It makes Dublin one of the slowest cities in the world for car journeys – second only to London.
On Newstalk Breakfast today, transport commentator Conor Faughnan said Dublin’s congestion issues are down to Government policy.
Not surprised
He said he was “not overly surprised nor overly impressed” with the findings.
“A lot of cities up there are megacities you would expect to be congested and Dublin is out of place amongst them,” he said.
“It points out what you get if you have a city that doesn’t invest in public transport, doesn’t have a metro, and still tries to be prosperous and busy.
“There is absolutely no reason we should be on this list. It’s a city centre that is strangling on traffic and is costing us all.”
Dublin rush-hour traffic. Image: David Cordner / Alamy Stock PhotoMr Faughnan said it was unfair to characterise congestion issues down to “Green Party politics".
“But there is an element of that,” he said.
“If there are voices in the conversation who literally take as their measure of success how bad things are for drivers – then maybe this is the outcome.
“If your success measure is ‘Did we make motorists miserable?’ then that analysis can lead to some strange things.
“There’s no doubt this is a suspicion many drivers in Dublin would have.”
Public transport
Mr Faughnan said Dublin city centre is crying out for new modes of public transport.
“If ever alternatives did exist, we would jump on them,” he said.
“People desperately want a public transport alternative but they just don’t have it.
“The city doesn’t have a metro; if we did it wouldn’t be ignored by people who love their SUVs – it would be heavily used.”
The average speed of rush hour traffic in Dublin was 16km/h last year.
Cork city centre also appeared on TomTom’s list of the world's slowest cities where drivers take an average of 20 minutes to travel 10km.
Main image: Heavy traffic on the Quays in Dublin. Credit: Douglas O'Connor / Alamy Stock Photo
