A new system for making contactless ticket payments across the State’s public transport services could cost almost €270 million, according to estimates.
In a note on information and communications technology projects submitted to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, the Department of Transport said the project, known as next-generation ticketing for buses, trains and Luas, would not be completed until mid-2028.
The proposed cost of the initiative, excluding VAT, it said, would range between €228 million and €269 million.
The committee has asked the National Transport Authority (NTA) to provide quarterly reports on the project with the aim of keeping track of costs.
The new system would replace and expand on the existing Leap card and allow passengers to pay with debit cards.
Contactless payments were introduced on Local Link bus services in Tipperary last month following a pilot programme in Cavan and Monaghan that will inform its broader adoption.
The NTA did not comment in reply to questions on the cost estimate for the project provided by the department.
However, NTA chief executive Anne Shaw told the committee last month that although the current Leap Card, which requires users to top up their cards in advance of travel, worked well, the technology involved is now 25 years old.
“It is not able to take the new modern ways of paying through contactless bank cards or phones at this stage,” she said.
In January, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien officially opened the Dublin office of the Indra Group, which in 2024 was awarded the contract for developing the new system.
O’Brien said the facility would “be the nerve centre for the efficient delivery of a nationwide contactless ticketing system”.
The NTA said that, unlike many international contactless ticketing programmes introduced by cities or regions, it, in partnership with Indra, would deliver “a … solution designed to ultimately operate across the entire Transport for Ireland network”.
It said the new system would introduce “a single, integrated solution for buses, trains, trams and regional services”.
“Beginning in the Greater Dublin Area, the project involves the introduction of secure account‑based payments, where fares are calculated retrospectively and charged directly to customers’ bank accounts, requiring the highest standards of data protection, reliability and customer trust,” it said.
“The programme also includes the upgrade of approximately 240 railway station gates, around 1,000 station validators across Luas and Irish Rail, and more than 2,800 on‑bus validators in the Greater Dublin Area alone.”
New validators are due to appear from 2027, with contactless payments available from 2028. Throughout the transition, Leap Cards, free travel passes and discounted fare products will remain in use.
Dublin Fine Gael TD Grace Boland, who raised the issue of the cost of the next-generation ticketing project at the committee last month, said “with such a substantial budget at stake, there can be no tolerance for drift or overruns”.