It IS definitely cheaper, quicker and more convenient to drive.
Does it not seem an absolutely outrageous policy to increase the prices of any form of Public Transport?
We should be moving towards cheaper/free public transport, but to move the other way is bizarre
If only we had a party in government that cared about public transport ah wait the electorate voted them out
[deleted]
I used to get the bus into town for school and doing that for years made me swear to avoid using Dublin bus the moment I got my lisence. 10+ years of having it now and in that time I think I’ve gotten the bus >5 times. Serious change needs to happen for me to reconsider.
This is what happens when the Greens are out of government. First, they hike public transport fares. Next, they’ll start shelving major projects and quietly ditching everything we’ve gained in sustainable urban planning. We’re now slipping back into car first thinking and short-term decisions, as can be expected by a FFFG government propped up by rural independents, just when we should be doubling down on infrastructure. The cycle never fucking ends in this country.
These changes brought in fare decreases for almost a million people that live in the 25km-50km circle outside Dublin.
Changes happen. Fares are still considerably lower than they were prior to the pandemic and there’s now a lot of fare equity for people who live in outer suburban areas like Drogheda and Kildare Town who had never been in a Dublin fare zone before this.
Insane headline tbh: fares went down for the vast majority of people in this area.
EDIT: fares went down AGAIN.
Don’t worry, they will raise prices to NCT, Petrol, Electricity and insurance, so it won’t be cheaper…
This has always been the case though. I came back from backpacking Europe, I had been using public transport the whole time, trains and buses. One trip on Spain’s high speed train.
Came back to Ireland and was shocked at the prices, I figured I’s stick with the train and get it back to Galway. The only price that came close on my Euro journey was the high speed to Madrid. I was even more annoyed to find they were charging me for a return journey and wouldn’t let me buy a one way. I don’t think I’ve stepped foot on a Irish train since and it’s been over 15 years..
I just don’t go to cities in Ireland anymore, they aren’t worth it, the public transport is garbage in most places, if it exists at all. The traffic in cities is mental, if I need to visit two places in Galway that’s an hour gone just going between them. I’d love to be able to dumb the car when going to Galway but it doesn’t really look like it would work, I don’t want to spend my time standing on the side of the street waiting for a bus that might come.
Also highlights a point about the development of rail services in areas poorly served now (West coast / NW and SW in particular).
The areas best served by rail – near cities – are also competing with car traffic, and as we can see; are barely ‘winning’. It’s often easier/cheaper to drive. Whereas if rail services existed in the NW / SW, it’d be transformative. No one would choose to drive from Donegal or West Cork to Dublin if they could avoid it, but a rail service would be a massive boon. I think the uptake in journeys would be massive, and rail usage per capita would be a lot higher for those regions.
Just to clarify, fares only went up for some towns that were on the edge of the zone where you could use leap cards before (eg Greystones, Sallins).
Fares went down for a lot of towns much further out from Dublin. They stayed the same for the new city zone, which is slightly smaller than the original short hop zone). The 90 minute fare is unchanged.
Additionally, all of the towns now covered by the wider Dublin zones have some level of fare capping. The fare caps in the city have been reduced, which is a positive.
Pensioners “free travel” on the trains seems to be €2-50 nowadays.
Doesn’t help those in Greystones that they recently got rid of the 84 too.
As a driver, it is absolutely not cheaper to drive though once you take everything into account
Its not Irish Rail that up’d the prices, its TFI
Irish times platforming the anti public transport agenda once again
Dear Graystones, Simon Harris is your TD, enjoy.
Don’t worry, they’ll increase the price of Diesel as well soon.
Lazy journalism, misleading headline.
There’s no barrier at my station. Its honestly cheaper to get the occasional €100 fine than pay the daily rate both ways.
Hasn’t free public transport been bandied about by politicians every now and then before?
I pay €20 per month in Madrid for unlimited bus, metro, tram and commuter train. Accounting for purchasing power that’s about €30 per month in Dublin prices, and that’s after years of massive investment and without a huge state surplus.
We get what we vote for.
I even feel the depiction of laytown and drogheda now being cheaper is deceptive on TFI’s part. Yes, single and return fares have gotten cheaper towards zone 1, but they’ve completely removed the option of buying monthly tickets for places outside of zone 1. So many students travel from drogheda/laytown to go to school in Balbriggan and the monthly ticket was €38 from laytown for unlimited travel between the stops. Now with that option gone students could purchase the €98 ticket (no way) or pay the single fares twice everyday 1.15 x 2 x 5 x 4 = €46 and what if they want to go see their friends in Balbriggan at the weekend?
More shoddy reporting. The example is of a person travelling by dart several days a week but paying for the daily return instead of the annual tax saver.
Spending an extra 35 minutes driving to Bray station with incredibly limited parking (30 spaces in total) and very expensive parking seems a wild over reaction.
At the end of the day they have to zone things and as some have pointed out what Greystones losses Wicklow Town gains.
As far as I can see, the Times should have started with why fares are being rebalanced rather than the emotive nonsense that nobody can ever have an increase in public transport ticket prices ever or you are killing the environment. Some folk also seem to have wild commutes. As for the FF’er claiming that fares should be based on county and not distance 🙄 Wild.
Imagine we had a choice during the last election to put a Party in Government that supported reducing fares for public transport! Oh wait….
They lowered rail fares after covid to get people back using public transport. People did, but now they want to push those people back into their cars it seems. Public transport is only worth if it’s cheap.
Don’t give them ideas, they might increase the gas prices to change this.
taking the train in Ireland is a luxury. Its a disgrace. All across Europe trains are a cheap way of getting about and now for us .. its like ooh lets take the train its like a treat.
29 comments
It IS definitely cheaper, quicker and more convenient to drive.
Does it not seem an absolutely outrageous policy to increase the prices of any form of Public Transport?
We should be moving towards cheaper/free public transport, but to move the other way is bizarre
If only we had a party in government that cared about public transport ah wait the electorate voted them out
[deleted]
I used to get the bus into town for school and doing that for years made me swear to avoid using Dublin bus the moment I got my lisence. 10+ years of having it now and in that time I think I’ve gotten the bus >5 times. Serious change needs to happen for me to reconsider.
This is what happens when the Greens are out of government. First, they hike public transport fares. Next, they’ll start shelving major projects and quietly ditching everything we’ve gained in sustainable urban planning. We’re now slipping back into car first thinking and short-term decisions, as can be expected by a FFFG government propped up by rural independents, just when we should be doubling down on infrastructure. The cycle never fucking ends in this country.
These changes brought in fare decreases for almost a million people that live in the 25km-50km circle outside Dublin.
Changes happen. Fares are still considerably lower than they were prior to the pandemic and there’s now a lot of fare equity for people who live in outer suburban areas like Drogheda and Kildare Town who had never been in a Dublin fare zone before this.
Insane headline tbh: fares went down for the vast majority of people in this area.
EDIT: fares went down AGAIN.
Don’t worry, they will raise prices to NCT, Petrol, Electricity and insurance, so it won’t be cheaper…
This has always been the case though. I came back from backpacking Europe, I had been using public transport the whole time, trains and buses. One trip on Spain’s high speed train.
Came back to Ireland and was shocked at the prices, I figured I’s stick with the train and get it back to Galway. The only price that came close on my Euro journey was the high speed to Madrid. I was even more annoyed to find they were charging me for a return journey and wouldn’t let me buy a one way. I don’t think I’ve stepped foot on a Irish train since and it’s been over 15 years..
I just don’t go to cities in Ireland anymore, they aren’t worth it, the public transport is garbage in most places, if it exists at all. The traffic in cities is mental, if I need to visit two places in Galway that’s an hour gone just going between them. I’d love to be able to dumb the car when going to Galway but it doesn’t really look like it would work, I don’t want to spend my time standing on the side of the street waiting for a bus that might come.
Also highlights a point about the development of rail services in areas poorly served now (West coast / NW and SW in particular).
The areas best served by rail – near cities – are also competing with car traffic, and as we can see; are barely ‘winning’. It’s often easier/cheaper to drive. Whereas if rail services existed in the NW / SW, it’d be transformative. No one would choose to drive from Donegal or West Cork to Dublin if they could avoid it, but a rail service would be a massive boon. I think the uptake in journeys would be massive, and rail usage per capita would be a lot higher for those regions.
Just to clarify, fares only went up for some towns that were on the edge of the zone where you could use leap cards before (eg Greystones, Sallins).
Fares went down for a lot of towns much further out from Dublin. They stayed the same for the new city zone, which is slightly smaller than the original short hop zone). The 90 minute fare is unchanged.
Additionally, all of the towns now covered by the wider Dublin zones have some level of fare capping. The fare caps in the city have been reduced, which is a positive.
Pensioners “free travel” on the trains seems to be €2-50 nowadays.
Doesn’t help those in Greystones that they recently got rid of the 84 too.
As a driver, it is absolutely not cheaper to drive though once you take everything into account
Its not Irish Rail that up’d the prices, its TFI
Irish times platforming the anti public transport agenda once again
Dear Graystones, Simon Harris is your TD, enjoy.
Don’t worry, they’ll increase the price of Diesel as well soon.
Lazy journalism, misleading headline.
There’s no barrier at my station. Its honestly cheaper to get the occasional €100 fine than pay the daily rate both ways.
Hasn’t free public transport been bandied about by politicians every now and then before?
I pay €20 per month in Madrid for unlimited bus, metro, tram and commuter train. Accounting for purchasing power that’s about €30 per month in Dublin prices, and that’s after years of massive investment and without a huge state surplus.
We get what we vote for.
I even feel the depiction of laytown and drogheda now being cheaper is deceptive on TFI’s part. Yes, single and return fares have gotten cheaper towards zone 1, but they’ve completely removed the option of buying monthly tickets for places outside of zone 1. So many students travel from drogheda/laytown to go to school in Balbriggan and the monthly ticket was €38 from laytown for unlimited travel between the stops. Now with that option gone students could purchase the €98 ticket (no way) or pay the single fares twice everyday 1.15 x 2 x 5 x 4 = €46 and what if they want to go see their friends in Balbriggan at the weekend?
More shoddy reporting. The example is of a person travelling by dart several days a week but paying for the daily return instead of the annual tax saver.
Spending an extra 35 minutes driving to Bray station with incredibly limited parking (30 spaces in total) and very expensive parking seems a wild over reaction.
At the end of the day they have to zone things and as some have pointed out what Greystones losses Wicklow Town gains.
As far as I can see, the Times should have started with why fares are being rebalanced rather than the emotive nonsense that nobody can ever have an increase in public transport ticket prices ever or you are killing the environment. Some folk also seem to have wild commutes. As for the FF’er claiming that fares should be based on county and not distance 🙄 Wild.
Imagine we had a choice during the last election to put a Party in Government that supported reducing fares for public transport! Oh wait….
They lowered rail fares after covid to get people back using public transport. People did, but now they want to push those people back into their cars it seems. Public transport is only worth if it’s cheap.
Don’t give them ideas, they might increase the gas prices to change this.
taking the train in Ireland is a luxury. Its a disgrace. All across Europe trains are a cheap way of getting about and now for us .. its like ooh lets take the train its like a treat.
Comments are closed.