Car still king for Mayo commuters

Car still king for Mayo commuters


> More Mayo residents work outside the county than inside
> 75.9 percent drive to work

Anton McNulty
antonmcnulty@mayonews.ie

More people living in Mayo are commuting to work outside the county than are working in the county according to new figures released by the Central Statistic Office.
The latest publication by the CSO from the 2011 Census presents a profile of the commuting patterns of the Irish population and covers modes of travel, journey times and time of departure for both workers and students.
The results make for interesting reading for transport strategists in the county. They reveal that public transport is a non-starter for Mayo commuters, who rely on their car in order to get to work.
A total of 32,293 persons, representing 75.9 percent of commuters in Co Mayo, either drove to work or were a passenger in a car in 2011. This compared to 69 percent of commuters in the State overall, the figures revealed. Meanwhile just 0.9 percent used public transport (bus or train), 0.7 percent cycled while 9 percent walked to work.
One of the most interesting and revealing aspects of the publication is how many people choose to live in Mayo despite not working in the county. In total, 16,023 persons resident in Mayo also worked in the county, while 22,216 commuted to work outside the county. Meanwhile 20,921 people residing outside the county commuted to work in Mayo, resulting in a net loss in the working population of 1,295.
A major campaign has begun in recent years to encourage young people to use alternative modes of transport than the car to travel to school but the figures revealed that a lot of work still needs to be done to change the current trend.
A total of 1,363 (9.8 percent) of students aged five to 12 years in the county walked to school  in 2011, while 70.4 percent travelled to school by car, with 18.3 percent travelling by bus and only 1.1 percent cycling.
The figures differed amongst the secondary level students, with 13.2 percent (1,300 students) walking and 47.4 percent travelling to school by car, while 38.2 percent travelled by bus and 0.7 percent cycled.
Nationally, the CSO figures showed that a total of 32,293 persons, representing 75.9 percent of commuters, travelled to work by car in April 2011.

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