Fares Hike undermining public transport  – Crowe

Dublin South West representative Seán Crowe TD has described plans to raise public transport fares by as much as 10% as foolish, counterproductive and will undermine public transport use he made his comments following approval from the National Transport Authority for the proposed increases.

Deputy Seán Crowe  said;

“This should be a time of opportunity for the National Transport Authority to build public confidence in our  transport systems. While commuters numbers are dropping, private transport is increasing costly and an affordable accessible public transport is still attractive to many commuters.

“Unfortunately the government policy of forcible cuts and with  a decreasing subvention, encouraged and left no real alternative to  fare increases in Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail.

“This is increasingly making the public transport option less attractive as it becomes less affordable for most commuters.

“Some regular commuters will now see  their yearly ticket now rise by a further €200, having already increased three previous times under this government.

“These regular hikes, coupled with giving sweetheart deals to private operators under so called public service obligation contracts, are literally undermining the public transport option and making it less accessible to more and more people.

“As sure as night follows day, the bigger the increase in fares it will inevitably lead to a bigger drop off of fare paying passengers.

“The proposed increase needs to be put on hold and other realistic alternatives to promote public use of transport options  looked at in a more credible and realistic way.”