Council to monitor traffic through Cork City to improve transport planning

Sixteen sensors across 12 locations will track how people traverse through the city — but no personal data will be retained

In 2023, a UCC study suggested that road transport accounted for 29% of emissions in Cork city. File picture: Chani Anderson

Cork City Council is set to monitor the vehicles that pass through key points of the city each day as it seeks to improve its transport planning and “climate-related analysis”.

It has gone out to tender for a new contract for the monitoring solution across Cork, which will see 16 sensors across 12 locations tracking how people traverse through the city.

It includes sites at MacCurtain Street, Penrose Quay, Washington Street, and Infirmary Road, with other potential sites earmarked including the Lower Glanmire Road, Kinsale Road, and Carrigrohane Road.

“The system shall provide continuous, bi-directional monitoring of multimodal categories across the designated sites,” it said. 

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

“This shall include detection and classification of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, measurement of bi-directional flows [and] minimum accuracy of over 95% across all detected modes.” 

This will include details of a vehicle such as its tax class, fuel type, and engine capacity to help track emissions. It will also integrate automatic number plate recognition data to help track the travel time between different sites.

Even though such details of vehicles are being captured, the council was clear that the contract would have to adhere to data protection laws, including anonymisation of vehicle registration numbers and no retention of identifiable personal data.

Must comply with GDPR

“All components and systems must comply with GDPR and relevant Irish data legislation,” it said. 

“No personal data, saved images or video footage shall be stored or retained.” 

While transport in Cork city is still heavily reliant on the private car, recent data has pointed to significant numbers of journeys taken through sustainable means.

Last month, the National Transport Authority said that walking, wheeling, and cycling in the Cork Metropolitan Area saved 13,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year, which is equivalent to about 130,000 residents taking flights from Cork Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

In 2023, a UCC study suggested that road transport accounted for 29% of emissions in Cork city.

“We know that transport emissions are substantive in Cork City and we also know that our car dependence rate is very high,” the study’s lead author Dr Marguerite Nyhan said.

“It's important that we keep investing in public and zero-carbon transport modes and infrastructure. We need to ensure that our cities are walkable and have excellent cycling infrastructure.”