{"id":612988,"date":"2026-09-03T07:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T07:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/612988\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T07:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T07:14:10","slug":"bus-and-train-fare-hikes-to-be-announced-by-transport-authority-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/612988\/","title":{"rendered":"Bus and train fare hikes to be announced by transport authority \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bus and train fares are to increase by about 15 per cent on average under new measures to be announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The move is expected to see the Transport for Ireland 90-minute fare \u2013 which gives unlimited travel across eligible services in Dublin<\/a> for \u20ac2 over a period of an hour and a half \u2013 rise to \u20ac2.30.<\/p>\n

The changes, which are to be announced by the National Transport Authority<\/a>, will see some fares for children and young adults fall. However, in other cases, specific fares may rise by about 30 per cent.<\/p>\n

On average, overall fare prices will rise by about 15 per cent.<\/p>\n

Free travel for all children up to age nine and for older people will continue.<\/p>\n

\"\"Public transport increases; Creche overcharging; Patrick Freyne’s Kardashian analysis<\/p>\n

The changes come at a time when the Government is already facing pressure from the Opposition, trade unions and campaign groups over the rising cost of living<\/a>. It is also likely to be criticised by environmental campaigners who argue the State should be encouraging greater public transport use.<\/p>\n

The exchequer this year provided \u20ac940 million<\/a> to offset the cost of delivering what are known as public service obligation (PSO) routes which could not be operated on a commercial basis. However, it is understood that the Department of Public Expenditure has been concerned for some time about the rising cost in this area. <\/p>\n

Speaking after the budget announcement last October, Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien<\/a> said increases in bus and rail fares were not off the table. He said there must be a \u201csustainable\u201d funding model for public transport systems.<\/p>\n

While the Minister said at the time there would be no fare rises following the 2026 budget, he could not rule out later price hikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not writing anything off because what I want is to expand on the transport network.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Minister, the Government had made \u201csignificant progress\u201d in changing the PSO public transport budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, for the last six years, the expansion of public transport services has been great, but we need the funding to back that up,\u201d he said, adding that people had responded to the increased services across the country. However, he said that any fare system must remain \u201caffordable\u201d. <\/p>\n

The rising cost of State funding for public transport services has been a concern in the Department of Public Expenditure for some time. <\/p>\n

In briefing material prepared for Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers last year, officials said exchequer funding for PSO routes had increased by \u20ac350 million since 2019 and that more than \u20ac650 million had been provided in 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is in part due to the introduction of fare initiatives over the period during which fare revenue decreased by 26 per cent despite increasing passenger numbers,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is limited evidence that the fare initiatives are effective in encouraging modal shift as the increase in passenger numbers has not kept up with overall population increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

It noted that network enhancement and new services were likely to have a greater impact on passenger numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cA balance needs to be found between the exchequer annual subvention and the revenue raised by fares. This ratio has increased substantially since 2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Transport could not be contacted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bus and train fares are to increase by about 15 per cent on average under new measures to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,943,15910,61,60,13808,7942,16456],"class_list":["post-612988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cost-of-living","tag-darragh-o-brien","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jack-chambers","tag-national-transport-authority","tag-public-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}