Motorists urged not to use cars for European Car Free Day

The Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan gave details of a variety of public transport initiatives as part of European Car Free Day 2003, and urged everyone to participate in the event.

Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and DART are all supporting the initiative, which takes place on Monday September 22. A number of licensed private Transport Operators are also involved with their Local Authority.

Brennan said: "There are now some 1.5 million private cars compared with some 800,000 ten years ago. We now have an average of more than one car per household, and as we all know some households have up to four cars where once there was just the one family car".

On the day, Bus Eireann will provide free city bus services between 10am and 4pm in Athlone, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford. A free service to the train station in Balbriggan will also be provided from 6.50am to 7pm on the day. In Dublin, Dublin Bus will be providing free travel for all passengers between 10am and 1pm.

Over 1500 cities in Europe will participate in European Car Free Day, including seventeen Irish cities and towns.