Minister’s Foreword

National Sustainable Mobility Policy |Year One Progress Report

We are now one year into the implementation phase of the National Sustainable Mobility Policy (SMP)1 – a policy that aims to transform how we travel, making sustainable journeys more attractive and feasible for all.

It will be enormously challenging to achieve our target of halving transport emissions by 2030, but this report shows that every week progress is being made. We will work hard to build on this momentum, providing people with access to reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options. In this way, we can achieve our targets together – through more walking and cycling and more use of new and enhanced public transport services especially in rural areas. If we move together, we can reap the benefits of sustainable mobility in terms of health, safety, and well-being.

It is an ambitious policy, reflecting the urgency of action needed between now and 2030. We have made a promising start in the last year, achieving significant momentum in delivering sustainable mobility projects as well as expanding bus services nationwide.

Some of these key achievements over the past year include:

Let’s keep going!

Ӄ A 20% fare reduction on State-subsidised public transport services and the introduction of a new Young Adult Travel Card which offers a further 50% reduction;

Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Transport

Ӄ The establishment of Active Travel Units to develop projects in local authorities across the country, with over 200 additional staff recruited to work in this area since 2021;

Ӄ The launch of the Pathfinder Programme of 35 demonstrator sustainable mobility projects aligned to the goals of the SMP; and

Ӄ The commencement of the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan, now delivering new and enhanced bus services across the country

This has been accomplished through a substantial step up in investment, with around €310 million invested in infrastructure around the country in 2022, through the NTA’s Active Travel programme. This represents over six times as much funding as was available in 2019. We have also seen real progress in bringing large-scale infrastructure projects including Metrolink, BusConnects, DART+ West, and DART+ South West in Dublin, and the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme to planning stage.

1 https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/848df-national-sustainable-mobility-policy/