Carpooling is a good idea but needs to have a 'sweetener' for people to take it up, according to Ciara Kelly.

The Newstalk Breakfast host was responding to renewed debate around the topic of car lanes reserved for vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger.

A Newstalk Transport Survey last year found that one-in-four Irish people 'carpool' to get to work or in their daily lives.

The poll found that under-35s are most likely to carpool (30%) – and people are less likely to do so as they get older.

Meanwhile, women (29%) are significantly more likely to carpool than men (19%).

Ciara said carpool lanes being underutilised could be in an issue in itself.

"If there was a lane that had hardly anybody in it, and everyone else was wedged into another lane, I think that would cause ructions," she said.

"I think it would be one of the most unpopular things they could do to traffic".

Heavy traffic on the Quays in Dublin. Image: Douglas O'Connor / Alamy

Ciara said she believes trying to force people to take others in their cars won't work.

"People don't necessarily want other people in their car - they don't want to have to talk to them, they don't want to have to collect them," she said.

"There's loads of inconveniences, so there'd have to be some kind of a pay back for car pooling - otherwise why would you do it?

"If there was a bit of a sweetner I think that would be a way of doing it."

'Something wrong about that'

Presenter Shane Coleman said he thinks it's worth trying.

"If you stand on the Stillorgan Dual Carriageway or the Phibsborough Road, or any of the main arteries coming into the city, the one thing you will notice I'd say 90% of cars have only one occupant," he said.

"There has to be something wrong about that; that's not an efficient use of road space, that's not good for the environment.

"If you had a lane where if you had two or more people in the car you could use that lane, I think that's worth looking at."

Shane recalls a similar system was brought in years ago in the United States.

"I remember it was open to abuse - there was all sorts of stories about blow up dolls being placed in passenger seats," he said.

"I think a pregnant woman took a case claiming that her unborn child was a second occupant of the car.

"That aside I don't see why we shouldn't look at it," he added.

A recent traffic index placed Dublin just behind first-placed London in terms of the most congested cities in Europe.

Main image: Ciara Kelly presenting Newstalk Breakfast, 19-3-24. Image: Newstalk