Toll income on M50 motorway up 13% as traffic volumes rise

Gordon Deegan

Toll income on the M50 motorway last year surged 13 per cent as traffic volumes recovered from the early phases of the pandemic.

However, the €140 million in toll income on Ireland's busiest road, which includes €7.5 million in penalties, falls short of the pre-pandemic income of €160 million in 2019.

The 2021 annual report by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) showed there were 45.1 million journeys recorded on the toll road, an increase of 13 per cent from 39.9 million in 2020.

TII state that the rate of growth of traffic volumes on the M50 is expected to decline over the short to medium term due to network capacity constraints and increasing levels of congestion on the Dublin orbital route.

The report shows that toll income on the Dublin Tunnel also recovered from €12.09 million to €13.73 million – though well short of pre-pandemic income of €22.9 million.

The TII annual report also reveals that Luas patronage during 2021 remained significantly depressed at about 40 per cent of pre-Covid levels. The total Luas passenger journeys amounted to 19.5 million in 2021, compared to 48.4 million passengers in 2019, but slightly up on 2020.