Bus Éireann to raise regional city fares by 5%

Fares on some Bus Éireann routes are set to increase by almost 5% from December 1.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has sanctioned a 10c increase on adult cash fares and a 5c increase on child cash fares on services in regional cities — Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford. A similar increase will apply in town services in Navan, Dundalk, Drogheda, and Balbriggan.

However, the NTA has turned down a request by Dublin Bus for average fare increases of around 1.5%.

Most single-journey fares — both cash and Leap — on Dublin Bus services will remain unchanged for 2017, although the price of some pre-paid tickets will increase.

For example, the cost of the 30-day Rambler ticket will go up by almost 3% or €4.50 to €157.50. There will also be slight increases to the fare cap — the maximum daily or weekly charge — for commuters who make frequent trips.

There will also be a 2c rise in the Leap child fare during school hours to €0.79.

Adult day return and ordinary return tickets on Bus Éireann commuter services in the greater Dublin area and those linking small towns and villages to the main regional cities will increase by between 1.3% and 4.9%. Single fares on such routes will remain unchanged.

However, Bus Éireann has agreed that there will be no increase for Leap card users on most services, while many student and child fares will be reduced to encourage greater use of public transport by such customers. Bus Éireann said its fares are designed so that passengers would save 27% by using a Leap card instead of paying cash. The NTA said many monthly and annual taxsaver fares will actually drop in price, while any increases will be less than 2%.

Passenger journeys on Bus Éireann services have been increasing since 2014 with growth of 2% last year. Bus Éireann has indicated that growth so far this year is slightly stronger at an estimated 4% with the biggest increase in passenger journeys in Cork city. The company has also predicted that passenger numbers will grow by a further 2% next year.

Transport Minister Shane Ross recently announced that the annual Government subsidy for Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes will be increased by €25m in 2017.

PSO routes include Bus Éireann’s regional city services, commuter services in the greater Dublin area as well as town services in Navan, Dundalk, Drogheda, Balbriggan, Sligo, and Athlone and commuter services linking small towns and villages to the main gateway cities.

Despite increased passenger numbers and fare increases last year, the company still recorded a loss of around €200,000 on its PSO routes.

The NTA sad the company would need to continue to maintain a strong focus on cost control and examine further ways of reducing costs as future fare increases would be more moderate and in line with inflation.

Dublin Bus reported growth in passenger number of 3.1% last year, with expectations that they will rise by another 5% during 2016.

However, the company has predicted a slowdown in growth next year with estimates of a 2.7% increase in passenger journeys.

Dublin Bus said recent passenger traffic growth had put pressure on its operations and it would need up to 180 extra buses over the next five years along with replacing up to 100 vehicles.

It claimed recent pay awards to staff would place further pressure on its financial position.

In addition, it said the payments it received from the Department of Social Protection for carrying people with free travel passes had been unchanged for the past seven years which means that fare paying passengers are now partially subsidising those with travel passes.