Galway Bay fm newsroom:
Bus Rapid Transit systems could solve congestion in Galway, Dublin, Cork and Limerick at a fraction of the cost.
That's according to the National Bus and Rail Union, which also says the completion of the Western Rail Corridor should be prioritised
The NBRU has listed three other projects as urgent - a rail link to Navan, a DART spur to Dublin Airport and the start of a Liffey tunnel linking Heuston and Connolly stations
The union has written to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and other party leaders calling for radical changes to Ireland's transport system and stating that public transport cannot work with social distancing if it goes back to pre-Covid-19 norms.
The General Secretary of the NBRU, Dermot O'Leary, said the Covid-19 crisis has presented the opportunity to see how cities might operate with fewer cars in the future, if there was proper planning and consultation.
The Union argues that planning for future transport "should be based on what is achievable, not on what is desired".
To this end, it says both BusConnects and the Metro in Dublin should be dropped and that Bus Rapid Transit systems could solve congestion in Galway, Dublin, Cork and Limerick at a fraction of the cost.
