Council calls for fare hikes to be repealed

Cork City Council has called for proposed fare increases to be introduced by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to be repealed.

The motion, which was introduced by Green Party Councillor Dan Boyle, said that the proposed increases will undermine positive changes in public transport in recent years that has seen uncreased uptake in use, and which is helping in necessary movement away from car dependency.

He said that while the Government was to forego approximately €2 billion in revenue in fuel excise cuts, the cost of which is now being transferred to public transport users.

The NTA proposed the increases at the beginning of September which will see increases to adult Leap Card prices by 10% on city and town buses. Intercity rail prices will also increase by approximately 10%, and TFI Local Link fares are set to increase by 15%.

However, increases will not be coming into effect in Cork city, where the newly introduced 90 minute fare of €1.70 will be maintained.

Cllr Boyle said: “The effect of this, particularly in parallel with the decision that is made in terms of fuel levies will mean that the people bearing the cost of a poor approach to transport policy by the government will be those reliant on public transport.

“I think it’s our responsibility as a council to reaffirm our belief in the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, and to say that this will not do and to seek to have it reversed,” he said.

Cllr Shane O’Callaghan (Fine Gael) also backed the motion. “If you want to increase public transport use you should not increase prices,” he said.

The NTA has confirmed that there will likely be more fare increases in the future.

Speaking before the Oireachtas Transport Committee, NTA Deputy Chief Executive Hugh Creegan said that future hikes will be decided on a year-by-year basis.

“All we are flagging is that there will be future fare increases. Zero decision have been made on what they might be. On the basis that inflation keeps ongoing upwards, yes, we’re expecting there will need to be fare increases on a periodic basis,” he said.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.