What is being done to address the M50 problem?

Likewise. Some sense at last.

I work an alternating shift pattern in an industrial estate. 8AM-4PM and 4PM-midnight.

Car takes 20minutes to do the 20 km commute.

Cycle? Yeah, I’ll cycle the motorway which has no alternative road parallel to it, or I’ll cycle the R roads and turn it into a 35 km commute.

Bus would take over 2 hours with connections, walking, etc.

If I actually worked nights there’d be no alternative whatsoever.

If your commute is 20 mins at midnight your not really complaining about traffic on the M50 at peak and as such it's irrelevant.

Look at you not knowing how tax works.

What you've actually said is they should have a say because they already pay for it via tax.

Public transport needs to be made a lot more attractive to get people out of cars.

You can get into your car at your house without walking in whatever weather to a bus stop where you would have to wait for an unpredictable time with little or minimal shelter. There are very few places where you could drive or cycle and leave your vehicle at the bus stop.

In your car you have privacy, and can listen to the radio or music of your choice at your chosen volume with the temperature set to your liking. On public transport you may have to stand or sit with strangers whose personal hygiene might not be ideal.

Your employer will hopefully provide parking and maybe even a charge point so you don't have to walk too far to your work. If you are lucky there may be a bus stop nearby, but it is unlikely to be for the same route that went close to your house.

I reckon that public transport would need to be 30% faster door to door than driving to make it attractive. When people quote journey times the often don't include travelling to the bus stop and waiting for the bus.

Unless you live in the city centre you will probably need a car even if you go to work on public transport, so you are paying tax, insurance and depreciation even if you are not using it.

In reality, public transport is only attractive to people living in a city centre.

Picking up on the carrot and stick comments. I suggest incentivising travel on the M50 outside of peak hours. Make off-peak travel toll-free for all vehicle classes. For those who can arrange to travel outside of peak hours, this might be an additional incentive (the peak hour traffic is already an incentive).

An electric moped with removable battery would easily manage that in 20 minutes on the R roads. More economical, less expensive and better for climate change than a car.

Once the number of vehicles on the road passes some critical number, the traffic flow reduces dramatically. To maintain acceptable performance (incidents notwithstanding), it is necessary to limit the number of vehicles on the road. Only a certain number of slots are available on the road at any one time. Introduce a booking system where people reserve a slot for their vehicle at their chosen time. Enter the motorway +/- so many minutes of your booking. Increased tolls for those who arrive with no booking or outside of their booked slot.

I doubt such a measure would be popular. Would probably create horrendous traffic on other roads. But the M50 would be largely free-flowing

You'd get the same effect far less complicated by putting a toll on the road that increases and increases depending on time of day.

Good for you to live a short walking distance from a reliable bus stop and have a travel schedule and destination that matches that bus.

Now imagine you got a job that wasn't on the same bus route.

why would you choose a job that was a nightmare to travel to? especially in this economy where people have options.

What I think will happen is that the traffic will just get so much worse in time that a lot of people will start taking things into their own hands and using electric mopeds, electric bikes, doing some of their journey by e-scooter etc. This is already happening. It wont be an option for many but a friend of mine has to drive to work in D2 from Mountmellick a couple of times a week, leaves his car somewhere near the Red Cow and cycles in from there.

As you say it's already happening.

As this thread is about the M50. It's only going to get worse. I think it's being unrealistic to think it will get better.

Yeah it's requires a level of foresight and planning Ireland has never really demonstrated. Dunno if that's due to the political system or what.

The M50 does not have have capacity to accommodate all those who wish to travel at peak times while maintaining reasonable journey times. Either increase the capacity of the road or reduce the number of people using it at peak times by whatever means (increased tolls, off-peak incentives, alternative routes, alternative means of transport, etc)

Nothing will be done with the M50 because anything that is done will encourage more people to use it and have a good, miserable time.

What needs to happen is an orbital train route serving the major industrial estates (e.g. Cherrywood/Sandyford right up to the airport and the ones in Swords even, link to the Luas and Metro either end) and also having stops at major residential (e.g. Lucan, Blanchardstown, etc) and shopping centres on the way. Especially with Cherrywood being the latest place being developed to add to the commuting misery if nothing is done. If you could get on in south Dublin and get a train to work, to the airport, or to a shopping centre, I bet many people would take that over sitting in traffic on the M50.

I bet the cost would be probably prohibitive too and I don't know if it would be physically possible at parts of the route. But I bet one thing, if it was quicker than using the M50 and planned properly it would finance itself in no time.

The other big thing the government need to do is massively incentivise working from home with grants, etc for companies who do allow it for all their staff, all the time. This will take the pressure off public transport and Dublin and lead to more balanced regional development. The problem is, every motorist is a source of revenue even if they are also a source of CO2 emissions as well.

Well yeah - there won't be because we just don't think big enough quickly enough. We get too bogged down in satisfying every NIMBY to get anything done. Most other countries could probably build such infrastructure in a few years, we'd still be arguing over the route in 3 years.

Agree with you in everything else!

if all the uninsured, unlicensed, no tax , non roadworthy or disqualified cars and drivers were taken off the road it would greatly reduce traffic volume . Very easy to do with ANPR technology etc if the guards and that waste of oxygen McEntee could be bothered to do their jobs

I did imagine it, and turned down those roles for that reason. People do have agency over their own lives and can make decisions for themselves. Many often don't, or don't take everything into their decisions. Any time I've rented or bought a place to live, public transport availability to where I want to go has always been a large consideration.

I was in China recently and EVERYONE has an electric moped that's limited to 50kph.

If the government brought in some laws surrounding this sort of vehicle then it would go some way to get people out of their cars. Something less restrictive than current motorbike laws would be ideal. If we can get someone on an electric bike onto the road with zero training maybe there could be some leeway.

Santry to Sandyford is not even 20km.

Why not just go with eBikes?

This doesn't get people to switch from cars to buses and trains.

Ebikes require the user to pedal and they're limited to 25kph. Very limited torque.

It is if you want to take people out of their cars.

You're not going to convince someone to step out of their car for a slightly faster push bike. A moped that can do 50kph is no more expensive than an ebike.