Now here is a turn up for the books. There will be new fares on Dublin’s Luas tram network from Monday 6th May and instead of the usual increases there will be an average fall of 20%! Yes, that’s right fares will be reduced in a bid to encourage more people to use public transport. The fares are set by the National Transport Authority and its not just Luas which benefits but also Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead Ireland and Iarnrod Eireann’s commuter and DART rail services.
The fare reduction will be introduced from Monday 9th May and will be in place until the end of the year (whether 2023 sees fares back up to previous levels or just a standard increase hasn’t been said). All the transport modes which are seeing these reductions are subsidised by the Irish Government who set the fare levels which is why it’s a blanket fall across the Greater Dublin Area.
Eamon Ryan, Minister for Transport, said: “Public transport plays such an important role in Dublin City. On average over 140 million passengers are carried by Dublin bus every year and another 41 million by Luas, for example. Now, that we are all moving back to work or travelling around the city more after the pandemic, we want to make it even more attractive and easier for people to be able to choose public transport. This saving of 20% transport costs is one practical way we can do this. But this cost reduction is also important at this particular time. People are coming under more and more pressure as the price of essentials continues to increase. As one element of a suite of measures being introduced by the government, this fare reduction will go some way to easing some of the financial strain that households are experiencing.”
National Transport Authority CEO, Anne Graham, added: “With these fare reductions, we look forward to seeing more people using public transport to get to work or college or even to get out and about with their friends and family. In the first three weeks of the 20% discount being available on Bus Éireann services, passenger journeys have climbed by nearly 10% in the regional cities, with Galway and Limerick now ahead of pre-Covid levels. There’s particularly good news for rail commuters in Cork with Mallow being brought into the commuter rail fares area for the first time. This means that an adult can travel from Mallow to Cork city or any other station within the Cork commuter area for just €3.90 when paying with Leap. We’re appreciative of the support that the Government has given us, that has enabled us to make public transport even more affordable for our customers.”
In practical terms this means that Adult Singles will now cost between 1.70 and 2.60 euros with Returns from 3.00 to 4.40 euros. They currently cost between 2.10 and 3.20 euros and 3.70 and 5.50 euros respectively. TFI Leap Card fares also fall by similar levels.
- The new fares in place from 9th May can be viewed at https://luas.ie/fare-reduction-may22/