130 miles to laud merits of public transport – and they came by car

Date Published: 12-Jan-2012

By Dara Bradley

They came to Galway to extol the virtues of public transport . . . but the two men in suits from Dublin didn’t practice what they preached.

High-ranking officials from the National Transport Authority (NTA) travelled to Galway City by private vehicle, rather than bus or train, to give a presentation reviewing the plans the agency has to improve public transport in the city.

The sentiment at the core of their presentation to City Councillors at Monday’s meeting was how to persuade the public to make the ‘modal shift’, away from private cars and into other forms of transport, particularly buses.

But despite there being at least one bus from Galway to Dublin every hour operated by both Bus Éireann and private bus operators, as well as several daily inter-city train services, Hugh Creegan NTA Director of Transport Planning and Investment, and his colleague Jeremy Ryan, drove to Galway on Monday.

This is despite the fact that they work for NTA, an organisation whose staff supposedly pride themselves on choosing public transport over private vehicles.

Mr Creegan and Mr Ryan in their presentation to City Hall outlined the plans that NTA has to improve public transport services in Galway.

A spokesperson for NTA confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that the duo did not use the available public transport to travel from their offices in Dublin 2.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.