Paying to drive into Cork, Limerick, and Waterford: Are congestion charges realistic in Ireland?
Traffic in Cork city centre. A report predicts that if motorists are charged a €10 congestion charge to drive into the cities of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford, and if parking charges are increased by 400%, Ireland could see a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from transport by 2030. Picture: Larry Cummins
A modelling report by the National Transport Authority (NTA) published in spring this year predicted that if motorists were charged a €10 congestion charge to drive into the cities of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford, and if parking charges were increased by 400%, Ireland could see a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from transport by 2030.
The report, published as part of the Climate Action Plan 2023, notes that other behavioural changes would also be needed to achieve this target, including an increase in working from home, a reduction in car ownership, and a more reliable public transport network.
Although congestion charges have become more common across Europe in recent years, with even the car-loving US beginning to jump on the bandwagon with the announcement that New York is set to introduce them, is Ireland really anywhere near considering taking the plunge to start charging motorists to enter cities?
The NTA has actually been recommending the introduction of congestion charges since before 2014 when it included them in its '2030 vision' transport strategy.
But two years earlier, when Leo Varadkar was minister for transport, he had publicly shot down the idea and he repeated his objection to introducing such charges.
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Transport makes up 20% of all of Ireland’s carbon emissions output, with 95% of that coming from road transport in the form of cars, freight vehicles, and public transport.
For those living in cities, reduced traffic means better air quality, less sound pollution, and fewer hold-ups for public transport.
But with large parts of rural Ireland still not served by reliable public transport links to cities and with many services clustered in urban centres, could congestion charges see rural dwellers unequally impacted in their ability to access cities?
When Sweden held a referendum on the introduction of Stockholm’s congestion charges in 2006, Stockholm itself was the only electoral area that actually voted to introduce them — the other 14 municipalities voted against introducing congestion charges for the capital.
In fact, even in Stockholm, the vote was only carried by 53% of city dwellers, with a large minority of 47% voting no.
In Ireland, people living in rural areas travel more than double the number of kilometres by car per day compared to city dwellers, according to the NTA. People living in Dublin travel an average of 17km by car each day, while rural dwellers travel 43km by car each day.
This is why the Rural Independent group of TDs have been up in arms recently about a different, but connected, plan to charge motorists — the so-called Road Usage Charge scheme touted by Transport Infrastructure Ireland under the banner of Project Bruce (Better Road User Charging Evaluation), details of which were leaked to the press last week, resulting in claims that it would cost a motorist €163 to drive from Cork to Dublin.
To Tipperary Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath, stridently opposed to anything that could be perceived as disadvantaging rural people, the removal of services from smaller villages means that rural dwellers are forced to travel to cities for important access to the likes of doctors, community welfare officers, and, increasingly, postal and banking services.
“Again, rural people marginalised and discriminated against, blatantly,” said Mr McGrath.
"If you don’t have the public transport system available to you, it’s no good to you; it just doesn’t function.
“How am I going to get to Dublin? I have to go 40km to get to the closest train station first, and then get a taxi at the other end of the journey? It’s that or I drive.”
While Mr McGrath is not against the introduction of congestion charges in extremely limited circumstances, he cautions against them being applied in cities with a large rural hinterland, or being applied to large areas of cities.
He says there are important things to get right first.
“Tipperary town is choked with trucks every day of the week because it’s on a major infrastructural route and we’re waiting on a bypass there for 40 years.”
The NTA acknowledges the lack of balanced public transport provision between urban and rural areas in its modelling report, concluding that in areas not served by strong public transport, “promoting a shift to electric vehicles in particular areas can potentially be a more effective policy than a blanket incentive”.
When it comes to gaining access to urban centres for vital services, most cities that have applied congestion charges have a list of exempt circumstances, including hospital and medical access or providing transport for people with disabilities.
However, it seems certain that the political will for introducing congestion charges to Irish cities any time soon is lacking.
The NTA stressed in a statement to the that its modelling report, and the putative €10 charge floated in it, remain as modelling only unless the Government is willing to move on the issue.
“Implementation of any actions arising from this report would be a matter for central Government,” said a spokesperson.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan is keen to stress that there are other steps that need to be taken to iron out inequities before any move to a congestion charge scheme for Irish cities would be implemented.
“The minister is on record as saying that we will not price people off the road,” a spokesperson for the minister told this paper.
“Instead, the priority is to put in place the public transport and walking and cycling infrastructure that allows people to make choices in how they travel, particularly in more urban areas.”
Singapore was an extremely early adopter of congestion charges, having first introduced a S$3 (€2.05) fee to enter the 5sq km business area known as the restricted zone (RZ) during the mornings between 7.30am and 9.30am, all the way back in 1975.
Both the fee and the time for which charges applied were gradually increased — by 1988, it was 50c more expensive per journey. In 1989, the evening peak period was included.
By 1994, there were all-day congestion charges in the RZ and some motorways were introduced.
Having first operated on tickets displayed on the windshield, in the late nineties a complex electronic road pricing system based on transponders fitted to cars was introduced in the RZ and on an ever-expanding number of motorways.
Congestion charges are applied Monday to Friday and vary up to a maximum of about €3.70.
After the introduction of the initial scheme in the seventies, a 73% reduction in the number of cars entering the RZ was recorded, from 42,800 entries per day to 11,400.
The share of bus journeys made each day increased from 33% to 46%.
A congestion charge was introduced in London in 2003. In its first 10 years of operating, it generated £2.6bn in revenue. It is one of the largest congestion zones in the world, covering the City of London and the West End.
It is £15 (€17.50) to drive in the congestion charge zone (CCZ) from 7am to 6pm on weekdays and from 12pm to 6pm on weekends and public holidays, excluding Christmas Day to New Year’s Day.
An additional ultra low emission zone (Ulez) charge was introduced in 2019 that sees petrol and diesel vehicles charged to travel within the bounds of the North and South Circular roads. Electric vehicles go free; by 2025, electric vehicles will pay this charge too.
If your vehicle is classed for the Ulez charge, you are charged an extra £12.50 (€14.60) per day.
This means some drivers are paying an eye-watering €32.10 per day to access parts of London. The Ulez will be extended to all boroughs of London this month.
Twenty years after the first charge was introduced, Transport for London says the number of cars entering the congestion zone has fallen by 18% and that bus travel in Central London has been boosted by 33%.
Milan’s 8.2sq km Area C, in the central Cerchia dei Bastioni area of the city, was introduced as a pilot scheme in June 2011 in response to high levels of city centre pollution.
After it was disrupted by protests in 2012, it was introduced as a permanent measure in spring 2013.
The congestion charge is active on weekdays from 7.30am to 7.30pm, with weekends and public holidays free of charge.
It costs €5 per day to enter Area C, with multiple-day tickets of €30 or €60 also available.
Residents of Area C get 40 free entries per year and pay a reduced rate of €2 after that, but over 70% of residents do not use up their 40 free entries, according to the Milanese transport authority.
Congestion charge revenue is ringfenced for mobility infrastructure such as cycle lanes and pedestrian zones.
A 2015 study noted a 30% reduction in the number of cars entering Area C over 2011 traffic figures.
The Big Apple is set to become the first US city to introduce a congestion charge, with a programme due to begin in spring 2024.
The toll, known as the central business district tolling programme, will charge somewhere between $9 (€8.10) and $23 (€20.90) to enter Lower Manhattan below 60th St.
Some 700,000 cars enter Lower Manhattan daily, according to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and New Yorkers lose about 117 hours each year to sitting in traffic.
The MTA hopes to reduce the number of vehicles entering the area by 10% daily and to ringfence the revenue for improvements and upgrades to the city’s 100-year-old Subway system.
Although New Yorkers have always relied heavily on public transport, covid lockdowns induced a 25% reduction in public transport usage and it is also hoped that the congestion charges will nudge commuters back onto public transport.
Inspired by Singapore’s model, Sweden first introduced a congestion charge for entering Stockholm city centre in 2007 following a trial period in 2006.
In 2016, the charges were increased and the congestion zone was expanded to include the district of Essingeleden.
Charges are applied on a seasonal 'peak' and 'off-peak' basis with drivers paying the equivalent of €11.65 during peak seasons from March to June and August and November, and €9 off-season, with charges not applied on weekends, public holidays, and most of the month of July.
Like most other cities, Stockholm has a list of exemptions, for example, for emergency vehicles, but unlike almost all other examples, Stockholm includes foreign-registered vehicles in its list of exempt vehicles to make it easier for tourists to navigate.
In 2020, Stockholm, like London, introduced a low emission zone (LEZ) on top of the congestion charge for the busy shopping street Hornsgatan. It is €6, meaning a driver paying the congestion charge and LEZ in peak season could fork out €17.65.
Traffic has reduced by 20% since the introduction of congestion charges, according to the transport authority.
Birmingham was one of a wave of regional cities to follow in the English capital’s footsteps when they introduced a charge to enter their clean air zone using automatic number plate recognition in 2021.
Electric and hybrid vehicles and those that meet emissions standards are not charged, but it is £8 (€9.33) per day for other cars, vans, and taxis or £50 (€58.32) a day for coaches, buses, and HGVs to enter the city centre.
According to a cabinet member for transport at Birmingham City Council, the charge has resulted in a 50% reduction in the highest polluting vehicles entering the city since it was introduced.
