Dublin Bus, Luas and DART fares are set to change in 2019 according to the National Transport Authority (NTA).
CEO of the NTA Anne Graham announced on October 16th that, “ some fares will rise and some will be reduced.”
Fares across Dublin Bus, Luas and DART routes will be altered from the end of December onwards.
The Authority is aiming to eventually move towards only two main Leap card fares in line with their Bus Connects programme. The aim of the Bus Connects initiative is to make Dublin’s buses more efficient.
Graham said, “For Dublin Bus passengers, there is no change in fares either for shorter journeys or for longer journeys.”
Objectives of the Bus Connects initiative include, improving signage and bus shelters, introducing bus lanes and safe bike lanes on 16 of their routes and implementing the ‘just the ticket’ idea.
It says , “the biggest cause of bus delays, after traffic congestion, is the payment process at bus stops.”
The Authority want to limit people using cash for bus tickets because it is slowing down boarding time.
They acknowledge that even with Leap cards, many passengers, such as students, still chose to interact with the driver in order to use cheaper fares.
The aim is to eventually introduce a, ““tag-on” and “tag-off” facility, similar to Luas and DART, or a single “flat fare” approach.”
Currently over 70% of Dublin Bus payments are made by Leap card. The hopes are that in the coming years this number will increase, and cash payments will be streamlined out of the system completely.
Graham encouraged people to move to Leap cards saying, “Again in all cases, cash passengers can beat the increase by moving to Leap.”
The main changes to Dublin Bus include the Leap fare for stages over 13 dropping from €2.60 to €2.50 while the Leap fare for journeys of the 4-13 stages will increase from €2.15 to €2.25.
The cash fare for stages 1-3 will increase from €2.10 to€2.15 and for stages 4-13 will increase from €2.85 to €3.00.
For Luas passengers, there will no longer be peak and off-peak fares, there will only be one standardised set of fares.
This means the €1 city centre off-peak fare will be withdrawn from December onwards.
Monthly Luas fares will also increase by about 10% to €121.
Second year student Rachel Power commutes to college and who uses a Leap card said, “If I were to forget it on a day, it means I’d be spending over €10 to go back and forth to college everyday which is mad.”
Power said she hopes that Dublin Bus routes, “improve in quality and timing.”
Róisín Phelan
Image Credit: Rachel Halpin