Drive time: one in three spends two hours a day in traffic
The analysis of census figures by National University of Ireland Maynooth’s geography department also shows the distance people travel to work has doubled since 1990, with the average journey now almost 10 miles. The number of people travelling to work by car doubled from 492,709 in 1986 to 995,550 in 2002 according to the research.
More than 105,000 people travel at least 60 miles to their job each day in 2002, compared to only 44,276 six years earlier.
The researchers attribute the huge rise in car journeys to the increase in car ownership which resulted from the economic boom.
In 1990, there were 796,408 cars registered, that figure rose to 1,447,908 in 2002. Despite vast improvements in public transport systems, there was only a slight rise in the numbers who took the bus or train to work in the same period - up from 107,000 in 1991 to 140,000 in 2002.
Headed by Professor Jim Walsh and Dr Adrian Kavanagh, the team found the average journey to work rose from 4.8 to 9.8 miles over the past decade.
The biggest increase was among people living in rural areas, of whom almost four-in-10 travel at least 10 miles to work every day, compared to just one-in-five in the 1980s.
“A combination of factors have resulted in very long journey times, especially for those living in the metropolitan fringe areas where, in many districts, between 16% and 30% of workers have journey times of more than an hour,” Prof Walsh said.
The 2002 census showed 178,093 people spend at least an hour getting to work in the morning, of whom almost 52,000 take 90 minutes on the road.
Another surprising factor was a decline in numbers of people who work from home despite the increased availability of computers and improved internet access.
Part of the reason for lengthened distances and journey times to work for rural workers may be the increase in homes in the countryside.
The 2002 Census returns found that 216,000 homes, or one-in-seven of the country’s total housing stock, were vacant. The figure is as high as 25% of houses in Leitrim and Donegal.
“Holiday homes account for just under 40,000 of the vacant dwellings. They are especially prevalent in the western counties and in Wexford, where they represent 10% of the total housing stock,” the study found.
The purpose of the analysis was to establish the geography of socio-economic and demographic indicators for 2002 and the previous decade.
It also found that migration has accounted for half the population increase since the mid-1990s, with 25,525 immigrants to the capital in 2001/02.
The greater Dublin area attracted 35% of all immigrants in the year to April 2002.
*Up to 30% of drivers spends two hours in traffic each day.
*Distance travelled to work has doubled since 1990.
*Almost 1 million commuters travel by car every day.
*105,000 people travel at least 60 miles to their job each day.
*216,000 homes (holiday dwellings) were vacant.
: 2002 Census.
