COMMENT: Dublin could learn a lot from Munich

I SPENT a very enjoyable afternoon in Munich last week, a city that had previously failed to make my travel wish-list for some inexplicable reason.

The Bavarian capital, with a population of around 1.5 million, is similar in scale to Dublin. Germany’s third city is something of a cultural oasis, with its vast array of historic buildings, cathedrals and museums – it’s a bit like a cleaner, more organised Dublin.

High-end stores and shopping malls dominate Munich’s pedestrianised areas, resembling a super-sized Grafton Street in places. And also similar to Dublin, it’s a city fond of its beer as visitors to the legendary Oktoberfest will know all too well.

I was particularly struck by Munich’s expansive public transport network. Its mix of old and new trams, similar in appearance to our own Luas, are a constant presence and seem to take up priority street space in the city centre. 

But the real story is how Munich is not over-reliant on one mode of transport. At street level there are also buses and suburban trains (S-Bahn), while the U-Bahn offers a highly efficient underground rail network. The icing on the cake was the train service that brought us directly from the city centre to our terminal at Munich Airport.

Given the public transport options available, I was intrigued to later learn that Munich has one of the worst traffic congestion rates in Germany. From what I could see, it didn’t come anywhere close to the chaos you see in Dublin on a daily basis. One thing’s for sure: if I lived in a city with Munich’s standard of public transport, I wouldn’t bother owning a car.

Arriving back home, I noted that, to some extent, the addition of private bus services to and from Dublin Airport has reduced passengers’ dependency on expensive taxi journeys and overpriced car parking. But the only viable long-term solution will be the provision of a high-frequency, high capacity rail link to the airport and beyond to Swords, one of the fastest growing towns in the country. 

The original proposed MetroLink route has already met with objections on both sides of the city and will need to be modified. This ambitious plan is bound to encounter further obstacles and delays so there is a very real possibility that the taxpayer could end up footing the bill for more cost overruns – yet again!