Ryan’s car-sharing idea – a rural village of 300 sharing 30 communal cars – comes from the blindingly obvious need to cut down car usage. For urban dwellers accustomed to a Dublin Bus/Luas/Dart stop down the street, it must be hard to understand the head-melting time, effort and frustration involved in relying on rural public transport. Yet one subscriber, clearly angered by the village car proposal, warns politicians not to ride on initiatives such as theirs: “Not everyone gets the lift they require . How many of these city cars are really necessary? Last April, the Dáil was told about the Swiss region where villages meeting the threshold of 300 residents, jobs or educational places are guaranteed hourly transport links to the overall public transport network.

Source: The Irish Times October 16, 2019 05:00 UTC