teamed up with Vita, which is an Irish overseas development agency providing African families with efficient stoves, solar lighting and clean water programmes to help them create food and energy. 

These programmes reduce carbon emissions by over 60% and create saleable carbon credits, which Vita then sells on to organisations like Dublin City Council, that may not be obliged to offset their carbon footprint, but choose to do so in order to lead by example. 

As the first local authority in Ireland to partner with Vita's Green Impact Fund, the Council was able to offset the carbon associated with its business flights in 2017, which amounted to 119 tonnes of CO2. This initative will be repeated by the Council on an annual basis. 

Planning & Public Realm 

Key to encouraging people to walk and cycle is the design of streets and the public realm. DCC is working to implement street design guidelines that make the streets more inviting and improve the public realm, by taking a corporate cross-departmental approach. Two important corporate plans - Public Realm Strategy Your City Your Space 2012 and The Heart of Dublin Public Realm Masterplan for the City Core 2016 - seek to improve the quality and experience of Dublin’s public realm and to make Dublin

a pedestrian-friendly City. DCC is also in the process of developing a public lighting master plan that will improve the ambiance and safety of streets for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

Traffic Calming Measures

Over the last decade, there has been a gradual lowering of speed limits throughout Dublin City and its suburbs, in order to reduce pollution levels and make the City safer and more enjoyable for cyclists and pedestrians to get around. The 30 kilometre speed limit currently applies to the north and south quays in the City Centre and all residential areas between the Royal and Grand Canals. Dublin City Council is now considering extending the 30 kilometre speed limit to all remaining suburbs within the Council’s boundary. The Special Speed Limit Bye-Laws 2018 were accepted by the Council in May 2018 and were put forward for public consultation throughout June and July. In August 2018, DCC also launched a new publicity campaign with the Road Safety Authority to make citizens aware of the speed limits in their area and along the routes they travel, and to highlight the quality of life benefits for communities living in a 30 kilometre ‘Slowzone’ area.

Last Mile Delivery

Dublin City Council is currently planning to develop a number of delivery hubs that will enable trucks and vans to drop off goods at certain points instead of travelling all the way into the City Centre. Couriers will then collect the parcels from the hub and deliver them to locations in the City Centre using sustainable transport methods. This is part of a 'last mile delivery' initiative that aims to reduce traffic and pollution in the City Centre. It follows on from a successful pilot scheme involving the Council and the international delivery company UPS in the north inner City, which has removed 200 vehicle movements a day from the City Centre. The Council has drafted bye-laws to expand this scheme and recently carried out a consultation with businesses and potential operators.

To complement this initiative, the Smart Dublin programme has also launched an all-island joint SBIR challenge involving Dublin City and Belfast City Councils. Both cities are looking for ways to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of these deliveries, reducing the number of goods vehicles in their respective urban centres, which, in turn, will improve air quality, noise pollution and road safety.

Dublin City Centre Transport Study 2016

The Dublin City Centre Transport Study has been prepared in order to integrate the transport policies and proposals of DCC and the National Transport Authority (NTA) and inform an agreed framework for strategic investment in the City’s transport system. The study relates directly to the policies and objectives set out in the DCC Development Plan and is guided by the Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016-2035. The study examines the issues relating to the management and movement of people and goods to, from and within Dublin City Centre, and proposes a series of specific measures and changes to the transport network in order to ensure that transport in Dublin can continue to function effectively and has the capacity to cater for the City’s future growth. The Dublin City Transport Study sets out a number of individual scheme proposals that will provide a basis upon which to reconfigure the physical layout of the core City Centre area, thereby providing a basis for an enhancement of the public realm and facilitating the delivery of a core pedestrian network.

Air Quality

DCC is working in partnership with the EPA on expanding and enhancing ambient air quality monitoring in Dublin in accordance with the National Ambient Air Monitoring Programme. Data from all monitoring stations in the Dublin Region can now be viewed in real time on the EPA website at www.epa.ie/air/quality/data/. Further enhancements planned include improved communication and interpretation of air quality data on the Dublin City Council website.

Sustainable Travel, Infrastructure and Behaviour Change

'Less dependency on the private car for routine trips and replacement by public transport, walking and cycling will result in a reduction in consumption of nonrenewable resources and CO2 emissions, helping to meet national emission reduction targets. It will also bring health benefits. This is all the more important when we consider that the population of the inner City is expected to grow by over 40,000 by the year 2020. - Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022

Partnerships, Community Engagement, Communication and Promotion

Partnerships

Since 2010, DCC has been developing and implementing successful behavioural change programmes to encourage more sustainable forms of transport. For example, the safe routes to school scheme and the Green Schools programme, in partnership with An Taisce, are encouraging thousands of children and their parents to walk, cycle or scoot to school. DCC will continue to seek new and expand on existing partnerships to encourage sustainable travel and safer travel behaviours.

Case Study - Community Engagement

Dublin City Council will engage with local communities to develop a vision for the future of their neighbourhoods with a strong focus on local living, sustainable mobility and quality of life. Hike It! Bike It! Like It! Drimnagh was set up in 2011 in partnership with the Drimnagh Smarter Travel Community Campaign. It aimed to promote active travel to local schools and to the staff of Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

The project has resulted in a 52% increase in people cycling to work or school in the Drimnagh area. Local schools have also recorded a large increase in the number of students walking to school, with almost 70% of students now travelling on foot each day. The project was a finalist in both the 2013 Green Awards and the Excellence in Local Government Awards.

Communications and Promotion

DCC will establish a portal dedicated to communication and promotion of active travel within existing platforms.

Cycle Network and Walking and Targets

Of the transportation modes that DCC can influence and shape, cycling has been the predominant focus. DCC has had immense success with the dublinbikes scheme and there is a continuous demand to expand this programme, which will help to reduce emissions and provide more options for sustainable modes of transport.

DCC is also actively working to improve cycling infrastructure through the development of segregated cycle paths where possible, such as the Sutton-to-Sandymount Cycleway, Dodder Greenway, Royal and Grand Canal Cycleways and the Clontarf-to-City Centre Cycle Scheme.

DCC will accelerate the delivery of cycling and walking infrastructure with continuous segregation of vehicles and high levels of perceived safety. The Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network Plan has identified 471 kilometres of a possible cycle network for Dublin City. DCC will focus on the development of greenways, primary and secondary routes, while significantly improving the walking environment and creating opportunities for sojourning along the same corridors. There are 60 kilometres of segregated cycling tracks and pedestrian routes currently under planning and development for delivery over the next five years. Routes under planning and development include the Liffey Cycle Route, East Coast Trail, Dodder Greenway, Royal and Grand Canal Greenways and the Clontarf-to-City Centre.

Cycle Parking

Dublin City Council has drafted a strategy for the provision of public cycle parking throughout the City. Since 2018, 2,100 cycle parking spaces have been provided at 110 locations and a further 2,000 spaces are proposed to be installed in 2019 at over 120 locations. Further installations will be made to provide over 20,000 public parking spaces by 2030.

DCC will also work with relevant transport bodies and businesses to expand the availability of sheltered bicycle parking to enable people to cycle to and from key public transport nodes and strategic destinations such as the recent installations for Drury Street bike parking facilities. DCC will reassess cycle parking standards for developments as part of the review of the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022.

Upgraded Cycle Parking Facility Opens in Drury Street Car Park

A newly-expanded cycle parking facility was opened in Drury Street Car Park in June 2018. The newly expanded facility, which was funded with the support of the National Transport Authority, has a capacity for 332 bicycles, almost twice the capacity of the original facility that opened in the car park in 2009. During the upgrade of the cycle facility, new lighting and CCTV security cameras were installed and fire alarms and fire exits were upgraded. Also, for the first time in a cycle facility in Dublin city, a public bicycle maintenance area with basic tools will be provided and parking will be available for cargo bicycles. The new secure cycling facility is free to use and it is open Monday to Thursday from 7am to midnight, Friday from 7am to 1am, Saturdays from 8am to 1am and Sundays from 10am to 7pm.

City Challenge – Walking and Cycling

DCC will embark on a City Challenge that seeks to generate interest in the development of cycling and walking infrastructure and to foster the development of creative and appropriate infrastructure and engagement solutions that are aligned with the Dublin context conditions. This will be carried out using the BETA framework.

Case Study - Smart Dublin Cycling Challenge

Dublin City Council will seek smart solutions to mobility problems using the Smart Dublin programme. An example is the Smart Dublin cycling challenge, which was launched in 2016 to help improve cycling across Dublin using smart technology.

The challenge resulted in the development of BikeLook, which monitors bicycle usage and deters and detects bicycle theft; Fluidedge, which allows cyclists to record actual or perceived obstacles to aid safe cycling in Dublin, a See.Sense ICON intelligent and connected bicycle light, which collects anonymised, crowd-sourced data such as road surface conditions, collisions and near-miss hotspot areas, and a Smartcharge, which aids cyclists in predicting the ease of a journey, improving safety along the way and creating a secure parking facility at the end of the journey.

Case Study - Council Bike Schemes

DCC has had immense success with the dublinbikes scheme and there is a continuous demand to expand this programme, which will help to reduce emissions and provide more options for sustainable modes of transport.

The Just Eat dublinbikes scheme is one of the most successful bike rental schemes in the world, with more than 66,000 subscribers and 25 million journeys since its launch in 2009. On its busiest day to date, September 16th 2016, 18,041 journeys were made in one day. The scheme currently has 1,600 bikes available at 115 stations around the City. The scheme has been a huge success since its launch and this is partly down to the careful selection of the station locations, the high level of maintenance of the bikes, as well as the low annual fee. In addition to the Just Eat dublinbikes, another bike sharing scheme, BleeperBike, is also successfully operating in the City. DCC launched the new stationless bike scheme in 2018 that made over 200 more rental bikes available in the City, with more planned for the near future. The scheme, which is operated by two Irish companies, Urbo and BleeperBike, differs to the dublinbikes scheme in that the bikes do not need to be picked up or dropped off at specific locations but must be returned to metal Sheffield stands located around the City. A user can locate a bike via an app, which unlocks the bike and completes the journey when returned to one of the stands.

DCC will continue to monitor its performance and any expansions will take account of emerging business models for bike sharing. The Council plans to eventually expand these services to outer suburban areas in the City, with BleeperBike already operating in other Dublin Local Authority areas.

Car Sharing

Dublin City Council Council supports car sharing and the expansion of car clubs across the City. Bye-laws regulating the licensing of car clubs were introduced in 2013. Two licenses have been issued to GoCar and YUKO Toyota Car Club.

Case Study - GoCar

GoCar is Ireland's largest car sharing operator, with almost 500 vehicles across 15 counties, and has over 30,000 members. In the last three years, the operator has seen 600% growth in monthly journeys.

GoCar provides a convenient, cos-effective, and sustainable alternative to car ownership. By allowing multiple people to use the same vehicle at different times, car sharing reduces car ownership and car dependency, congestion, noise and air pollution, and frees up land traditionally used for parking spaces. 

Each GoCar replaces approximately 10-20 private cars, is environmentally friendly, and creates more liveable cities by encouraging people to sell their cars and only use a car when essential, while walking and using public transport more often too. International studies have also shown a reduction in the number of kilometres travelled per year of more than 60% for car-sharing users.