A new transport scheme for Dublin is to be developed over the next 10 years to include the development of a network of park-and-ride sites within 10 kilometres of the city centre.
The scheme will form part of a 10-year strategic transport plan for the State to be started next month, Minister of State Ivor Callely said yesterday.
Mr Callely said he had "a shopping list" of Dublin-based schemes he has told officials to include in the plan.
These include a network of park-and-ride sites within 10 kilometres of the city centre, the proposed eastern bypass of Dublin, an airport rail link and a rail interconnector linking Connolly, Pearse and Heuston Stations.
He also wants the proposed upgrade of the M50 to include non-stop links for lorries using the Port Tunnel and a traffic-light-free junction at the Red Cow interchange. Previous plans had included at least one set of traffic lights at the interchange.
The Minister of State also wants Luas extensions to Swords and Cabinteely and a city-centre link between the two Luas lines.
To drive the ambitious wish list, Mr Callely will convene a forum of Dublin-based transport chief executives before the end of the year.
He said he will chair the first session himself and after that he expects to make progress on issues such as integrated ticketing and journey-planning.
Mr Callely said he accepted that the plan was ambitious, and had yet to be given Cabinet approval, but it had been the subject of extensive consultation with the Department of Finance.
He said the Taoiseach was aware of the scale and nature of the plan.
The Minister was speaking as he inspected public transport facilities in Munich, Germany.
Mr Callely was told by Dr Manfred Rothkopf of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Munich and Upper Bavaria that 10 years ago traffic congestion in Munich was at the levels prevalent in Dublin today.
However, under the terms of the Inzell initiative, named after the town in which it was signed in 1995, the chamber of commerce, BMW, Siemens and Munich city council came together and put forward a solution.
The solution involved new traffic systems, 28 park-and-ride sites, each with capacity for 1,000 cars, new regional and local rail tracks and a "blue zone" in the centre of the city where council garages were built to house residents' cars free.
Mr Callely said the measures had clearly worked. "We have seen that with intelligent traffic management systems you can get up to 15 per cent extra capacity out of the road," he said.
Mr Callely also viewed a park-and-ride site on the outskirts of Munich which, he noted, had security, security cameras, covered walkways and lighting.
The site, which is subsidised by the city, charges car-owners about €75 annually per car.