Motorists are having to pay, and will pay even more in the future, for the State's failure to provide choice in the form of a high-quality public transportation system, according to a new report.
A primarily roads-based policy increases motorists' driving costs dramatically, transport researcher Brian Guckian argues in the report.
Guckian, a proponent of mixed National Transportation Corridors using car, rail and bus as alternatives to motorways, claims the economic case for large-scale road-building is weakening.
Factors such as increased tolling, oil price rises and the impending introduction of carbon emissions penalties under the Kyoto Protocol point to a need for a re-appraisal of the viability of many major road schemes, he says.
"Whilst currently motorists do not pay the full costs of their car use, increasing international pressures in the form of Kyoto penalties, higher fuel and energy costs, worsening congestion and other factors are changing this situation rapidly."
Guckian estimates the "true" cost of car use at €13.6 billion a year, equivalent to 11 per cent of gnp, and greater than all foreign direct investment in Ireland in 2004. He describes current trends in Britain, where road pricing is being introduced, as "significant".
"It is clear from the data that an adherence to primarily roads-based solutions to transportation issues is highly uneconomic, and has considerable implications for growth, competitiveness, sustainability, social inclusion and national development."
The report, which focuses primarily on the controversial proposed M3 from Dublin to Navan, calculates the comparative costs of the motorway vis-à-vis a national tranportation corridor using high- quality public transport. It finds that overall motoring costs in the Dublin-Navan corridor will increase by between 16 per cent and 32 per cent when the M3 goes ahead.
According to Guckian, the M3 will generate six times its construction cost in "consequential" or hidden costs such as air and noise pollution and congestion. Critics of the new motorway point to the fact that two sections will be tolled, leading to more expense and congestion for motorists, and fears of a repeat of the Westlink/M50 fiasco.
Guckian says transport economics has traditionally "foregrounded" roads-based solution, while at the same time underplaying the environmental and social benefits of public transport.
"This has had the effect of creating a skewed playing pitch in terms of cost comparisons, so that neither the consequential costs of road schemes, nor the indirect benefits of rail and coach modes seem to have been considered to any great degree." The report estimates the current cost of driving in the corridor at €13,800 per car per year, with 15 per cent of this in the form of hidden costs. However, it says, the hidden costs component is rising.
The estimate for motoring costs for a two-car household on the new motorway is €31,300 a year, and this figure is also predicted to rise due to increased pollution and congestion.
"Over-specified road-building, with its high construction costs, and very high consequential costs as shown in the study, is putting enormous pressure on public resources that could otherwise be spent on making badly-needed improvements to school and healthcare facilities, and on providing a high-quality public transport alternative." More information on the report is available from railprojects@eircom.net
