New park and ride sites
To maximise the potential of the BusConnects Dublin programme, the greatest number of people need to be able to substitute private cars for the bus service. For those travelling long distances, Park and Ride facilities allow travellers to transfer to high frequency bus services at the earliest practical opportunity.
In November 2019, the NTA approved the Park and Ride 5 Year Outline Strategy and Implementation Plan. The vision for the plan is:
To support sustainable regional, urban, and rural growth through enhancing connectivity to high quality, accessible, low emission, and sustainable transport; empowering modal shift; and increasing the catchment areas of existing and future public transport by delivering a network of appropriate Park and Ride facilities.
The location of Park and Ride facilities is critical to their success. Important requirements for success include:
- High capacity and frequent bus service to ensure efficient service
- Fast and reliable times to commuter destinations to be attractive
- Sited away from congested locations to enable access
- Conveniently sited for drivers on-route to major destinations
- Sufficient capacity in local road network to accommodate extra demand
- Parking controls in nearby areas to discourage illegal parking/charge avoidance
- Combined price of fare and parking charge that are attractive to drivers
- Affordable costs of site acquisition, construction and on-going operation
The Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016 – 2035 proposes several rail-based park and ride facilities, and the BusConnects Dublin programme builds on this with a number of complementary bus-based sites. The NTA is currently assessing potential locations for the BusConnects Dublin Park and Ride facilities. At present, there are indicative locations for potential future BusConnects Dublin Park and Ride facilities, but there may be additional sites, or these locations may change after further detailed assessment. To increase attractiveness of the service, parking charges and fares will be integrated at park and ride facilities.
