Campaigners for a Very Light Rail (VLR ) system for Galway city have welcomed news that a 7km bus priority corridor from University Hospital Galway past Moneenageisha via Eyre Square has been granted planning permission.
The Gluas VLR Tram Committe said reports in last week’s Galway Advertiser indicating that An Bord Pleanala is due to publish a positive decision on the Bus Connects Cross-City Link project is "the first major part of the jigsaw to overhaul public transport in Galway for decades to win planning permission”.
VLR is the latest European light rail technology which, unlike the Luas in Dublin, does not require heavy concrete foundations sunk several feet below street level.
A spokesman said that 7km of roads rejigged to give buses priority will take up to five years to complete, whereas a 21km linear tram line necessitating only a 300mm track depth excavation could be completed in just two years. The line would link Barna Woods to Oranmore via the city centre and Ballybrit. This is estimated to provide 50 per cent of the city’s population with a tram track less than 500m away, and could be paid for with part of the Apple tax "windfall" which the government has earmarked for long-term infrastructure projects.
“A tram system must be built all in one go, from start to finish, not a bit here, and bit there, as with bus routes,” he said. The spokesman also referenced a submission by engineering consultants ARUP to planning hearings into the proposed Galway City Ring Road.
“[ARUP] predicted that when the entire jigsaw is in place, including the Galway Transport Strategy , bus corridors, Park and Ride, reduced parking provision in new developments, etcetera, the very best modal share for public transport will only be only 8.1 per cent", he said. “Report after report has shown that when a complete modern tram system is part of the public transport system in cities, a sustainable 30 per cent of public transport modal share can be achieved."
Galway was ranked the 37th worst city for traffic out of almost 1,000 cities worldwide in the INRIX 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard, with Galwegian drivers spending 73 hours stationary per year in congestion.
