Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 September 2022
14. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Transport his plan for fare reductions on public transport in Budget 2023; if he has met with public transport service operators with regard to fare reductions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46105/22]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware the National Transport Authority has the statutory responsibility for the regulation of public transport fares.
Equally the Deputy will be aware of the significant fare initiatives that have recently been introduced by the NTA, supported by funding made available by this Government.
In 2022 Government supported the introduction of a 20% average fare reduction across all PSO services which was introduced earlier this year. This has been a great help to people across the country in terms of making public transport more affordable, particularly in the context of the cost-of-living issues we all now face.
Separately, Government has also funded the introduction by the NTA of the Young Adult Card to allow 19-23 year olds avail of a further 50% discount on all PSO services across bus and rail which was initially rolled out on all PSO services in May, and which has now been extended to cover participating commercial bus services since earlier this month.
These initiatives build on changes already introduced such as the TFI90 fare in Dublin and the extension of the Leap Card in Cork and overall are helping to make public transport a more attractive and affordable choice for people across the country.
These fare initiatives complement the increases in public transport services Government is supporting through the roll out this year of BusConnects Dublin, improved rural transport services through Connecting Ireland, expanded rail services which are currently the subject of consultation and continued planning and development of service improvements generally. In addition significant amounts of capital expenditure are being allocated to improve public transport infrastructure also.
Government has supported significant fare initiatives across the system and I am keen to ensure these initiatives continue into 2023. Ultimately all of these issues will form part of the ongoing of the ongoing Budget 2023 discussions.
