Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Hannah Daly:

Thank you for the good question. We can be much more ambitious on mode shift and decarbonising school transport. That would require a raft of complementary policies. In other words, a combination of carrots and sticks. I offer a few suggestions. There is a target to increase the numbers of children travelling to school by bus. We should also look at the timetabling relating to buses in order that it does not take too long for children to get to school. We should also look at the costs. For most people, driving is cheap if they already own a car. Driving is actually cheaper than buying an annual bus ticket. We could look at who is entitled to school transport based on the distance from their school. We could shorten the distance by which children are entitled to school transport. Obviously, we could increase the infrastructure in order that we can start to measure and set targets for the number of schools that footpaths which are connected to the local town or village. Better still are protected cycle lanes. We can also disincentivise cars by, for example, removing parking and by banning idling outside cars. We could also have softer, more educational measures, such as information campaigns and competitions in schools. Schools could set their own targets and start tracking, for example. All of this should be complementary to more dense urban development, which means building houses close to schools. That is simple but important. We should make sure that neighbourhoods are bike- and walk-friendly. The electrification of school buses should also be looked into.

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