Just 2.8% of Limerick commuters use public transport

THE number of commuters using public transport in Limerick is less than three per cent in comparison to over nine per cent nationally.

The latest compilation of figures released from last year’s Census shows that 52,595 people living and working in Limerick travelled to work by car – or 72.7% of the population – in comparison to 65.6% nationally.

The figures show that just 2.8 per cent used public transport, compared to 9.3 per cent who did so nationally. A further 1.6 per cent cycled, while 9.8% walked.

Limerick commuters had an average commute of 24.2 minutes, up by just over a minute from five years previously in the 2011 Census. However, the journey for some 1,428 commuters took 90 minutes or more.

Commuting times rose in every county and the national average time in April 2016 was 28.2 minutes, up two minutes from five years ago.

Among primary school children, 66.6% travelled to school in Limerick by car, while 4,429 walked or 20%.

There were 2,578 secondary school children walking to school, accounting for 18.1% of secondary students, while 50% went to school by car, compared to 48.2% in 2011. Another 27.2% travelled by bus, while just over one per cent cycled to school.

The University of Limerick, Northern Trust and Limerick City and County Council have all been praised for their endeavours to implement smarter travel schemes in the workplace, and were recognised at the Smarter Travel awards in April of this year.

Solidarity councillor Cian Prendiville said that Limerick is “lagging behind” other cities.

“With more investment in bus and cycle lanes, and more frequent services I think we could easily double the numbers. Ultimately, we should be striving to match Dublin and the other cities in terms of frequent and reliable public transport,” he said. 

Cllr Prendiville said that not only does using ‘smarter’ travel mean less traffic, it “also is cheaper, healthier and more environmentally friendly”.