Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy Leader if we could get the Minister for Transport to come to the House sometime soon for a debate on the entire transport system in Ireland, particularly provincial and rural bus and train services. The main emphasis of the debate should be on the payment methods on our bus services. Frequency and regularity aside, in the year 2023 in what is practically a cashless society people cannot pay on a bus using contactless payment. Dublin is probably one of the only cities left in the world where the Leap card or its equivalent cannot be loaded onto our phones so that we can tap our phones to pay the fare. On a lot of Dublin Bus services, the only form of payment other than by Leap card is by coins only with no ability to give change if people do not have the exact coins. Since we are practically in a cashless society, more and more people are jumping on a bus and then realising they do not have any coins.

It is quite similar down the country. I take the bus as often as I can but if I do not book online, I have to pay by cash. When I book online, I find it frustrating in the year we are in that when I get on, the bus driver is there with a clip folder and a list of names and he is ticking off my name. It is 2023. When we book online, our booking should go into our wallet apps on our phones. It should be possible to get on and tap something and let the driver drive the bus, not be going through a ream of paperwork and asking for names to tick off. I know there are some pilots coming out but it is way beyond the time for pilots. All these systems should be contactless. We should be able to download our Leap cards onto our phones. We should be providing a service like that. It is easily accessible and convenient for people and does not require them to carry cash just for the purpose of the bus. If we do not provide it, I do not know how we are going to encourage people to use public transport. That is probably the nub of my argument.