This article is from page 4 of the 2007-12-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE numbers of people aged 15 and over travelling to work each day by car in Clare has increased by 5,213 despite additional expenditure on public transport.
Recent census figures also confirm a trend of fewer people travelling to work by bicycle, on foot or bus in the four years between the 2002 and 2006.
Some 68.7 per cent of people used a car to get to work in 2002, increasing to to 69.7 per cent in 2006.
In 2002, 29,092 people aged over
15 travelled to work by car out of 42,238. This increased in 2006 to 34,265 out of 49,138.
Despite millions of euro being in- vested on the Ennis-Limerick rail line, the census shows that only .22% of the Clare population over 15 use the train to get to work.
The census shows that in 2006, 111 people aged over 15 used the train to get to work. This was five times the number who travelled to work by train in 2002 when only 21 used it. The numbers using the train are ex- pected to increase in 2009 when the Ennis-Galway rail line reopens.
The numbers aged over 15 who get to work by bus has marginally dropped in the four years between the two censuses.
In 2006, 1.7 per cent or 871 people aged over I5 travelled to work by bus; the 2002 census shows that 1.8 per cent or 794 people travelled to work by bus.
The figures also show that the per- centage numbers travelling to work by bicycle has dropped.
In the 2002 Census, 487 or 1.15 per cent of people cycled to work com- pared to one per cent or 536 in 2006.
The number of those getting to
work by foot has dropped from nine per cent or 3,843 to 8.9 per cent or 4,390 people n 2006.
The percentage number of people working at home has dropped from 8.8 per cent or 3,272 in 2002 to 7.3 per cent or 3,598 in 2006.
Clare Green Party councillor, Bri- an Meaney said yesterday that the figures exposed the county’s growing over-reliance on the car.
‘The rise in our reliance on the mo- tor-car is unsustainable and we can’t have a transport system based on fos- sil fuel as we face into the future,’ he said.