07 Nov 2016
Posted by Chris Jones 
Public transport users across the country will see changes to their fares after the National Transport Authority announced its new pricing structure for 2017. Operators are allowed to make the changes from December 1st.
Most of the increases are targeted at cash fares, with the NTA continuing to encourage use of the Leap card – which is used to pay for around 3.5m journeys every week.
You will need to carry some extra coins if you prefer to pay with cash on the Luas, as adult single and return cash fares will go up by 10 to 20 cent and child returns by 10 cent.
Cash fares will also go up for Bus Éireann services in regional towns and cities – 10 cent for adults, 5 cent for children.
Meanwhile, Intercity adult and child weekly fares on Irish Rail services will go up by 2%.
Overall, the NTA says that three-quarters of passengers on the estimated 230 million public transport journeys in 2017 will see either no fare increase, or a fare reduction.
Most fares using the Leap system are frozen and the NTA emphasises that Leap will always be at least 20% cheaper than cash for a single journey.
There’s good news too for Irish Rail users in Kildare. If you commute to Dublin from Sallins/Naas or Kilcock, you will see reductions of up to 47% as these stations are brought into the Dublin Short Hop Zone. An adult single fare between Heuston and Sallins/Naas will reduce from €8.70 to €4.60 with cash or €3.56 with Leap.
See below for a summary:
DUBLIN BUS
- Adult cash and Leap – no change
- Regular child cash and Leap – no change
- Schoolchild cash – no change
- Schoolchild Leap – up 2 cent
- City centre Leap and cash – no change
- Pre-paid Rambler tickets – up 2.7% to 2.9%
- Dublin Bus monthlies and annuals – no change
- Multi-operator monthlies and annuals – up 1.9% to 2.3%
IARNROD ÉIREANN
- Intercity single and return fares – no change
- Intercity adult and child weekly – up 2%
- Sallins/Naas and Kilcock stations to relocate from Intercity Zone into the Dublin Short Hop Zone resulting in savings for commuters of almost 50%
- Adjust ODs (Origin –Destinations) zones for 261 ODs out of 1,200 ODs in Dublin Short Hop Zone (SHZ) to reflect a more consistent distance based pricing structure. This will result in the fares for 226 SHZ journeys being reduced by 16-18%, and 36 being increased by 16-18%.
- No increase in basic SHZ fares except 3 individual all-zone fares
- SHZ and Intercity Taxsaver fares – up 4%
- Cork commuter fares – up 1.5% to 2 % (except for top zone – no change)
- Multi operator monthly and annual fares – up 2%
BUS ÉIREANN
Regional cities & towns
- Cash fare – up 10 cent for adults, 5 cent for children. Leap fare – no change
- 1-day, 7-day, monthly and annual fares vary from -5.9% to + 2.8%
Stage Carriage
- Adult, child or student single cash or Leap fares – no change
- Adult returns – up 1.1% to 4.9%
- No increase in child or student returns. Some decreases of up to 4.3%
- Adult 10 Journey tickets -5.0% to +4.9%
- No increase in child or student 10 Journey fares. Some decreases to 5.1%
- Adult monthly taxsaver varies -7.4% to + 2.0%
- Adult annual drop from 0.0% to -9.4%
- Multi-operator rail and Bus Éireann Cork – no increase
LUAS
- Merge zone 3 and zone 4 fares resulting in changes from -4.2% to + 7.4%.
- Adult single cash fares – up 10-20 cent
- Adult Leap fares – up 0 to 9 cent
- Child single cash or Leap – no change
- Adult return – up 10-20 cent
- Child return – up 10 cent
- Adult prepaid 1-day, 7-day and 30-day – adjusted -4.2% to + 6.3%
- Child prepaid – adjusted 0.00% to 3.6%
- Student pre-paid – adjusted -3.8% to + 5.9%
- Adult monthly and annual taxsaver fares – up 9.9%
- Iarnród Eireann add-on fares – up 0.00% to 5.2%
