Traffic Congestion.

Very simply because we are burdening that cost today in congestion.

Amusing response though. You seem to think workers are just created from trees .. or maybe grown in a field ?..

So because we've made the mistake in the past of creating car-centric policies that don't work, we should now continue to throw money and resources at the problem, instead of focusing on public transport? Drivers need to start paying for their own storage spaces.

Amusing that you seem to think workers = motorists?

And lots of those journeys would have shorter, more direct routes available for cycling, when you don't have to worry about sitting in traffic.

Yes, there are lots of people on the M50 who don't have a whole lot of other choices today. There's also a bunch of them on the M50 because they've never given serious consideration to any commute method that didn't involve driving around with four empty seats all day wondering where all the road space has gone.

Those who have other viable options would be negligible on the m50 .. vast majority are commuting from suburbs to industrial parks ... so unless you have a circular public transport system you are pissing against the wind.

anyway .. the bones of my point still stand that if we can remove 30% of these commuters out of rush hour through smarter / flexible working most of the woes of congestion will be eliminated

I think everyone is right.

Some people don't explore all the options and some people don't really have any options at the moment.

The routes are always changing. You might find something that works then there's a small change and it becomes unviable.

I've rotated through driving, cycling and public transport, then rotated back through them all. I've gone multi modal switching between them in the same journey and even on different days.

The city is both vastly better in terms of transport and also worse with lots of poor design decisions.

I always thought this was a no-brainer.

A series of park and ride around the m50 and train link to Dublin.

Then they did it. Lovely big one at Dunboyne. Nobody uses it!!!

Half the carpark is actually rented out to Intel for the construction staff!!

That train before lockdown was packed to over capacity. There is no way to fit any more people on those trains unless they put more on and make them bigger. I stopped using it because of the overcrowding. In fact since it got busier they made them shorter.

Dunno what is like now.

I assume those getting on at the park and ride don't all get off at clonsilla and mostly all get on in the docklands coming home. So regardless where people get on they'll get to enjoy the experience of a sardine for most of their journey.

I not back in the office, but if I was I wouldn't fancy being back on that train

If people that genuinely had a better option chose to take that better option and left the roads to people that didn't have a better option, then the roads into Dublin would be fine.

By better options I mean working from home at least part time to take them out of a commute at rush hour, or staggering work times by an hour or 2, taking bus and trains, cycling, walking, car pooling.

If I was a planner and people looking for more roads, underpasses, roads in the sky I'd be telling them to exercise their options and I bet lots of people have options. Take a few cars (20-30%) off the roads and see the difference, apparently my route to work in Dublin was empty this morning between 8 and 9 o clock, I didn't go to office until now though as usual. I can't be convinced 20 to 30% of people don't have better options and could change their habits without much hassle.

It's a human behaviour problem, not a planning problem. Blame someone else culture.

That will have been me that mentioned Carlow, Cavan and Portlaoise and your presumption that these people moved to the areas to get a bigger house is just that.... a presumption. The people I know are locals to their areas and could not find suitable work in their localities due to the fact that Dublin has the most opportunities for employment. Couple that with the high cost of buying, building or renting in Dublin, this left them with little choice but to buy local (also to be close to family/where they grew up). While I realise they may not be the majority, they are certainly not the only commuters in this predicament, where continual policies on growth and employment have favoured a Dublin centric model. People in commuter belts have little choice but to get in their cars and drive to Dublin if that is where their employment is. They have not made the choice to "have the rest of society pay the price in terms of increased emissions, particulate matter, congestion and noise pollution" as you so eloquently put it. They have made the choice based on available options to them in terms of employment and cost/quality of living.... as would anyone. Also, being a "Dublin taxpayer" has nothing whatsoever to do with anything. All the taxes you pay are for the benefit of society, not just of one city or area in the country. I say this as someone who lives in Dublin and has to deal with congestion. Vilifying or otherwise criticising people commuting from outside the city by car is not offering any solutions and if someone wishes to live a "bucolic" lifestyle, then let them.

As an aside, traffic in Galway city has returned to pre-pandemic levels also and they are experiencing the same issues of delays and traffic jams. The issue with Galway is that most of the large employers have been setup in business parks to the east of the city whereas quite a substantial part of the population live on the west side of the city. This has caused massive tailbacks in the morning and evening and the local council have reduced or altered traffic light times to give more priority to foot traffic. While this policy is to be lauded, it has actually made matters worse now that people are back in the office. There is no viable alternative to the car in Galway city as the bus service is sub par so commuters have no choice there either. Talks of a city bypass ring road have been ongoing for the better part of 30 years and come around every election cycle, I doubt I will see this road before I retire. There does not seem to be the will to tackle the problem in the city at all.

The "new normal" of working from home that was being championed at the beginning of the Pandemic is now turning into the "get back to the office" normal as companies realise they have to continue paying for buildings and facilities that are not being used. Those in charge of traffic management and public transport need to get their heads back in the game as I think they may have been lulled into a false sense of security by all the talk of working from home being the way of the future. A big push by all employers to stagger working from home days for their staff could make a difference but without a forward thinking Government and the civil servants in charge of transport issues, we are still going to be faced with congestion.

Never once said tax anyone.

I said incentives for others.