Irish youth demand transport 'revolution'

Ireland’s young people are calling for a radical overhaul of the nation's transport network, demanding a system that is safer, more inclusive, and significantly better connected, writes Brian Byrne. The National Youth Assembly on Transport 2025 has published a comprehensive report outlining key recommendations to transform how people navigate the country, particularly the youth and those in rural areas.

The report highlights unified digital management of all transport networks, expansion of rail services, a right to safe and accessible transport, school transport issues, and the incentivisation of active travel as priorities.

Delegates proposed the development of a single, high-quality app for all transport modes—including bus, train, and LUAS—featuring live timetables, route planners, and integrated ticketing. The report also suggests enabling Leap Cards to be added to online wallets and ensuring all buses accept card payments.

The government is urged to revisit major rail projects, specifically the revival of the Metro West light rail and the DART underground plan. There is also a strong demand to expand train services to Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan, and to reopen disused lines across the island, such as the Western Rail Corridor connecting Galway to Sligo.

The assembly emphasised that transport must be a basic right accessible to everyone, regardless of disability or location. Key recommendations include the provision of level boarding, ramps, and accessible bus stops. More staff and CCTV are needed at stations and on vehicles to combat anti-social behaviour. Expanding transport options and frequency in rural areas to ensure equal access to education and work is another demand.

On school transport, delegates highlighted issues of overcrowding and early start times. Proposed solutions include a subsidised student bus app that notifies parents when their child taps their Leap Card, better alignment of bus schedules with school and work hours, and prioritising safe school walkways and traffic calming measures around educational centres.

The report suggests significant investment in Active Travel, including building protected cycle lanes and footpaths to European standards. Proposed financial incentives include removing VAT from the cost of buying a bike, and introducing a congestion charge for cars, with the revenue redirected into developing active travel infrastructure. 

Government extends eSPSV grant for 2006

The Government has extended its electric small public service vehicle (eSPSV) grant scheme through 2026, writes Brian Byrne. The scheme, open for applications from 25 February, provides financial support to taxi, hackney, and limousine operators wishing to upgrade to cleaner, electric vehicles. 

A funding allocation of €7 million has been confirmed for 2026. Eligible operators will have access to grants of up to €7,500 for purchasing a new battery electric SPSV, and up to €17,500 for those scrapping older, high-polluting vehicles as part of their transition. Additionally, operators can receive up to €25,000 for the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible battery electric SPSV.

Since its launch in 2018, the scheme has allocated over €65 million, assisting more than 3,600 operators to transition from fossil fuel-powered vehicles to electric, thereby helping to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality across Irish cities and towns.

 

Electric bus shown to potential Irish operators

A new electric bus may be going into service in Ireland soon, following a presentation to potential buyers by importers Harris Group, writes Brian Byrne.

The China-made Steed, an acronym for Sustainable Transport Electric Energy Delivered, is built by the Higer company and has a passenger capacity of 48 and a claimed operational range of over 200kms.

Its own CCS2 DC fast-charging infrastructure provides a full charge in less than two hours.

The bus is also fully wheelchair accessible.

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Mercedes-Benz looks to the future of city transportation

This is the Mercedes-Benz Vision Urbanetic concept, in which the company envisages autonomous vehicles which can be changed for use in minutes, so that they can transport people by day and goods by night, writes Brian Byrne.

It was revealed yesterday afternoon in Copenhagen during a conference on the future of mobility in densely populated urban areas by the 2030s, Urban Transportation of the Future.

As part of its work towards more efficient transportation, especially the most difficult 'last mile', the Mercedes-Benz Vans Division has been developing a number of technologies related to the moving of people and goods, which can be combined in different ways to provide mobility solutions for different circumstances.

With a third of the planet's population expected to be living in cities by 2050, up from 50pc at the moment, the already overloaded transport systems for both people and goods will be unable to cope. In addition to the stresses of traffic congestion, pollution from the current type of vehicles would seriously impact the quality of life for city residents.

Fergus Conheady of Mercedes-Benz Ireland's commercials division, who attended the event, noted that this was the latest in a series of forward looking conferences by the company over the last few years, which had previously previewed electric van and other related delivery technologies, many of which have already arrived.

"This is taking that process to a very high new level," he said. "The issues it addresses will have very far reaching consequences for the whole automotive and logistics industry, as well as how people are going to live in the not so distant future."

(We will be reporting in detail on this event and how the future of moving people and goods in the growing cities of the future looks from a Mercedes-benz perspective.)

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Google Maps now using public transport here

Google has added a public transit feature to its Maps service in Ireland that will enable users to source the most direct and next availability of transit routes to a destination, writes Brian Byrne.

The company has linked up with the public and privately owned rail, bus and tram systems, and even the small and major ferries.

The system went live this morning. It can be used on smartphones, tablets and computers. Users simply tap a bus symbol after putting in the start and finish of their journey.

The facility provides the upcoming start times of any service in the user's area. The directions also detail which carrier and service number is being used at any point in the journey.

Germans high users of public transport

Germans use public transport at a level 18 times higher than do Americans, according to research published in a recent issue of the journal, Transport Review, writes Brian Byrne.

That figure applies to small metro areas, where 7 percent of Germans ride public transport compared to 0.4 percent of Americans. In large cities, German use is six times that of Americans.

The reasons suggested include better infrastructure, with roughly 88 perent of Germans living within a kilometre of a public transport stop, compared to 43 percent of Americans.

Germany also has policies which discourages car ownership and use in cities, including higher fuel and vehicle taxes.

A new twist on smelly buses

If you think that advertising on buses, trains and planes is a bit in your face, spare a thought for public transportation commuters in South Korea, writes Brian Byrne.

The local Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Seoul has recently completed a pilot project where a fresh coffee smell was wafted through city buses at particular times when the food company's jingle was played over the speakers.

When they got off those buses, they found themselves near Dunkin' Donuts stores.

Sales at the relevant outlets increased by 29 percent on average.

Don't tell Michael O'Leary … god knows what kind of olefactory come-ons would be injected into the ventilation systems in his planes.

Autopilot bus in Madrid

Madrid's bus service has managed to have one of its vehicles travel around the city on auto-pilot, writes Brian Byrne using WiMAX internet and GPS to alert it to traffic problems.

The experiment was carried out by the automation and robotics center of the Spanish Council of Advanced Scientific Research (CSIC). The GPS sensors allow, for instance, that if one bus detects traffic, it can then send this information to the central communication system. 

Then management can decide to send a message out to other buses with the same affected stops to see if they can avoid this particular stretch of road or warn passengers that they may want to alter their commute for just one day. Likewise, once an ambulance moves or an accident is cleared up, a signal can be sent that the route has re-opened.

EU wants all-embracing transport ticketing

The European Commission has encouraged Member States to work together to make it possible for passengers to buy a single ticket for a journey in Europe, writes Brian Byrne, regardless of the countries or transport modes involved.

The technology already exists to make seamless multimodal travel possible but help from individual members is needed to remove the remaining barriers, for example by improving the availability and quality of data.

The roadmap to a Single European Transport Area highlighted the importance of having integrated multimodal travel services across the EU.

This will make it possible for passengers to access all information online to better plan their journeys, as well as reserve and purchase a single ticket regardless of the number of EU countries involved or the number of transport modes.

The EU has already encouraged innovation in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) through initiatives such as a directive on the deployment of ITS as well as an action plan containing specific targets.

But they mustn't have heard of this in Dublin, where, after many millions spent in 'evaluation', we still haven't gotten within an ass's roar of combined ticketing for Dublin Bus/DART/LUAS.

Small taxi!

Not one we have seen in Ireland yet, but this taxi in Fengxin, China, may well be something that we'll see in Europe when that country eventually becomes a big exporter of city cars.

We're not sure of the brand, but it is a 3-wheeler, 5-door, and powered by a 2-stroke engine. We suspect that stability is improved with a pair of passengers on board!