Toll takings on the M50 slowed down by €2million in March, the Irish Mirror has learned.
Drivers paid €9million in toll fees last month, a fall of 20% on the €11million spent in February as coronavirus restrictions put the brakes on people’s travel plans.
The documents released under Freedom of Information come days after Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan warned against "complacency" amid evidence of increasing driving, walking and public transport activity over the past week.
However, Conor Faughnan of AA Roadwatch said Ireland’s busiest motorway does not behave the same way as other networks.
He told the Irish Mirror: “On the M50 overall, traffic is at about 61% of normal levels, which is more than in other parts of the network because its a real pinchpoint.
“If you know its going to be empty you’re going to use it.
“However, commercial and heavy traffic has not dropped as much as normal traffic and they pay more money, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a contradiction to say that traffic is at 61% and revenue is at 80%.”
According to the AA, M50 traffic plummeted by up to 80% after 12 March when Taoiseach Leo Varadkar closed schools, colleges and crèches and the 27 March lockdown banning non-essential travel outside a two kilometre zone.
However, between Easter and the end of April, traffic on the Dublin motorway rose again by 15 to 20% sparking fears that increasing numbers of people will flout the stay at home measures this May Bank Holiday weekend.
The March FOI figure marks a 13-month low in fees collected by eFlow, the company that runs the M50 toll on behalf of Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
The documents show that eFlow made €144 million from toll passengers in the 12 months between March 2019 and February 2020.
May, July and September of 2019 saw the highest revenues with €13 million collected during each of those months.
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