Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a third question. There is now a backdoor method, and I have raised parliamentary questions with the Minister about this as it concerns me. More and more buses are full, which is great news. It means we need more buses but it is good that people are patronising them. Even in rural areas, however, buses are full. For journeys on certain private bus services now, to ensure people get onto the bus, they have to pay a booking fee of €10 when booking online. This is to ensure they get a place on the bus. If you are in a rural area with three services a day and you miss the bus, you cannot wait for the next DART or bus to come along. It seems a backdoor method to charge people who are in receipt of free transport. Effectively, they have to pay this €10 every time they take a bus to the nearest major town. It should be written into contracts that a booking fee cannot be charged for the bus. Most people do not care what seat on the bus they sit in but, as I said, they care if they cannot get on the bus at all because it is full.