Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 June 2023
14. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Transport further to Parliamentary Question No. 53 of 4 May 2023, if he will provide a status update on the roll-out of park-and-ride facilities in Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30010/23]
View answerAs Minister, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority is leading the development and rollout of strategic park and ride sites nationwide through the Park and Ride Development Office.
By reducing the length of car trips, the provision of park and ride at strategic locations can help to reduce the distances travelled by car, with a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions and congestion.
The National Transport Authority established the Park and Ride Development Office in February 2020, which had been included as an action in the Climate Action Plan 2019. The function of the Park and Ride Development Office is to enable the delivery of park and ride sites by the National Transport Authority, in collaboration with Local Authorities and transport operators such as Iarnród Éireann, across the country. Through the Park and Ride Development Office, full-time specialist resources are now employed on such projects.
As outlined in the National Transport Authority’s reply to the Deputy on this issue in May, the Park and Ride Development Office is continuing to work on the development of park and ride for Galway City. This work consists of reviewing and validating analysis underpinning the Galway Transport Strategy using the latest available information. In addition, work is being carried out on site location analysis. The analysis is focusing initially on potential park and ride sites on the east side of the city but will grow to include analysis of potential sites in other areas.
The Park and Ride Development Office is currently focused on the Site Selection process for sites in the vicinities of N6 Junction 9 and Claregalway, which will provide 550 parking spaces and 320 parking spaces respectively.
It is anticipated that the development of the sites would be aligned with the delivery of other supporting infrastructure, in particular bus corridor infrastructure, as the success of park and ride provision is dependent upon efficient public transport interchange. Therefore, within the National Transport Authority, there has been engagement in respect of the two potential park and ride sites and complementary active travel schemes and BusConnects proposals.
