Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 July 2020
881. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount of funds paid to all public transport operators for the provision and operation of the free travel scheme since 2015; and the amount paid to each operator in the past full year of operation in tabular form. [20749/20]
View answerThe free travel scheme permits free travel on most CIE public transport services, Luas and a range of services offered by some 80 private operators countrywide for those eligible under the scheme. The scheme is available to all people aged over 66 living legally and permanently in the State. Applicants under age 66 must be in receipt of a qualifying payment in order to be eligible for the scheme and permanently, legally reside in the State.
At the end of June, there were 976,034 customers eligible for Free Travel.
Payments made to the transport companies and the overall budget allocation for the free travel scheme covering the years from 2015 to 2019 are set out in the table below. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of payment per transport operator, as requested by the Deputy, as this information is considered commercially sensitive.
The 2020 free travel budget allocation is €95 million. Payments continued to all operators during the Covid crisis.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
|
|
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
2016 |
2015 |
|
CIE main payment |
€51,214,653.50
|
€51,527,622.66 |
€61,549,082.83 |
€61,400,861.94 |
€60,951,683.05 |
|
Bus Eireann Expressway |
€17,733,940.00 |
€17,645,837.00 |
|
|
|
|
Private Operators |
€14,772,363.79 |
€10,760,755.68 |
€8,804,859.89 |
€8,521,233.43 |
€7,055,713.71 |
|
National Transport Authority/ POBAL (Local Link) |
€4,500,000.00 |
€1,500,000.00 |
€1,500,000.00 |
€1,500,000.00 |
€1,500,000.00 |
|
Luas/Transdev |
€3,907,500.00 |
€3,907,500.27 |
€3,907,500.00 |
3,907,499.64 |
€3,747,235.23 |
|
Cross Border travel |
€1,567,940.08 |
€1,397,851.13 |
€1,686,933.32 |
€1,708,423.27 |
€1,852,983.28 |
|
All Ireland Free Travel |
€87,838.25 |
€73,932.57 |
€97,783.57 |
€73,937.91 |
€114,183.51 |
|
Total |
€93,784,235.62 |
€86,813,499.31 |
77,546,159.61 |
€77,111,956.19 |
€75,221,798.78 |
|
Budget Allocation |
€95 m |
€90 m |
€80 m |
€77 m |
€77 m |
