Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
229. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Transport if he will consider granting members of an organisation (details supplied) full access to both the 20% reduction in passenger fares initiative and the youth travel card with immediate effect; if there will be a full resumption of the commercial bus operators' scheme until the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has dissipated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11688/22]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport, nor decisions on fares. It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) that has responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services, provided under public service obligation (PSO) contracts.
The Government is strongly committed to helping combat the rising cost-of-living being experienced throughout the country. In this context, a suite of new measures is being introduced by Government to help with this issue, including a 20% average fare reduction on PSO services until the end of 2022. These discounted fares will benefit the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who use public transport every day. A further €54m in Exchequer funding has been secured to allow for the introduction of these discounted fares, this is in addition to the REV22 allocations. The NTA will work with the PSO public transport operators in the coming weeks to commence rolling out these fare reductions across the public transport network in April/May.
Also, in recognition of the importance of incentivising young people to use public transport, as part of Budget 2022 I secured €25m of funding to provide for the introduction of a young adult card (YAC) which will allow any person nationwide who is between 19 and 23 years old, to avail of an entitlement for discounted travel costs, and to increase the level of discount over and above the current student discount to an average of discount of 50% across all services, including city, intercity and rural services. It is envisaged that the discount will initially be made available on PSO services, and then broadened to include commercial operators at a later date. This will not only promote modal shift in the transport sector among this age group but should also contribute towards a reduced reliance on private transport with associated benefit of transport emission savings.
In light of the NTA's responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's specific question in relation to the inclusion of commercial bus operators in the schemes, to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.
