23 April 2001: In a specially commissioned article, the Irish Independent's Motoring Editor, Eddie Cunningham, outlines why our traffic crisis is not just about longer hours behind the wheel but a growing threat to our environment.
It is stating the obvious to point out that one bus load of 40 people will have far less impact on the environment than 40 driver-only cars covering the same journey. Extrapolate those figures from the individual bus or train to a national platform of thousands of vehicles and the madness of waste - in terms of emissions, fuel consumption and traffic congestion time - simply explodes in your face.
Yet we are, individually and collectively, opting for the car and not public transport, judging by the results of the major survey of commuters conducted by irishcar.com.
In what is a sorry reflection on how things really are, it highlights how we are doing so simply because we have no other choice. And that is despite a plethora of agencies supposed to be looking after traffic management.
A recent survey by ISME highlights how millions of hours and pounds are being lost each year as people and goods sit in a traffic crisis managed by - wait for it - no fewer than 23 different agencies. There is certainly more than a suggestion of too many traffic chiefs and not enough Indians to clear the path.
The human misery of getting up half an hour earlier to get to work is one of several side effects of our lack of public transport integration at this point in time.
Another is the economic penalties we are paying, as the ISME survey points out.
But there is another - which has been overlooked in the widespread comment on the irishcar.com study - and it is the impact on the environment.
Even reducing the number of cars commuting each morning by 10pc would have massive implications.
Nobody is suggesting we reduce the number of cars per se by 10pc. We just don't want them on the road at the busiest times. People still need cars - they are an integral part of social and economic life.
But they do not necessarily need them just to drive to work, park all day and drive home.
They need them at weekends or in the evenings, to go to the countryside, to visit friends, do the shopping etc. But with our roads they would be better off not using them on a wet Monday morning to get to work - if they had an alternative.
Taking them into clogged-up towns and cities is not, for the majority of drivers, a chore of choice. It is, rather, one of necessity.
Now, public transport is an easy target and we must acknowledge that improvements are being made.
But for the likes of CIE, to take one glaring example, to suggest imposing a fee for parking beside stations that car commuters might otherwise use, smacks of cashing in on commuting misery rather than accommodating what should be an integrated approach.
Let me recap briefly on how deep that crisis runs.
The irishcar.com survey found that: Two-in-five (42pc) would opt for public transport if (tm)it was more readily availables but 62.5pc believe it will not; 86pc said their journey time had increased by 30 minutes over the last 12 months; 26pc spend between five and eight hours a week commuting; 78pc leave home half-an-hour earlier than they did last year and 93pc expect to have to set off even earlier in future.
And while the authors would insist this is not a definitive study in itself, there is no denying it marks a watershed in our understanding of just how deep a crisis exists.
It also touches on an area where the Government is trying desperately to make progress - to reduce the impact of 21st century life and industry on the environment. The problem it, and we as a society, face is that these things are hard to quantify, to measure, to show real progress on.
If we ever manage to reduce the number of cars passing a given spot by 10pc on a Monday morning, it will be touted as a triumph. And we will be delighted to acknowledge it.
But it would be a two-fold piece of progress with the long term benefit to the environment an equal partner in the achievement. The two go hand in hand. Which makes traffic management doubly important.
And which makes the activities like those suggested by CIE abhorrent to anyone with a social conscience.
We can only hope they are not allowed by the Government who need to show real leadership on this issue. Those 23 agencies need to be hitched to the one wagon. Urgently. Otherwise they will stand accused of clogging up the approach to our clogged up roads.
There is much to be gained in a unified approach - for now and the future.
Sometimes all we need is a jolt to remind us of how bad things are. This Government has the ability and the means at its disposal to make great strides.
Every journey begins by taking the first step. We would suggest now is a good time to take one.
