Seanad debates

Wednesday, 3 May 2023

Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters

Transport Costs

1:30 pm

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. I believe the Minister of State will remain with us to take this matter. I appreciate this. Many Members of this House and of the Lower House, will be aware that public transport is a key issue for me in representing the needs, desires and wants of those I represent in south Kildare. This matter is in the context of Local Link, which is very important for accessibility and for commuters. It will not be a surprise to anyone that I am raising it again to reiterate my firm commitment to the extension of the short hop zone to places such as Newbridge and Kildare, even if it will be under another name.The short hop zone, in its current form, means that those commuters who live outside the 23 km zone - which basically stops at Sallins in Kildare - and opt to use public transport are completely discriminated against in terms of having a fair fare. With the costs involved, there are a lot of people bypassing an excellent station in Newbridge to go to Sallins, putting a lot more cars on the road, because the fares are much cheaper.

The replacement of the current short hop zone with a zone with a more equitable radius of 50 km was supported unanimously by the Members of this House in a motion that I put forward. Thankfully, I was also successful in getting the extension adopted as part of Fianna Fáil policy. Under the current regime, the cost of a return ticket from Newbridge to Dublin Heuston today is €16.90. That is just from station to station. The cost of travelling from Sallins, the next station on the line, is only €7.20. That is a huge 57% difference in price between stations that are just 12.3 km from one another by rail. It is an issue that I have brought to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, with whom I have been working on the matter. I have also been dealing with the CEO of the National Transport Authority, NTA, Ms Anne Graham, over the last few years.

Like many of us, I was delighted to attend the NTA Oireachtas briefing in Buswells Hotel on Thursday and to meet with Ms Graham and her senior team to discuss the new national fare strategy. I believe the strategy will go a long way towards levelling the playing field for commuters in areas such as Newbridge and Kildare town and will provide a better deal for commuters. I understand the fares will not be announced until June, so I stress again that we must use the period between now and then to keep saying that our fares need to affordable, accessible and transparent. This is key decision-making time.

As I understand it, there is going to a boarding fare and a fare related to the number of kilometres that one travels outside the Dublin city zone. The Dublin city zone will extend to approximately 23 km, which we could say is the present short hop zone. The outer Dublin commuter zone will extend from the edge of the city zone to approximately 50 km from Dublin city centre from O'Connell Street, which is exactly what I had advocated for. It is going to be really important for counties Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth and towns such as Drogheda, Navan, Trim, Enfield, Clane, Prosperous, Newbridge, Kildare, Greystones and Wicklow, which are currently under a huge price disadvantage. From my dealings with councillors across the fringes of the current short hop zone, I know this price inequity is causing serious disquiet in the areas they represent. My immediate concern, of course, is for south Kildare. While I believe the strategy will bring greater equity for commuters, we must consider its impact on our commitments on climate change and supporting sustainable travel. What does the Minister of State believe the positive impact will be of the strategy? Can he provide clarity on the strategy and on fares? When will we have next generation ticketing, which is a very important in terms of the 90-minute zone and replacing the Leap zone?

Photo of Malcolm NoonanMalcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I welcome the opportunity to discuss this important issue. I understand that the Senator’s question concerns the new national fares strategy, as she has outlined, and particularly as it affects and pertains to her area of Newbridge in Kildare. I reassure the Senator that the Government is strongly committed to providing a cost-efficient public transport sector, including affordable and accessible public transport services. The Senator mentioned affordable, accessible and transparent fares. That is exactly what we want to achieve.

In this context, a number of measures have been taken to ensure services remain affordable. As part of the programme for Government, we committed to review existing fare structures to ensure that public transport is as accessible as possible, supports the delivery of services and incentivises off-peak travel.

I should clarify that the National Transport Authority has statutory responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services provided under public service obligation, PSO, contracts. In this context, on 27 April 2023, the NTA published a new national fares strategy, on which the Senator attended a briefing. The strategy follows the previous implementation of a simplified fares structure for Dublin, which combines elements of distance and equitability between routes and proposes an approach for the rest of Ireland aimed at providing better value, greater transparency, and equality in respect of journey distance.This new approach will apply to fares outside the Dublin metropolitan area for public service obligation, PSO, bus and rail services provided by the NTA under contracts with bus operators and Iarnród Éireann. It will complement the planned roll-out of significant changes to public transport networks in rural and urban areas, such as BusConnects and Connecting Ireland. I am advised that no changes to the existing fare structure will be introduced until later in 2023, after a fare determination process, and any such changes will be dependent on the availability of necessary Exchequer funding. It is hoped that the new strategy will help encourage existing passengers and new users to use public transport more by implementing a fairer and easier to understand structure.

In relation to the Senator’s query about the impact on commuters from Newbridge and Kildare, I am advised that the newly created Dublin commuter zone in the strategy will apply to these areas, meaning that for travel from the Dublin commuter zone into the more central Dublin city zone, or vice versa, the lower of the following fares will apply, either the national fare structure, that is, boarding charge plus an incremental fare based on the straight-line distance between the start and end stop of the journey, or the flat Xpresso Dublin city fare plus an incremental fare based on the straight-line distance between the start of the journey and the Dublin city zone boundary. This approach will ensure that the cheapest fare is made available for passengers and will help alleviate boundary issues between the national and city fare structures.

For short distance trips crossing the Dublin city zone boundary, such as Greystones to Bray or Newbridge to Sallins, passengers will get the benefit of the national fare structure and the associated lower fare reflective of the short distance travelled. However, for longer distance journeys, for example Newbridge to O’Connell Street, passengers will benefit from the flat fare element within the city facilitating longer distances of travel at a cheaper fare. For journeys entirely within the Dublin commuter zone, the standard national fare structure will apply.

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. His reply is certainly signalling good news for commuters from Newbridge in Kildare and for those in the 23 km to 50 km zone. I accept that there has to be a budgetary cost for this but I certainly will not be shy in looking for it. It is incredibly important that we support our commuters for all sorts of reasons but particularly in respect of climate change and trying to make travel more sustainable.

We still have some key issues. What I will be pressing the Minister of State to bring back to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, is that we need surety and clarity on the decision in respect of fares. We also need surety on the 90-minute element. For those who use the train to come in to the city centre, it is incredibly important that they are able to travel anywhere within the outer regions of Dublin to avail of that. I certainly appreciate all the efforts that are being made by Government.

Photo of Malcolm NoonanMalcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Again, the Senator's efforts in highlighting this have been commendable. To support the objective of ensuring this equity, under budget 2023 some €563 million of funding has been secured for the PSO and Local Link services to provide State operators under contract by the NTA. This has been seen and felt right across the country. Funding was also provided for continuation of the 20% average fare reduction on PSO services and the young adult card on PSO and participating commercial services.

As the Senator is aware, at times inconsistencies in the existing fare structure have led to frustration among passengers. As such, the Minister for Transport has welcomed the publication of the NTA's national fare strategy, the implementation of which is intended to bring many benefits, including a fare structure, significant reduction in variability of fares charged, a clear structure that is easy to understand, a simplified fare structure for implementing fare determination charges, and a reduction in existing boundary issues, which is the matter the Senator has raised this afternoon.

On the issue of surety and clarity, that is what we wish to provide and I will take those messages back to the Minister and Minister of State on the Senator's behalf.