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THE COST OF some Dublin public transport fares will increase from later this month, but a new flat-rate fare is being introduced for all travel over a period of 90 minutes.
From 28 November, Leap Card users will be charged €2.30 to use any combination of Dublin Bus, Luas and most Dart, commuter rail and Go-Ahead Ireland services in Dublin within 90 minutes of tapping on to the first method of transport.
This €2.30 fare will be the same price for adult and student TFI Leap Card users. The price will then increase to €2.50 from March next year.
The 90-minute fare will be 80 cent for children.
There is also a new short adult Leap Card fare costing €1.60 for journeys up to 3km.
Other Leap Card fares and some cash fares across Dublin public transport will also change from later this month. Leap Card daily and weekly capping levels will remain the same, the National Transport Authority (NTA) said.
The NTA said the €2.30 fare “will make interchange between Bus, Dart and Luas seamless, resulting in a more affordable, efficient and integrated public transport system”.
CEO of the NTA Anne Graham said this new structure will “incentivise a return to public transport across the TFI [Transport for Ireland] network”.
“It provides an opportunity to create simplicity and consistency across the network regardless of the route or mode taken. It also means a significant saving for people who need to transfer between services,” she said.
Transport and environment minister Eamon Ryan said the new fares are a “great step in making the city a more liveable and easily accessible environment”.
“In moving more people from their car to public transport we can help to achieve Ireland’s carbon reduction targets,” Ryan added.
Under the government’s revised Climate Action Plan, the transport sector must cut its emissions by between 42% and 50% by 2030.
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Hey! Great idea! Let’s encourage folk to use public transport by hiking up the fares.
@Ernie Gallagher: €2.50 for a 90 minute journey?
@Ernie Gallagher: Never travelled on the Luas so that’s my first time seeing the fare. My first impression is that it’s completely reasonable. Much more so than other capitals I’ve been in.
@Vonvonic: If you only have one journey per day, that’s €5 every day. It’s not cheap.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Isn’t there some kind of value card you can get.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: cheaper than the price of running a car every month so?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: in all fairness, I know they’ve been criticised plenty and deservedly so… but €5 a day is fantastic. What else do you want?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: €100 a month commute is cheap! Very cheap!
@Kieran_94: There are incentives to buy a bike, after all. Raising the fares takes a lot out of most people’s wages and I’m talking about people who can’t afford to run a car in the first place. Firstly people are priced out of the housing market and have long commutes, then the fares go up.
@Vonvonic: I don’t think so, I haven’t seen a 90-minute card in years. Most people use the Leap card. It’s good that more routes are included, but it’s a bit of a price hike all the same, before we’re even into winter.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: €2.50 cap for one 90 min journey if you transfer between luas Bus or Dart services
@Paul Byrne: Yes, and great to see it streamlined, but people don’t stay in town, they need to get home again, so both journeys go up. The Leap works well for me. I’ve caught two buses to get into Dublin city centre, then a bus to Kildare, all on the Leap card without having to look for coins. On the way back there wasn’t a bus for ages & I got the Luas to the next bus route. I still didn’t need to look for coins. I’ve used it on the Aircoach to Cork. I love my Leap card.
@Ernie Gallagher: typical Dublin centric whinging. At least you have a LUAS. Meanwhile a 15 minute train commute Athenry- Galway is €5.89 each way. Double the same trip in Dublin. Its literally cheaper to drive.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: not necessarily. It depends on how long your journey is. Most bus journeys are less than 2.50 on the bus using a leap card.
Luas is free
@το μεγάλο κλαμπ: Explain?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: The Big Club – Bohs a tribute to our European campaign ⚫
@το μεγάλο κλαμπ: I think that was only for August… :-)
@Declan McArdle: I’m lazy …..
Make public transport free and tax people 20e to get into city centre if driving. All comments welcome
@Gareth Wogan: …and ban taxis from bus lanes, to keep the buses free-flowing
@Steve: Taxis in bus lanes are not the problem.
@Gareth Wogan: and charge drivers 30 to take cars into suburbs
@Gareth Wogan: I’m all for taxing cars in cities but only once public transport is a totally viable alternative and based on what we’re hearing from the government, that won’t be in our lifetimes
@Ajax Penumbra: I know it’s the cyclists
@Gareth Wogan: The Poles banned smelly people from Trams in Warsaw. (I kid you not. They did that.) Could work here too.
@Gareth Wogan: so if i have to get to work for 6am in a hospital on the other side of the city i should be penalised?? A bit unfair considering that there’s no transport to where I work.
@Gareth Wogan: And how does that work for tradesmen? Shall we unlaod the van and put everything on the bus every morning?
@Vonvonic: they’d have to close the red line if they banned smelly people
It would be a good idea if Dublin had an underground Metro transport system like most modern cities.
Also need much more Luas lines for the outer suburbs.
@Roger Bond: True, and an underground system would be great in winter.
@Roger Bond: Dublin is a very small city. A lot of suggested transport infrastructure is not necessary regardless of how modern it may sound.
@Alan McArdle: It’s increasingly congested, all day until 8 pm. Dublin wasn’t designed for cars. It was fine when there were more trams with cheap fares. Most people can’t afford to live in Dublin so they commute. The whole point would be to reduce traffic by improving public transport. If that improves, everyone is better off. It’s an entertainment hub too. I’m not only talking about people who live there. I couldn’t care less how modern anything sounds. We have a rainy climate and an underground system is not only practical but more comfortable to use. Bound to be drier for the carriages as well. It would be more inviting to users than having to drive in & find parking
People should just stop going to Dublin City altogether it’s a kip and dangerous and over priced
@Gerrard: Thanks a lot from the million people who live and work there.
@Gerrard: are you afraid of the big smoke Gerrard? Ah bless, its not that bad, honest.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: he is right though, dublin city is a kip
@OConnelj: He probably forgot to pay a toll and that multiplies if you don’t settle it in a garage on the way home. Dubliners don’t enjoy paying tolls either.
“In moving more people from their car to public transport we can help to achieve Ireland’s carbon reduction targets,” Ryan added.
Does Eamon believe for one single second that this change will make even one single person decide to ditch the car and take the bus instead…. It’s going to take a monumental effort to change that culture. Once you have a car, you still have ongoing insurance and tax while you use the bus
Something different and radical like swap the car tax for X months for X months travel pass or something. There’s ideas there to explore
We desperately need something. An increase is not one of these things
Yes, exactly. What is the point of raising fares for people trying to get somewhere?
So I’m being penalised for living within 4-13 stages with the fare going from €2.25 to €2.50 while those with a longer journey (over 13 stages) pay nothing more.
Doesn’t make sense unless you’re just looking to gouge the most you can out of commuters
@Bluechip78: Yep, was going to say the exact same thing.
Nearly 60 squid a week for the DART.
@Sinead Merrigan: that is never on time the most backward country ever
@Keith O Hanlon: I don’t know. South Sudan in pretty bad.
@Sinead Merrigan: Not if you use a Leap card.
@Keith O Hanlon: You need to travel a bit before making hysterical comments!
@Sinead Merrigan: the most you’ll be charged if your using leap cards is €37.
Dont let reality get in the way of a rant
@Sinead Merrigan: leap card cap kicks in well before that price (€37)
Also, if you’re using it every day you should get a tax saver ticket, weekly ticket works out about 15 eur if you’re in the higher tax bracket.
@Doug: using my leap card
@Dan Morgan: I’m currently in a temporary role. My leap card is topped up by 60 a week. I take multiple journeys. I don’t use all the 60 euro but almost
Luas and trains are free
@Ellie Mae: Explain?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Ahhh Sean.
@Ellie Mae: just a pity that luas doesn’t serve the Northside of the city.
@Vonvonic: Ahhh Vonvonic. If everybody paid the full and proper fare maybe, just maybe, there wouldn’t be the need to increase fares?
Public transport should be free if they have any will to reduce the number of cars to reduce CO2 emissions by individual cars.
@Claude Saulnier: I’ve heard that other cities have done that. Not intercity, but least within some cities. Dublin used to have a bargain city centre fare to go around town.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: all these policies and budget are thought short term, so when someone sees the instant cost, they are scared. We’ve seen (and still see) how short term has helped handling public healthcare or how waste handling in Dublin is increasing CO2 emission. But who cares anyway?
So students and adults pay the same… That would be great if students were making as much money… Absolute nonsense
@Todd: Exactly, not sure what I am benefitting from getting and using a student leap card rather than a standard adult leap card??
@Warped Pearl: much lower fare caps on student leap cards
Am I understanding correctly that I’ll be charged a flat fare of €2.30 (later increasing to €2.50) if I get e.g. a bus into town and then a Luas heading on elsewhere within 90 mins? Right now I pay €2.25 for a bus and then another €1.50 – €2.00 on top of that to get on a Luas – does this multi-mode fare not make it cheaper? (If using multi-mode, obviously single-mode fares are increasing).
@Jenna: yes, that’s correct. Once you tag on, any journeys you begin 90mins from then will be free. In theory you could get a bus, luas and dart all for €2.30.
@Jenna: Some of us will save on that. What I love about the Leap is that if one bus doesn’t turn up, you can get the LUAS or a different route with the Leap. The more services that take it, the more convenient it is.
They could have appeased both those who require a 90 minute ticket, and those who only need a single trip. Tap on once, pay the single journey fee, if you tap again within 90 minutes of the first tap you are capped to €2.30, win win. Instead they just raised the fees for everyone.
Yea leave the car at home just hike up the fares more c**p from Mr ryan
You have to tag off to get out of most train stations so how does that work if you’re getting a train first then a bus or luas etc? Will the leap card not reset when you tag off at train station and start a new fare when you tag on to bus/luas?
@Official Irish CC: Good point, I hope they get that synchronised.
@Official Irish CC: Yes but it’s capped @ €2.30 for all your journeys up to 90min
@Official Irish CC: it will work the same way it does now with the leap 90 discount, it will apply automatically if your 2nd journey is within 90mins of when you tagged into the train station.
have your say