ABSTRACT
Today many rural dwellers in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) depend on the private car to access services, employment, education, healthcare and recreation and thus shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden of insufficient public transport (see O’Shea in this volume; Roberts et al. 1999; McDonagh 2006). 1 But car dependency does not only affect rural Ireland: those who live in Irish cities, towns and their sub-urbanized hinterlands also experience accessibility problems and reduced ‘walkability’ resulting from sprawl and a lack of transport alternatives (Leyden 2003; Wickham 2006). Recent census figures illustrate the geographical and demographic expansion of urban centres such as Dublin, Cork and Galway which are now extending well into their (semi-) rural hinterlands where public transport is often unavailable (CSO 2007; see also Mcdonald and Nix 2005). Car dependency thus represents a key challenge for national transport policy in general, and rural public transport provision in particular.
